My employment history has been extremely rocky in the past 4 years. I owe that a lot to the fact that I completed my undergrad and graduate degree at the same institution. I wasn’t extremely prepared to transition away from the place I had been at for 7 years and as a result, I have held 5 positions in the past 4 years. I am fortunate for the experiences I have had and am fortunate to be employed but I constantly feel like I am being passed up for work opportunities at my current employment.
When I began my current role as an Academic Advisor in November 2016, I was so excited to be back in the academic side of higher education administration—most of my career has been in student affairs, mostly in residence life, and I was burned out. At my current institution, I was fortunate enough to apply for an international education opportunity where we were trained to work with international students at our institution and understand the nuances of being an international student abroad. I had to apply for this opportunity and was fortunate enough to be selected; thus, I was extremely excited to be a participant. When other opportunities have come up to apply I have done so and time and time again I have not been selected.
The first opportunity came in February when they asked for volunteers to sign up to spend spring break at our Rome or Japan campuses. I applied thinking that maybe I had an opportunity as a new staff member and had never been on the trip before. What I found instead is that those selected were staff who had worked at my institution for a number of years that had been selected—some individuals selected were higher up administrators that have little to no interface with students. I thought maybe it was a seniority thing and they chose people who had been at my institution since that had “paid their dues.” I was disappointed but determined to keep working hard towards my goals.
The second opportunity came when I applied for an international grant to travel abroad to promote my institution and my department. I worked on the grant for a few weeks, got lots of feedback from my supervisor, and even had input from our Vice Provost. Again, my grant was not selected. Now before you say “maybe this was your first time ever writing a grant,” I would like to point out that I have previously written three grants and all were successfully funded—landing close to $30,000 in funding for institutional diversity education. Therefore, for lack of a better phrase, “this isn’t my first time at the rodeo.”
While I sit here disappointed yet again, I am thankful for the many other opportunities I have been afforded in my short career in higher education.
First, how many people can say that have been able to transition out of student affairs, much less residence life, in the short amount of time I have had in the field. Residence Life Professionals tend to get termed as “Res Lifers” and are normally pigeonholed into that particular field; however, my first job as an academic advisor came when I transitioned into an advising role for undecided students and I was remembered for a housing job I had previously applied for. I owe my current role to those people that took a chance on me and I am forever grateful.
Next, I have been afforded the opportunity to move into different roles and jobs in the past four years. Despite my track record, institutions have continuously given me opportunities for employment and I feel that I have been successful in a majority of those roles. Sometimes I have taken a position that better suited my skill set and not necessarily my interests—I think understanding that you can find a job that works to your skills and interest is very important to realize early on. There are definitely times when you may have to take a job you do not want but if you are already gainfully employed, I implore you search until it is the right job not just a job. Regardless, I have held a number of interesting positions in my short time in higher education and I am very grateful to have do so.
Lastly, I have come to understand that what we may want at the time is not what we want or need—A.K.A., there are other opportunities that are waiting for you that you are not aware of yet. While I was feeling sorry for myself over these minor “failures,” I was given some other opportunities in my current role and to expand beyond my typical work day. (1) Teaching—I will be teaching a university seminar at my current institution in the Fall. While this is not a new type of experience for me, I am excited to teach this course at a new institution. Additionally, I was given the opportunity to teach a 3-credit course that counts as a general education course for students. For the first time in my professional experience, I will be getting paid to teach! I am more than excited for this opportunity and cannot wait to being prepping for my course. (2) Committees—I have been involved on several committees and been given opportunities to expand my presence at my current work. Committees can sometimes be tedious but I find that they are great for getting you out of the office for a bit and provide the opportunity to network. (3) Professional development—I was recently allowed to participate in a regional conference (at no cost to me) and I additionally presented at an institutional professional development opportunity. The experiences help not only my resume but aid in networking and improving my performance in my current role.
While my victories may be small they are still victories. I, for one, have a hard time keeping positive and I again try to remember that it’s my failures that can still make me successful because they teach me more than the successes. At the end of the day, I try to remember that it is not how many awards you get, how many things you are selected for, or how much you look like a rock star but rather it you attitude and perspective—you make the choice to be miserable, unhappy, or indifferent to your work and even your life. Simply put, I come to work every day because I love working with students not because I need another certificate to hang on my wall.
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