from the desk of... candidate #2
A Piece of Advice


These past few weeks in my graduate classes we’ve been talking (seemingly) non-stop about the looming job search ahead of us. I’ve been getting advice from all angles: my supervisor, my graduate peers, my friends outside the program, my supervisees, even my mother – who really still has to have me re-explain what student affairs is every time I tell her where I’m going in a few weeks (“What does that NASPA thing stand for again?”). While all their advice is well-received, everyone has a different idea of what a successful interview sounds like, what an effective resume looks like, even down to what clothes look right.

This week, we read in our textbooks testimonials of new professionals who went through their own Placement experience less than five years ago and, through their stories, give us soon-to-be professionals tips on things they wish they’d known about when they embarked on their journey. Most of the time it’s horror stories – candidates who neglected to wear their new “interview shoes” before placement, took one step on the tiled floor and promptly ate it in front of hundreds of people; clamming up during interviews and not knowing what to say as you stare across the table at some stranger you’ve known for five minutes; scoring an on-campus interview only to realize the moment you step on you absolutely know in your gut this place isn’t right for you. I’m not a worrier by nature but the sheer volume of these experiences began to shake me.

This week I realized that, at the Placement Exchange, not only do I need to bring by A-game interviewing skills and a resume that pops off the page, but I need to do some serious inward reflecting and remember what defines me as a person. What can I bring to this university? What can I bring to the department? And, most importantly, what can I bring to the students? In all our resume critiquing, mock interviewing, new-clothes-buying, discussing and sharing, I haven’t heard much about being myself while in Seattle. In fact, I almost forgot to consider it.

Cheesy as it sounds, I love quotes, and much to the chagrin of my students, toss them at the bottom of all my meeting agendas. Recently, one of my resident advisors that I supervise wrote me a card for my birthday, and helped me remember something very important. “Don’t cower from your insight. Move confidently, and you’ll get exactly where you want to go.”