Folks, here's the start for Amy Jones' participation in our blog for Management Issues in Student Affairs.
Amy, when you get a chance, kick this off by replying to the questions below, as you see fit. This exercise is intended to help our students learn through the experiences of our young alumni, whose voices are crucial to their understanding of the work. This is particularly the case because you had pretty much the same grounding in student affairs at the beginning of your career as they do.
We didn't do this for your cohort, but every student has an oral examination following up the comprehensive exam that they took last week. Those oral exams are beginning this week, but, once they navigate them, the coast for the job search is clear! In any event, some may be, well, a bit distracted....
Discussion starters:
1.) Describe your professional path in the field. If there are aspects of your decision making in your career choices that may inform how our students aproach the beginning of their own professional employment, please share them. If there are things you'd have done differently, please explain them.
2.) Describe some challenges you've faced in the work. Are there experiences you've had as a supervisor (or with a supervisor) that presented particular difficulty (or particular joy)? Are there challenging interactions with faculty, colleagues, students, or parents that have made lasting contributions to your learning?
3.) What keeps you going? What are the best parts of the work, particularly any neat surprises you've experienced, ways in which the work was better or more fun than you expected?
4.) You have have addressed this, but if there are any particular pieces of advice that you'd share with entering professionals, what would they be? These students are beginning their job searches (remember that?) and at the brink of making choices about what they'll be doing and where - choices that matter. Any advice for them?
A portion of the students will be interacting with you over the course of the coming week. They'll react to your observations and ask follow-up questions, and whatever time you can spare to respond to them would be nice. A dialogue with you, in effect, is what I'm seeking. Those not in direct contact with you will be observing the discussion.
I think you'll all enjoy this!
Best,
TEM
