Pick Me-Choose Me-Hire Me #22- Reflections
If you knew this was your last day on Earth, how would you wanna spend it? ~Meredith GreyWell, in a few short hours, I will walk across a stage, receive a piece of paper with my name printed in fancy calligraphy, change a tassel from one side of a mortarboard to the other, and officially have my Master's degree. The first thought that pops into my mind is "Where in the hell did two years go?" My second thought is "I really don't feel like a master of anything." My third thought is "THANK GOD!"
Don't get me wrong, grad school has been a phenomenal experience. I learned a lot about higher education, student affairs, and myself. I was fortunate to be a member of a phenomenal cohort, work with great colleagues, and supervise some of the most amazing students on Earth. However, it wasn't all peaches and cream. There were 100's of pages of writing, 1,000's of pages of reading, and countless hours mulling over new thoughts, ideas, and concepts. Oh, and let's not forget about an entire day devoted to testing us on this massive amount of information that has been crammed into our brains for the past two years on top of almost full-time jobs.
However, even though I am exhausted from thinking and reflecting, I feel ready. I feel ready to get out the state where I have spent my entire life. I'm ready to move away from everything I know and love and go fall in love with somewhere else. I'm ready to be thousands of miles away from my friends because I know that mileage has nothing to do with the strength of a friendship. I'm ready to be a professional and make my own decisions about what I think is best for the students that I work with. I'm ready to be a part of a campus community that lives and breathes their mission and values, which brings me to my next point.
This week I had an on-campus interview with my #1 school. This is THE school. The Dream School. The school that has met all of my major criteria for an institution. The school that I have been obsessing over since December. I was really worried that they weren't going to live up to the hype that I had generated in my mind for the past few months, but this could not have been further from the truth. Since I haven't updated in awhile, I'll just go through my visit and try to help you understand just how excited I am about this prospect.
First, I was picked up at the airport by my host and by someone that interviewed me at ACPA. They took me to a Mexican restaurant that overlooked the ocean (not telling you which one!) and it was just phenomenal. There were no awkward pauses in conversation, not weird questions, and I just felt very comfortable with both of them. After dinner, they dropped me off at the campus apartment where I would be staying. I was greeted with a welcome sign, basket filled with goodies, a stocked fridge, and a personalized message from the leadership team. Needless to say, I was impressed. Although I am a little embarrassed to admit this to the entire world, the moment my host left, I shut the door and jumped up and down throughout the living room because I was just so damn happy!
The next day I had breakfast with my host and then the barrage of interviews began. However, unlike my other on-campus interview, every single person was on time (and even early!), they all had questions prepared and my resume in front of them, and seemed genuinely interested in not only getting to know me, but also in me getting to know them as potential colleagues which was refreshing. I met with the Director of Res. Life who was an alum of my grad program and the entire 30 minutes was a dialogue between the two of us about the institution, transitioning from this program to the institution, and my undergraduate experiences. I felt as though I wasn't just being asked to list off my skills and abilities, but it was really about getting to know me as a person.
The day continued with more interviews and I was able to meet a lot of campus colleagues from a variety of offices, as well as people who have the position that I was interviewing for throughout the day. One of my criteria for a position was to find a department that was social outside of work hours and an environment that lent itself to developing friendships. This institution and department definitely met this criteria. While I was waiting, there was a group of about 10 people who were both from my potential office as well as campus colleagues and it was clear that they genuinely liked each other and knew each other outside of work. They talked about going to Happy Hour, working out together, and watching TiVo-ed episodes of Lost or Heroes together. Simply amazing.
The other great thing about this institution was how closely they followed their mission and values. This was a thread that was incorporated into every interview I had and the first question the students asked me was how I was going to incorporate the mission into my work. I was so impressed by this because it was clear that everyone on campus knew what the institution was about as well as ways to get towards this goal. It was amazing! Also, I was slightly worried because the institution has very strong ties to a religion that I am neither a part of, or necessarily agree with on a lot of major points, but the emphasis was so clearly placed on the values gleaned from the religion and not the religion itself, that I couldn't help but fall in love with this place!
The day wrapped up with dinner with four Area Coordinators at a beautiful little local restaurant. We were laughing, dissecting each other's MBTI preferences, and by the end of the night, we were all eating off of each other's plates. I said that I was pretty sure that this was going against everything I had ever learned from Career Center presentations about interview etiquette, but we felt so comfortable with each other! At the end of dinner, they went over the salary, benefits, and other details of the job. Let's just say that the package that this school is offering is out of this world! They asked if I could see myself at this school and I said yes before he has finished his sentence. They said that all I would have to do would fill out an application online and they would call my references. Then they all looked at me like I was supposed to read between the lines and get that they couldn't officially offer, but that it was almost guaranteed. So it looks like unless my references say I am a creeper, I have the job. HOORAY!!! I'll be sure to blog as soon as I hear anything and think good thoughts for me!
posted by StudentAffairs.com @ 10:07 AM
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