Be prepared to know that things don’t always go as planned.
There is a strong possibility that during interview season you will make mistakes. What’s more important to know is that you’re going to walk away with a job, regardless. Mistakes allow an interviewer to get a glimpse of who you really are as they watch how you recover. Anyone can give a perfectly canned answer for how they deal with stress and surprises. Letting an interviewer see you exercise grace as you pick yourself up is a different matter altogether.
Before my first on-campus interview, I practiced my introduction over and over so I would feel prepared when the Assistant Director of the Housing department picked me up from my hotel. (I’m an introvert and the introduction is the scariest part for me.) When he finally got there, I shook his hand, gave my best smile, and told him, “It’s great to meet you, Brooke! I’m Jason.” That would have been fine, except that I had managed to switch our names in the process of trying to deliver the perfect handshake. Later, after riding a golf cart across campus in the middle of March to meet the V.P. of Student Affairs, I had no idea that there was bright yellow pollen all over the back of my black skirt when I walked into his office. Even worse, the resume that I handed everyone that day was printed on iridescent, gold paper. (If you didn’t learn from Elle Woods, learn from me—just say no to anything that isn’t ivory.) A week later, that school offered me the job.
The job search took other interesting turns because I found myself frequently changing my focus. While others were methodical with the search, I felt directionless because of how often my attention wandered. After working a graduate assistantship in Housing, I decided I wanted to explore other functional areas within student affairs—until a very charismatic cohort member talked me into going to a housing conference at the last minute. I had promised myself I’d stay in the Triangle, but at SEAHO’s job placement, I quickly fell in love with a Housing department in Georgia that had a living community I found intriguing. When I was given the opportunity to work there, I had to decide whether or not to take the leap and leave my support network. I decided I couldn’t leave my family and friends but felt torn about turning down the chance to work with people that would have been incredible colleagues that shared my values. The scariest part was turning down a job without the promise of another offer to replace it.
During the same general time frame, I was taking a class in Adult Education where I became interested in professional education. I came across a job listing at UNC’s School of Government that entailed working in continuing education with public defenders. I sent it to my professor to give to her other students, assuming I wouldn’t be qualified. All my student experience was with undergraduates and I had no legal background. Later the same night, I decided to throw my resume in the hat on a whim. It’s a good thing I did. I’m a Tar Heel now.
There are days my colleagues look at me strangely when I use “I language” and try to bring up identity theory in staff meetings. Sometimes that makes me think back to the class discussions on cultural and institutional fit. Then I remember the bigger picture. I chose this position because I wanted to broaden my understanding of what it means to work in higher education. I’ve co-authored a business plan in order to figure out how to generate more revenue in difficult budgetary times, worked with grant writing and administration, served as the continuing education liaison to a professional licensing board, and have planned events completely different than those I executed within my previous positions. This is not what I envisioned for myself this time last year, but if I hadn’t opened myself up to possibilities, I would have missed out on what has been a great learning experience.
If you remember nothing else, remember this: be flexible, be forgiving of yourself, and bring ivory resume paper.