Beginning the Search

Hi and welcome to the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr

I’m your host Dave Eng from the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr.

On the student affairs job search we dive deeply into the steps needed to move forward in our careers.

Find out more at www.jobhakr.com

On today’s show we’ll talk about beginning your student affairs job search.

The student affairs job search is a long one.

On average it takes 119 days.

That length can be very challenging; especially if you’venever participated in a higher education job search before.

That’s why it’s helpful to breakdown the specific stages of the job search.

This makes each part more manageable.

Breaking it down also makes it easier to focus.

Examining the search in stages also allows you to dedicate your time and energy to the right areas.

This episode will address the area where most entry-level student affairs job seekers find them themselves: the earliest stages of the search.

For most job seekers the early stages of the job search begins during the last two terms of their graduate program.

This often includes the final coursework required to complete their graduate degree as well as some electives that may provide some additional benefit.

These electives often provide some sort of networking, collateral experience, or exposure to other functional areas that aids in theirstudent affairs job search.

These job seekers may also be working on completing theircapstone or thesis.

Both are great documents to showcase and document academic and professional achievements.

At this stage, candidates should begin compiling, editing, and constructing an updated resume and portfolio showcasing their education and experiences.

These documents are usually extensive and encapsulate everything they’ve learned throughout their internships, assistantships, and graduate work. 

I always highly recommend that candidates ask their  peers to review their resume and portfolio.

Turning to peers in your network is a good first step.

Afterward, share your materials with your faculty members for input.

It’s also a great idea to share your resume and portfolio with assistant directors and directors who are in positions to hire entry-level student affairs professionals.

They can often provide the most critical review of your work as well as some helpful feedback.

Later in the early stages, candidates will begin to review and send applications to a myriad of different postings that fall within their target demographic and functional areas.

They include applications to research one universities, small liberal arts colleges, regional comprehensive universities, and community colleges.

Student affairs professionals are likely to apply to jobs within student activities, student engagement, residential life, study abroad, academic advising, community standards, judicial affairs, and many other functional areas.

Candidates may also take advantage of the opportunity to participate in the NASPA Placement Exchange or ACPA Career Centralduring this stage of the search.

These events serve as invaluable resources to connect with other colleagues and student affairs professionals from many diverse backgrounds.

These events are specifically useful because representatives from various institutions often come to them looking to hire entry-level professionals.

However, please note that these two conferences may NOT be the best venue for all candidates.

They often include institutions from across the country and world in many different functional areas.

Because of this, they’re not always the best choice for new professionals conducting a more targeted search in a particular geographic or functional area.

I hope you found this episode useful.

If you’d like some additional tips on your search then a great place to start is myeBook “Getting Started in your Student Affairs Job Search.”

You can download it for free at www.jobhakr.com/gettingstarted

You can also get a full transcript of this episode including links to references in the description or show notes.

Thanks for joining me!

Again, I’m your host Dave Eng from the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr. 

On the student affairs job search we dive deeply into the steps needed to move forward in our careers.

If you liked this episode please consider commenting, sharing, and subscribing.

Subscribing is absolutely free and ensures that you’ll get the next episode of The Student Affairs Job Search delivered directly to you.

I’d also love it if you took some time to rate the show!

I live to lift others with learning.

So, if you found this episode useful, consider sharing it with someone who could benefit.

Also make sure to visit the Job Hakr online at www.jobhakr.com

The Job Hakr is also on Twitter at @JobHakr and on Facebook.com/JobHakr

Also, feel free to email me anytime at dave@jobhakr.com

Happy searching!

Why does the job search take so long?

Hi and welcome to the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr

I’m your host Dave Eng from the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr.

On the student affairs job search we dive deeply into the steps needed to move forward in our careers.

Find out more at www.jobhakr.com

In today’s episode we’re tackling the question:

Why does the Student Affairs Job Search take so long?

Millennia? Years? Months?

If you haven’t been there before, then brace yourself for the dreaded LENGTH of the student affairs job search!

This search (like many job searches in academia) is a long one.

On average the student affairs job search takes about 119 days.

But why does the student affairs job search take such a long time? Why does it often feel like the hiring manager or search committee are dragging their feet?  The short answer is: plurality.

Katharine Stewart discussed this in her 2012 article on the Chronicle of Higher Education. 

Exactly how much information should search committees share with their applicants over the long process?

Turns out that revealing too much information might be good for you… but also bad for them.

This means that committees will more often than not keep their feedback to themselves.

In fact, the existence of the search committee is one that depends on one of higher education’s most cherished principles: shared governance.

In the shared governance model, the duty of the job search is shared by multiple individuals.

Those individuals form the search committee with a chairperson in charge.

This is academia’s dedication to inclusivity as a well as plurality in the job search process.

Matt Reed’s 2012 Inside Higher Ed article  indicated three principles that guide search committees:

1. input is a good thing, the more the better

2. there is a lot of talent out there, and

3. the world is a litigious place; and a process like a search committee helps keep everyone in check.

Committees also serve to safeguard against cronyism, nepotism, and blind spots that may come from a single person conducting a search.

However, if you’ve ever tried to put together a committee, you know just how hard it is to schedule all members together.

So making sure that everyone can weigh in on a particular candidate, interview, or reference can be a daunting task.

The higher education search process directly contrasts the private sector. 

In the private sector, large companies often employ human resource professionals whose entire jobs are to fill these vacant slots.

However, in higher education, we don’t task a single person for this important duty.

That is only trusted to multiple individuals. 

What we are left with is: the committee.

As such, needing to coordinate feedback, schedules, course loads, programming, calendars, and all of the other responsibilities necessary for running a fully functioning student affairs program can often get in the way of fulfilling this responsibility: conducting the search.

This means that candidates can be left wondering for months at a time whether or not they are still in the running.

So what you can do?

Part of dealing with the length of the job search is knowing that the entire search (your search) is a process.

There are elements in that process that you can control, and those that you can’t.

Most entry level student affairs professionals become burnt out on the job search because they begin to link their success to someone else’s behavior. 

This is something that is outside your power that you can’t control.

The most common consideration is actually getting a job.

But that decision isn’t totally in your control.

Instead , there are things that are in your control that will help change your mindset.

One of those aspects involves positive thinking.

As an example: consider the number of applications, cover letters, and resumes that you sent out over a span of several weeks.

Not one of them contacted you. Because of that, there are two outcomes here.

You can go the negative route and say “There must be something horrible with me! That’s why I’m not getting any responses!”

Or you can go the positive route: “The more shots I take the more likely I am to hit something!”

The same can be said with getting actual phone screens or on campus interview.

You may be the finalist for numerous job searches but come up short.

A negatively oriented person would think that at this rate they are never going to be able to land a position.

Whereas a positively oriented person would think “I’m landing all of these interviews, I must be doing something right!”

Getting into a negatively oriented mindset can begin to wear you down.

So remember to take care of the basics such as your physical health, social connections, and hobbies you enjoy.

Forgetting to take care of these can make you irritable, and send you further down the negativity spiral.

Both of those outcomes won’t help you in the long run.

Remember: you are never the only person out there looking for a job.

Thousands of student affairs professionals look for their first position every year.

You aren’t the first one to experience this and you won’t be the last!

Remember that the length of the student affairs job search is tied closely to higher education’s oldest principles of plurality and shared governance: many people are asked to weigh in and provide their input on candidates.

One day you will be in the same position.

This is because institutions want their next hire to be someone that they can all welcome and work with.

The student affairs job search is a process. The outcome is the job.

Your orientation is dependent on what you can accomplish today. Not the decision of someone else.

So go into your job search asking yourself “What will I accomplish today?”

If you want to send out 2 applications, then so be it. If it is to conduct an informational interview with a director then set it up.

It’s about the small wins along the way that will add up to your eventual success.

I hope you found this episode useful.

If you’d like some additional tips on your search then a great place to start is myeBook “Getting Started in your Student Affairs Job Search.”

You can download it for free at www.jobhakr.com/gettingstarted

You can also get a full transcript of this episode including links to references in the description or show notes.

Thanks for joining me!

Again, I’m your host Dave Eng from the Student Affairs Job Search by the Job Hakr. 

On the student affairs job search we dive deeply into the steps needed to move forward in our careers.

If you liked this episode please consider commenting, sharing, and subscribing.

Subscribing is absolutely free and ensures that you’ll get the next episode of The Student Affairs Job Search delivered directly to you.

I’d also love it if you took some time to rate the show!

I live to lift others with learning.

So, if you found this episode useful, consider sharing it with someone who could benefit.

Also make sure to visit the Job Hakr online at www.jobhakr.com

The Job Hakr is also on Twitter at @JobHakr and on Facebook.com/JobHakr

Also, feel free to email me anytime at dave@jobhakr.com

Happy searching!

References

Block, M. S. (2015). The Student Affairs Job Search. Retrieved October 18, 2018, from https://www.higheredjobs.com/articles/articleDisplay.cfm?ID=669

Cardy, A. (2016). 2 Mindset Changes That'll Make Your Long Job Search a Little Less Stressful. Retrieved October 16, 2018, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/2-mindset-changes-thatll-make-your-long-job-search-a-little-less-stressful

Foss, J. (2015). How to Survive an Endless Job Hunt Without Losing It. Retrieved October 16, 2018, from https://www.themuse.com/advice/how-to-survive-an-endless-job-hunt-without-losing-it

Reed, M. (2012) Why Searches Take So Long | Inside Higher Ed. Retrieved October 16, 2018, from

https://www.insidehighered.com/blogs/confessions-community-college-dean/why-searches-take-so-long

Stewart, K. E. (2012). What’s Taking Them So Long? Retrieved October 16, 2018, from https://www.chronicle.com/blogs/onhiring/whats-taking-them-so-long/30731