In Medias Res #22- Certainty, or I know I just want to D.A.N.C.E.

I have been talking a lot lately about summer internships with students. This might seem early to some people-especially since I don’t work in Career Services- but when you work with high achievers nothing is too early. In fact, these conversations were precipitated by the fact that more than a handful of my students already have internships.

One of the things that struck me about these conversations was how much waffling my students do. They are an uncertain lot, and every time a decision needs to be made they feel the need to unpack and deconstruct it. Normally this is a behavioral quirk I love. I once spent three hours with one group’s executive board as they debated their constitution. The question at play was how broad and expansive to be in their description of the target population and in their goals regarding working towards justice and equality. (I know I’m being vague, but this is supposed to be an anonymous blog. Stay with me here). It was-by far- one of the most professional rewarding conversations I’ve had post grad school.

Of course, I don’t find this behavior surprising. College students should be uncertain. They should be exploring and questioning (especially my students). I remember this behavior in myself at the same age, although given my ENTJ nature it resulted in me applying for every internship that interested me. Rather than weighing my options and proceeding cautiously as my students are doing. The things that I find remarkable is that much of this uncertainty I no longer feel.

When did that happen? I’ve always had five year plans, but my five year plans are notorious (at least in my own mind) for being open source: subject to much revision and recycling. Now, though, I know not only where I’ll be for the next year (here for those readers waiting in suspense), but where I could potentially be for the next few years. I was speaking with a volunteer coordinator at an organization I’ve been working with in my spare time. We were chatting, and she asked if I was new to town. I started to say yes, but then admitted that in fact I had lived here for eight months. Not exactly new although to someone like her who has lived here for 40+ years I certainly seemed like a newbie.

I find myself intentionally trying to set down roots here. In addition to looking for a new apartment I’ve been exploring places of worship and chances to get involved with young professionals outside of work. I know I won’t be here forever. A better job or a Phd program will eventually take me away so its not as if I’m living an ambiguity free life. But I do feel somewhat more certain about some major life decisions, and that’s a nice place to be.

In Medias Res #21- The Other Side

So I will be interviewing candidates at ACPA. Exciting right? The job is up and in the placement system so we should be getting applicants any day now. I work at a sufficiently large school that HR has to screen everyone first, but they promised us resumes to start looking at on Monday. I am the point person for scheduling interviews, communicating with candidates, and decorating our table. (For those of you who have not been to placement before apparently you must decorate your table. Although I attended NASPA/ACPA last year, and went through placement I didn’t remember this. I initially balked when the committee chair suggested as much. In retrospect though, I can’t think of a school that didn’t have a banner or something).
This morning a colleague and I sat down to start brainstorming interview questions. We will be doing all the first round interviews and making recommendations for second rounds. When we first sat down we had seven different questionnaires from recent searches. We cherry picked what seemed like the best questions as well as those that seemed especially relevant to the positions. This afternoon I’m putting together a screening form for resumes. This might be overkill-who knows how many applicants we will actually receive? That said, I’m really enjoying the process.
There is something thrilling about being on the other side of the table. Last year, I felt compelled to always be on my best behavior. While I have no intention of representing my institution (which I love) through boorish behavior, I do think I won’t need to make sure I take as much care ensuring every hair is in place, every pore …uh..depored?
What I’m really most excited about though is the chance to have a significant influence in who my next colleague will be. I am generally fond of my coworkers, but I have very clear ideas about who I want in this position. I also feel like I have meshed well enough with the culture that the powers that be feel comfortable with my judgment. Since some of you may be out there in reader land doing the job search thing, I will give you some insight into what I’m looking for in a candidate.
I would like:
Someone intelligent (who can communicate their ideas clearly and who has ideas. Lots of them).
Someone excited about our specific institution.
Someone with broad interests. The position isn’t a generalist position, but you won’t be successful here if you view your work as a fiefdom.
I am taking students to a conference next weekend, which means I will probably be doing a lot of this screening on the road. Which reminds me, I need to book a van, find out about insuring student drivers, collect student contact information..this new hire can’t come soon enough!

In Medias Res #20- Sushi Triumphant!

I made Sushi! Ok, first of all, I know this is late. But I’ve been sick, just like everyone else. Aren’t your students sick? Or are you reading this on your laptop in the University of the Bahamas? If so, I hate you dear reader. I hate you.

But back to the story: I made sushi! Now, I lead a cosmopolitan anonymous homosexual blogger lifestyle so I have made sushi before. In fact, this was one of the few successful programs I actually hosted as an RA. That’s a tip for you undergraduate readers in Res Life staffs: everyone loves a sushi rolling party.

No, what excites me so very much is that I made sushi at home. I made sushi rice at home. I made my own aioli (fancy pants mayonnaise), and I cut my own salmon and shrimp. To you this might not sound like much, but I’ve been trying to perfect at home sushi for quite some time now. And now..I have.

In general my culinary adventures this semester have been much more successful than they were during the job search. Of course, now I have more time, energy, and focus. My mind doesn’t drift in a million different directions. Instead, I can keep my attention on that damn egg and whether it is congealing or not.

I am ready for Spring dear reader. I’m ready for fresher vegetables and fruits that don’t look sad. I am ready to spend time outside of my apartment without thermal underwear. Perfecting at home sushi is only a minor solace in the face of no sunshine.

My students are getting equally stir crazy. I’ve been (in my absence) through two peer educator trainings, countless workshops, planning meetings, exec board meetings, and bullshit sessions. This is in addition to all the stuff I’m actually expected to do at work. In particular I’ve been having a bit of a cold war with one of my student leaders who demands that their exec board meetings be at 10pm on Mondays. I refuse to come back that late (boundaries people), and they really can’t get much accomplished with me so I expect that meeting will be moving to a more reasonable time. Of course, if that’s the case I’ll have to actually start attending it.
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On a completely unrelated note I just got my own for real grown up Primary Care Physician. I went in for a check up, and I suddenly realized, “Crap! I’m an adult with health insurance and I don’t have a primary care physician. How will I get in network referrals? How can I take advantage of preventative medicine? What if I get a really really bad head cold?” That, of course, is taken care of now. So I just need to find a dentist.

Res. Life and the City #14- Professional Soulmates

Carrie: I'd like to think that people have more than one soul mate.
Samantha: I agree! I've had hundreds.
Carrie: Yeah! And you know what, if you miss one, along comes another one. Like cabs.


Hello again dear readers. If any of you have stayed with me since the very beginning of the blog, which was about a year ago when I started the job search, then you know that I have the tendency to completely freak out. I also have the tendency to blog while in the midst of one of my aforementioned freak outs and have much more clarity after I take a few days to process. This happened when I got together my resume and cover letter, while I was phone interviewing, right before I left for the conference, a major attack hit while I was at on-campus visits, and of course I freaked out up until the point that I was getting job offers.

Therefore, it should come to no surprise that my previous entry was slightly freak-tastic. However, I have calmed down a lot and now realize that although my supervisor has left and she was fantastic, I think I will be able to survive and thrive without her guidance. Obviously, I've been given a new supervisor which comes with both negative and positive changes in my life. The main change is that we have also restructured our department so I'm not the only one going through transition. This is nice because I have colleagues who are going through the same thing; however, it also means that the majority of our HDs are somewhat off-balance so there isn't a ton of stability in our department. I know that as soon as the dust settles, we will be up and running at 100 percent, but it is hard to deal with so many changes when they happen smack-dab in the middle of the year. I think our profession relies so much on the traditional calendar that changes in the middle of the year can often be ever so much more jarring than transitions that happen during the summer months.

While I am excited to be paired with my new supervisor (she is equally amazing, but in different ways) it has created a somewhat awkward situation. The awkward factor comes in because she has been someone that I have developed a true friendship with throughout the past six months. Our department is very intentional about creating a "flat" organizational structure, so it isn't out of the ordinary for the HDs to become good friends with the mid-level managers. Since they live on campus as well, it becomes quite easy to stop over for dinner, watch favorite TV shows, or go out to dinner together. This has been the case for me. Since she was not my immediate supervisor, I have let my guard down while in social settings.

I realize that I may just be paranoid, but I suddenly don't know if it's okay or even professional to crack a dirty joke or make a not-so-professional comment while around her during both work and non-work times. We had our first one-on-one two days ago and it felt like a job interview! She was explaining her work style and then asked me to describe what I needed from a supervisor and I seriously felt like we were in a play or movie. It just didn't feel right to be so formal and not be able to roll our eyes at each other or make a snarky comment here and there. However, right after our one-on-one, we went out to dinner together and it was back to the way things used to be. I'm not sure how much of this awkwardness is coming from my side or hers, but it is just weird. I know that the professional, mature thing to do is to talk with her about it, but as we all know, I need to freak out first, get some perspective, then move forward. However, I still have hope that she can be my professional soul mate the way my last supervisor was. There's no rule that says we can only have one soul mate, right?