Tag Archives: NAFSA

Conference Prep 101: Engage, Share, Learn & Enjoy! By Amanda Williams, Ph.D., 2013 alumna

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Attending professional conferences is one of my favorite things about working in the field of student affairs. It is a great opportunity to connect with colleagues across the street, state, or country on topics and issues of interest, to share similar experiences, and to build new skills to develop ourselves and our students.

My first professional position out of graduate school was as the Internship Coordinator for University Career Services at UNC Chapel Hill. While I was one of many career counselors on the team, I was the only person at the time that was specifically focused on internships. A few months after I started, my supervisor told me I was going to attend a conference called the National Society of Experiential Education… an association and conference I had never heard of before. I was a bit skeptical at first but I quickly found myself surrounded by people who ALL worked with internships! It was exciting to meet new colleagues, share experiences, and leave with a new understanding and appreciation of the work I did every day. Ten years later, those folks I met are still some of my ‘go-to’ people on issues related to internships and experiential learning.

I share that story to say that there are so many different professional association and conference options available in student affairs and higher education. Explore different opportunities and don’t be afraid to branch out and try things outside of the ordinary! Regardless of where in the field you end up, you will find an association ‘home’ that is a great fit.

With the NASPA and ACPA conference and job search season quickly approaching, I wanted to share a few pieces of advice that may help you be more prepared, more engaged, and more excited about heading to New Orleans or Tampa in a few weeks!

Step outside of your comfort zone. This obviously means different things to different people, and only you can decide how to approach it… but I highly encourage you to do it! Attend a reception, introduce yourself to someone who works at an institution you’re applying to, or simply ask a question during a session. Sure, putting yourself out there can be scary, but you’re attending the conference for a reason, right?!

Learn something… One of the most valuable aspects of conference attendance is all of the great sessions, workshops, posters, and roundtable discussions that are on the program schedule. Attend some sessions that are practical and will be helpful in your current assistantship/internship/job. Also make sure to go to a couple of sessions that are related to topics you are interested in but don’t get to explore as often, or are related to the type of work you hope to be doing in the future.

…And teach something! If you submitted a proposal and were accepted to present at a conference – congratulations! It is a wonderful opportunity to share information about your research, a new program, assessment results, etc. with others in the field. Even if you are not on the official program schedule, there are still many ways to share your knowledge with other conference participants. Ask questions, share your opinion, join conversations, start a new discussion, and engage in social media dialogue. Every single person at the conference has information and experience to share… start now!

Connect, connect, connect. Since our field is so mobile, it is nice to have an annual excuse built in to catch up with old classmates, faculty, and colleagues. Grab coffee, meet at sessions, and definitely plan ahead with some of those hard to reach people! Make sure you take time to meet some new people too. The person sitting next to you in a session might end up as a future coworker or research collaborator. You might even bump in to your future best friend.

And finally… dress the part and practice your “elevator speech”: it is possible you might actually end up in the elevator with someone new! Sign up to volunteer for a shift or two. Attend the social functions that are planned. Explore the city. And most of all, have fun!

Dr. Amanda Williams is a 2013 graduate of the Educational Research and Policy Analysis doctoral program. She currently serves as the Director of Career and Academic Advising in the College of Design at NC State University.

Guide to the Local Job Search, by Staci Thornton, 2012 alumna

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Hello second years!!  I wanted to take a second to write about the local job search because I found it to be a lot different than those doing national job searches.  I would like to preface with the fact that I’m no expert but these are some things I did that I think can help you out:

  1. I basically started my job search right when I started my final year. A dream job might open up that may work around your school schedule or not start until much later.  There was a job opening at UNC in October that I REALLY wanted and I assumed they wanted someone to start soon so I didn’t apply.  It turned out those positions were not filled until March so I may have had a chance if I had just applied.
  2. Apply for jobs that may not perfectly fit into what you want to do. Everyone has his or her filters and if yours is you want to stay local, you may have to sacrifice what you really want to do.  I applied for jobs all over the field!  Don’t choose something you will hate but just don’t be uber picky.
  3. When you start looking at job websites, most of them split jobs into EPA or SPA. Most of us will get EPA jobs but I applied for some SPA jobs and again, they may not have been ideal but the salary wasn’t that different and they were still in the realm of what I wanted to do.  Also, I found that private institutions, like Duke, do not always require a Masters Degree for some of their positions but that does not mean you shouldn’t apply.  They are able to be a bit more lenient when it comes to hiring so read the job description and see if it’s something you want to do; don’t just read the job qualifications.
  4. I’m sure you’ve heard the phrase, “it’s all about who you know,” and that’s SO true, especially in student affairs. Everyone knows each other, it’s random and you can use this to your advantage!  I had weekly informational meetings with people from UNC, NC State, and Duke in fields I wanted to work in or with people who knew people I had worked with.  Talk to your supervisor about who they know and then shoot them an e-mail just asking to speak to them about their experiences.  Then wow them and bring a resume so they want to hire you if they have a position open. 🙂 One caveat to this was that sometimes I got some random advice or people telling me how hard it is to get a job in the area so you need to just brush it off and learn from them but not completely rely on them.  The point is to get your name out there.
  5. Reach out to AJ and ask what alumni are in the area and talk with them as well. I currently work with two alumni who knew me and one current student who met me at Recruitment Weekend so they both vouched me after the interview and voila, got the job. 🙂
  6. Go to local conferences. A lot of national organizations have local affiliates with conferences (usually in the fall).  It will be more helpful for you to network at those than the national conferences.  You can also go to functional area local conferences.  I went to NCAIE, the local affiliate of NAFSA, for two years and made some awesome local connections.
  7. Another important thing to realize is that your job search is going to look A LOT different than those with national searches. You may not have as many jobs to apply for so you may not get as many interviews.  Don’t get bogged down by that!  Also, for people doing a functional job search, their cover letters for different jobs might look pretty similar but it may take you a lot longer to tailor each cover letter to a specific job since you are probably applying for a wider array of types of jobs.  So it might seem like you are doing a lot more work but remember that you won’t ever have to get on a plane or sleep in a hotel or wonder if your suit got all wrinkled in the travel because your interviews will be close by.  Also, since you are close by, I found the interviews to be a little less intense, maybe a half-day as opposed to a day and half.  Or they might have you come in for coffee or something more casual.

Also, one thing that I had a hard time with was people telling me that I needed to expand my job search (not people in my cohort or my professors, just other professionals).   This caused me to lose some confidence in my choices but if you really want to stay in the area (which is totally reasonable because the Triangle is rock solid awesome), then do it and trust your choices!  I think the local job search can be a bit more time consuming but stick with it and it’ll all work out!

On one of my informational interviews, someone once told me that they wished someone had told them that there is more than one hiring period for student affairs.  Just because you don’t have a job in March, doesn’t mean you won’t ever have one!  A lot of people hire in July and August so keep truckin’ along!

If y’all have any questions or want to talk about the local job search process more, please let me know!  Again, I’m no expert but these things worked for me and I’m glad I had people to tell me these things. 🙂 Enjoy your last year, it goes by fast!!!

Staci Thornton is a 2012 graduate of the Higher Education Administration master’s program. She currently serves as an Academic Coordinator for Professional Masters Programs with the Master of Engineering Management Program at Duke University.

Conference and Collaboration Opportunities, by Nicole Thomas

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You often hear that the triangle is a great place to be for Higher Education. Not only are there tons of schools to work and gain experience at, but there are also so many opportunities to collaborate with other professionals! This October the regional NAFSA (Association for International Educators) conference is coming to Raleigh. I am so excited about the opportunity because I will be blending my interests from my assistantship and internship to co-present with someone at NC State.

I currently work at Duke University as the Gender Violence Prevention Graduate Assistant and at NC State in the Office of International Services as an Advising Intern for international students and scholars. My colleague approached me about co-presenting at the regional conference but I thought to myself, “I am not an expert in advising international populations yet, what could I possibly contribute?”. He was interested in my work at Duke and after a coffee chat we decided that international educators have the opportunity to attend so many workshops on advising…..why not develop a workshop for them on how to respond to an international student that may have been a victim of gender violence? We know that gender violence is a problem on our college campuses and it affects every segment of the population, including international students, scholars and their families. The idea was so intriguing!

I have learned so much researching the cultural differences and responses to gender violence. Surprisingly, my research has helped me become a better immigration advisor because I have explored other issues that my students and scholars are dealing with. My colleague and I have really enjoyed working together and have spent a lot of time digesting and reflecting on how these issues affects our population. I would highly recommend submitting a conference proposal while studying in your program at NC State! Professionals want to hear and learn from you. Even if you aren’t sure you know enough about the topic, research your interests and find a triangle colleague to tag team it with!!

If you are interested in learning more, the HEA October meeting will have a Conferences and Associations professional development component with our newest faculty member, Tiffany Davis!