Suddenly I see, this is what I wanna be.... #24

I have spent most of the day watching the series “When We Left Earth” on the Discovery Channel. Sure, there are many more things that I could be doing with my time. Part of this whole post graduate school experience for me is learning how to reclaim my time as my own, and for me this means watching a lot of TV, reading books, and being generally lazy. All this time I am well aware that this should actually just be seen as an extended vacation, as once my job starts I’m sure that my time will be sapped by training and preparation. This almost makes it easier to justify the new levels of lazy that I’m discovering.

Meanwhile, the countdown to the move is officially on. We’re at 23 days and it’s starting to become more apparent that this is something major. My notice has been given at both of my jobs (ah yes, it’s finally time to say goodbye to the Second Job) and within the next 10 days I will be free from the shackles of employment. While I am incredibly ready to start working on new things in a new place, the realization that in 23 days I’ll have to say goodbye to my friends has hit hard. My emotional side has taken over and I’ve spent some time this weekend being pensive and….well….crying. I can’t help that I’ve become so attached to many different people over the past two years, and I can’t help that I’m awful with saying goodbye. This week marks two years since I made the move up here. Three months after that, I was ready to leave. I’ve been anxious to get out of here since then, but something’s changed over the past 6 months. I’ve felt more at home here than before, and my friendships have deepened and become more complex. It will be hard to leave and to know that unless I make a certain effort, I won’t be back.

Tomorrow I am supposed to make the first of my goodbyes. I’ve tried to think about what to say (my English major story writing tendencies kick into gear at these times) but the words aren’t flowing. This will be a unique situation and it’s too personal to explain in its entirety, but it will be the first test of many. I’ll see my closest friend from my program at the end of the week, and we’ll say goodbye – she’s heading off to her new job within the next two weeks.

Then there are my final days of work. My co-workers are more than that to me. The office ceased to be just an “office” a long time ago. The feeling this gives me is inexplicable. I’m already tearing up as I write this.

The following week I’ll travel home for the final time before my departure. While this might not be as emotional since I’ll know that I’ll be back and the people will be there waiting for me, it will still make me cry. I’m getting really good at the whole crying thing.

And with this entry I end my journey of graduate school and job searching. It’s been a long road, but one that’s passed by quickly. I’d do it again in a heartbeat, and many are hoping that I will – the seed of doctorate work has been planted. Nothing is germinating quite yet, but it’s still hanging out there. I’ve already decided to keep my membership with ACPA and I plan on attending the conference next year. I’m sure that using the rest of my professional development funds will not be a challenge; I hope to be a fairly active new professional – at least as active as my schedule will allow.

Journeying into residence life after my sabbatical will be a challenge, and I am fully prepared to encounter many a road block. With any luck my new institution will be as fantastic as I’ve hoped and I will have much support behind me as I start this position. With any luck I will learn more than I could’ve imagined. With any luck my career in student affairs will rocket off to a magnificent start.

With any luck :)

Suddenly I see, this is what I wanna be.... #23

Things have been busy over the past few weeks. I've been settling down into my routine of working both my jobs and being as lazy as I can in between. I took a week off and traveled back home to see my family and also be a part of my best friend's wedding. My duties as Maid of Honor were extensive and tiring, but I had so much fun seeing old friends and dancing the night away.

Now it's back to working and preparing for the move. I brought some boxes back with me and they're sitting awkwardly in my apartment. I dropped off a bag of clothes (the first of probably many) at Goodwill and started going through drawers and cabinets to find things that need thrown away or that can be packed already. I find myself looking at my new institution's website frequently, fantasizing about what it's going to be like when I get there. A friend of mine has committed to helping me move and we've already started planning out the road trip. Things are definitely in motion.

I've been thinking a lot about the advice I would give to those who will be starting the job search next year, especially those who have never done something like this before - those people who, like myself, went straight through their education and find themselves with little clue as to how to conduct any sort of mass market job search. Here are a few things I've come up with:
- Make sure you have a handful of references that can attest to your experience is different areas.
- Have more experienced people look at your resume...a lot.
- Do all that you can to make it to a conference, and go with others that you know if you can. Having that support system there will be helpful, and getting the experience of interviewing in a high pressure situation will be helpful later on.
- Be wary of falling in love with a place because it "seems" wonderful.
- Read job descriptions thoroughly, and always do research on institutions you think you'd want to be at.
- Prepare some standard interview questions for each place you'll interview with as a way of measuring them against each other.
- Never underestimate the power of the pro and con list. It can help make your decision very clear.

Suddenly I see, this is what I wanna be.... #22

It seems that many of my peers from my class have received job offers and have decided where to go for work. The congratulatory emails to the listserv have been trickling in, although I admittedly have no idea how many people are still searching. I lost count awhile ago as to who was actually finishing the spring and who still had a few more classes to pick up. My class had many students get full-time positions along the way, causing them to either halt the program for a semester or two or just greatly slow down their progress. Although no one has said that we've had an abnormally large number of people get positions mid-program, I don't remember this happening last year quite like this.

I'm back at it again at my assistantship, which I guess really isn't my assistantship anymore. I referred to myself as a "GA" this past week and was corrected. It doesn't really feel any different, but serving as a 'Temporary Part-Time Advisor' sounds pretty spiffy. I don't think that I've ever really come out and mentioned that I haven't been working in residence life during grad school. It feels sneaky to write it here, since it seems that all the other bloggers (from this year and previous years) have all been RHDs or ARHDs. But the truth is out: I am, perhaps, a rare breed since I have no graduate live-in res life experience, yet was offered and accepted a position in residence life. To all those who may be looking to do the same, it's obviously possible. My undergraduate res life experience was helpful, as was an internship I did this past year with a hall director. But it was an uphill battle all the way.

I've been skimming through some of my old posts and reliving the experiences, in addition to just remembering back to what it was like to be at ACPA and interview through placement. The more I think about it, the more I realize how anxious I was to fall in love with a school and how I pretty much jumped on Number One Institution because of it. While they offered some of what I was looking for, I'm seeing more now that I gravitated towards them because of how familiar they seemed. They are, in essence, the mirror image of my undergraduate institution - only on a slightly larger scale. And while I will campaign for this type of school (especially in the type of place that I attended) until the day I die, I can say that that probably would not have been the best move for me right now. I think another reason I wanted to like them so much is that they were the first place to contact ME for an interview at ACPA instead of having me chase them down.

The more I think about The New Job and that school, the more I realize how much I loved it without even realizing it. Like I mentioned before, I can remember finding the position description and absolutely falling in love. I read it to my best friend (who immediately stamped it as 'too far away' and dismissed it) and my mom and being so incredibly excited about it. When I secured that interview for the conference (the first I scheduled, and my very first one of placement) I was so pumped that they were giving me a chance. My interview with them lasted nearly an hour. I had stars in my eyes when I realized what I would be doing and who I could be working with. I met many people, all of whom seemed so happy to be meeting me and anxious for me to like THEM just as much as they liked ME. I got positive feedback that felt genuine. I did follow up with them, did a lot of hoping and wishing, and then was able to get the campus interview.

It's funny, but I really wanted to hate that place. If nothing else, just so that decision making would be easier for me. With an offer on the table and (at the time) no concept of what kind of timeline they were working with, I figured that accepting the offer out there already would be the easiest/best thing to do. I didn't realize how crazy I was being, and how much in denial I was. Being terrified to turn down an offer without having another option was the driving force behind my thoughts. When I realized how much I really liked this position and this institution, I panicked. I am grateful for fast-moving individuals that were able to make it happen so quickly, and who, I'm convinced, saved me from making a really big mistake.

So now I look forward, perhaps on a ridiculously high scale, to mid-July when I made my move and start this job. I allowed myself to pack one box (just books) and then realized that it didn't make a dent into anything from my shelf. My tendency to impulsively buy books is always a pain to deal with when it comes time to move. And my large collection from my undergrad English major years just adds to it. I'm definitely faced with a huge undertaking.