Thursday, January 29, 2009

What type of job do I want???

It's become impossible to get through a day without the topic of job searching coming up. It's either a colleague asking me how the search is going, a supervisor or friend asking about my resume (as they know that I've been revising it and don't have it done yet), someone asking what positions I'm interested in, and and and. I'm not a big fan of those conversations - they make me nervous and make me stress out about having to figure out what I want.
Here's my problem: I could see myself doing a variety of different positions. That's a good thing, you say? Well, yes, to some extent. But I could see myself do so many different things that I don't know what to look for, what jobs to apply, what's even realistic -and then I just get stressed and worried and go into denial-mood where I pretend that I don't need to focus on searching yet.

I'm definitely considering staying in Residence Life. But what within Residence Life do I want to do? Do I want to be a hall director again? I could see myself living-in for a few more years (not forever though); I love working with RA staffs; I enjoy interacting with students (most of the time; unless they're giving me a headache because they are acting out and are getting themselves in trouble). But would I be happy being "just" a hall director? I mean, I've done this for the past three years (five if you count grad school) - and I haven't "just" been a hall director; I've also had academic advising responsibilities. So ideally, I'd probably want a hall director job that also offers me some other responsibilities and opportunities (maybe something with student activities or student leadership or orientation since those are other areas that I'm interested in).
Or should I look for a coordinator-level position? I think I'd enjoy working with graduate students and professional staff. I've gained a lot of experience over the past years and have a lot of ideas about how I would supervise my professional staff members and how I would want to train and challenge them. Supervisors and colleagues have encouraged me to look for that next step, to go for those type of positions. But am I really ready for that? And do I even have a shot at getting a position like this? I have three years of post-master's experience in Residence Life - often the minimum qualification for coordinator-level positions. MINIMUM!!! So what really are my chances? Would I just be setting myself up for a long, frustrating and unsuccessful job search? And am I really ready to take that next step? I know I'd miss working with student leaders. Yes, you can still do that as a coordinator through indirect supervision of RAs, through advising student organizations, but it wouldn't be the same as having my own student staff team.

People often assume that I am very ambitious. Yes, I am a workaholic and my job has been my life for the past three years. But I don't see myself being the youngest director of Residence Life; I don't care how much money I make; I don't need to have a "glamorous" career (if that's even possible in Student Affairs). I just want to have a job that I will enjoy and where I feel like I'm making a difference and am having an impact on students' lives. But how do I know what job that is?

No comments: