We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop? #13

Wow….I feel like I am so behind in my blogging! A lot has happened this past week.

First, let’s back the truck up to Blog #8…remember when I talked about my interview with College A and how I thought it was great? Well, after I hadn’t heard from College A for a week or two, I called my interviewer and left a message asking where they were in their search process. A few weeks pass and I realize I never received a reply to my message. So this time I email my interviewer and receive the following response: “We had an excellent pool of over 250 resumes and made a hiring decision last Friday.” Well, thanks a lot! It’s one thing to send out a resume and never hear anything and quite another to be phone interviewed and then be ignored!! I feel it was very unprofessional and rude of College A to not tell me I would not be invited to campus.

Moving on to College B. Remember I thought I floundered in my phone interview? Apparently not! Last week I interviewed on-campus for a residence life position at College B and I feel I have a good chance of being offered (College B has at least 2, possibly 3, positions open). I am excited!

Now, I know I said Residence Life may not be my thing, but after this interview, I think I would enjoy being a Hall Director and the experience would provide me with A LOT of professional development.

At first, thinking about interviewing at College B scared the s*** out of me. 1) Because it was my first, professional all-day interview experience 2) I had to prepare a 20 minute theory-to-practice presentation (yeah, they really do want to know what we’ve been learning in school) 3) I psyched myself out by thinking I really had not a lot of business interviewing for this position with my limited residence life experience.

However, all my worry was needless, especially since I took the time to properly and extensively prepare. Something I am not sure I have ever done for any other interview. I took the day before the interview off (from work and school) to pick my friend’s brain about residence life (he is a graduate hall director). He provided me common residence life interview questions, I thought long and hard about my answers and then we practiced mock-interview style.

The preparation really helped! I felt more cool, calm and collected. My interviewers asked a lot of the same questions my friend had and so I was prepared to answer them with concrete examples. Everyone I met was friendly and I got a sense that the department really works as a team. It was a long, challenging, but satisfying day. And now I am just keeping my fingers crossed…

Pat #9: It's who you know.

Let me preface this by apologizing for being so behind in my blogging! The next couple of posts will be a recap of the past couple of weeks. Here goes.


I know you've heard it before. But honestly, people... networking is key. Though I did not interview at ACPA, I spent my time strategically networking and introducing me to people who work in my functional area. I met some people who work in offices where I applied for jobs in. After following up with my new contacts, my inbox has been flooded with "underground" job opportunities. So take advantage of every chance meeting-- it will definitely pay off.

Before I left for ACPA, I was offered a campus visit at SRC. Honestly, I wasn't really expecting to enjoy the visit, but was anxious to get out of town. The most stressful part of the situation, was that I had to prepare a short workshop presentation for the search committee--something I failed to work on during ACPA.

First of all, how do you really present a workshop in a little over 10 minutes? Second of all, I thought I was done with presentations for a while! My classmates teased me about having to prepare another presentation (I would later find out that many of them had to prepare something, too). After struggling for a day or two, I put up my white flag and asked The Boss Man for help. He had some great advice for me and my presentation just fell into place; I even dug up some of SRC's graduate survey data and popped it into the powerpoint.

I was scheduled to fly to SRC mid-week and would have to miss a class and some work hours. I did not have the chance to catch up after ACPA and would now be falling even further behind. I arrived at the airport in suit #1 and felt like some business-ey person who hops on and off planes like it's the subway. Truth is, I've never flown by myself-- seriously, let's add s'more anxiety to this trip!

It turned out to be the trip from hell. My flight was delayed and I spent a total of 12 hours in an airport. (Just in case you were wondering, my time on the actual plane was about 3 hours.) Of course I missed my connecting flight and had to be moved to a later one. I made what seems like a bajillion phone calls to SRC telling them I may not arrive in time to have dinner with the Director. Not a great way to start off an interview process... but hey, it was out of my control.

After an extremely long day of waiting to travel, I got off the plane. I freshened up and walked toward the airport exit, not quite sure what to expect...

Stay tuned.

We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop? #12

Ah….the sweet taste of rejection. NOT. More like the bitter, awful, stomach-aching, soul-crushing taste of rejection.

My top choice for a VISTA position rejected me this week. I should have known. It was like this last summer when I interviewed for internships. There was two I really, really wanted, and I thought I interviewed well, but was rejected by them both. I had the same feeling with this position – interviewed well, I am really interested, even wrote an email with follow-up questions to show my interest, didn’t hear back, BAM – rejected.

Maybe I shouldn’t feel too surprised. I thought the VISTA was a long shot in the first place, considering my limited community service experience. But, let’s not be a complete downer. I still have not heard from several other positions. There is still a chance, a glimmer of hope, right?

And then there’s the question of, if offered a position, do I take it or not? It would be my first offer and I don’t want to take it just because I’m afraid I won’t get anything else….

This is one of the most frustrating and nerve-racking processes of my life!

We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop? #11

Happy Easter! It’s getting more difficult to find time to blog, with class work and INTERVIEWS piling up. :) I’ve had a steady stream of VISTA interviews, as I mentioned in my last entry, including an on-campus interview this past week, one the week before and another one this coming week. I am excited about these possibilities and feel that I have been interviewing well. I will soon see how well, as at least one school said they would be contacting me (with an offer or rejection) by Friday this week.

My interest in the VISTA opportunity is growing and my applications for more traditional Higher Ed positions have not been fruitful, so I am leaning toward accepting a VISTA position if it’s offered. Therefore, I am now entertaining thoughts of “Which position would I pick?” if I was offered a position from several schools. I think this is a possibility since I have had quite a few on-campus interviews.

Aspects I am considering are (in no particular order):
1) Location
2) Position duties – Working more with the community or directly with students? Established duties or is the position in a transition year?
3) Type of Room & Board – The college/university provides this and it varies from school to school. At a few universities I would be living with one or several roommates and at another I would have my own place. Housing ranges from a townhouse to a regular house to an apartment. Is cable and internet provided? Is there a dishwasher (silly for some, but I am tired of hand-washing dishes!)? Is there a garage? Will I be provided money to buy groceries or will I eat in the dining hall?
4) Supervisor – Did I like the person who would be my supervisor? Would we get along?
5) Office Environment – Is it friendly? How many people would I be working with? Would I get along with them?
6) Office Space – Cubicle or office? Window? Supplies?
7) Institutional Mission
8) Institutional Environment
9) Surrounding Area/Town/City – Friendly? Close to shopping, movies, other entertainment?

The institutional mission and environment are important to consider, but I when I applied for the VISTA positions, I had already narrowed down my choices to institutions whose mission and environment fit my preferences. Of course, I know how an institution looks on paper can be different that how it actually is in person, but so far, I feel I could fit at the places I’ve interviewed.

So what features are most important to me? Right now, I am not sure. I have been constantly thinking about the difference in the two schools where I’ve already interviewed and I like certain differing aspects of both institutions/jobs. And then, before I drive myself crazy, I have to tell myself not to jump the gun. I haven’t been offered any position yet, so I can think about these things, but the time for stressing about a decision is not now. If the time does come, I will have to make a pro and con list….but even that may not help me…

I am horrible at making decisions.

We're adults. When did that happen? And how do we make it stop? #10

I don’t even know what to say. Emotionally, I’ve been a wreck for the past few days. Mostly relationship stuff, but then I get to thinking about the stress of finding a job and graduating and moving and all the changes in store for me. I DO NOT LIKE CHANGE. I am not good at it. I guess some people would say, “Who is?” and others would remind me that life is constantly changing and I’ve made it through changes and hellish periods in my life before. Which is true, but I don’t care. Just cause I’ve done it before does not make the prospect of doing it again any more appealing. Yes, I know there’s a pit of gold at the end of the rainbow, or whatever, but it’s still rough when you’re in the midst of it all. I know I am technically a “grown-up”, but I don’t feel grown-up and it’s still difficult to grow-up. Hmmm….I realized my blog title really fits for this entry.

That’s how I've felt the past couple days….but I am trying hard to change my attitude and perspective on a number of things. And the job interviews have been steadily coming. I’ve had two phone interviews and an on-campus interview (Yay!) in the past week, all of them for VISTA positions. I am actually really excited about VISTA now, having interviewed and talked to current VISTAs. I think being a VISTA would be a challenge and amazing learning experience while still being able to work at a college and interact with students. So, for now, I am leaning toward this type of position; this is different from a month ago when my motivation was born out of some interest, but more out of the desire for more options.