One week to Chicago
That's right -- just one more week until The Placement Exchange in Chicago! So far I'm sitting at 5 interviews, with a couple more that I need to finalize. Not a huge amount, but not exactly small-time, either. Granted, my first time at the Oshkosh Placement Exchange I naively scheduled over 20 interviews. Take my advice: don't do that. Ever.
My goal is to have 7 or 8 interviews scheduled before the conference, and to hopefully schedule 3 or 4 more once I arrive. A solid 12 interviews would be a full conference, I think.
Some questions that I've been mulling over as I prepare for the conference:
- Business cards: Do I need them? I don't currently work for a company that provides business cards. Will I need more than my resume and my winning smile as I walk around the job conference?
- Are there socials at TPE like there are at OPE, or is the social aspect reserved for the NASPA conference itself?
- Seriously, does anybody need a roommate? I'm going to wind up staying at a seedy hotel if I can't find someone to split the cost of a room with.
I'm finally starting to feel the nerves about the job search. Here's hoping I can wrap it up quickly!
Odds are, I won't be chiming in again until TPE. But I do plan on checking in "from the trenches".
Placement Exchange Prep
Preparing for The Placement Exchange is a big process. Todays to-do list included:
- Complete my profile, including figuring out how to write a blurb again (suggestions appreciated).
- Find the most current version of my resume.
- Take said resume and try to add my current retail experience into the mix so that it doesn't look like I've just been sitting around not working for the past 6 months (suggestions on this part are also appreciated).
- Browse around the TPE website to see who is hiring!
How much of this did I get accomplished? Well, I dug up the resume and knocked the dust off of it, and I played around with some formatting (with and without my current retail experience), and I browsed the TPE website. I worked on my profile, but will need a little help from some friends to get the blurbs looking polished and ready for presentation.
The question of the day regarding my resume:
Regarding my resume, do I include my current retail experience and, if so, how?
I've had suggestions on both sides of the argument. Either leave it out and explain it in my cover letter (which employers won't actually see while browsing the TPE profiles), or put it in because having a gap in employment looks worse than irrelevant work experience. I can understand both sides of the argument, so naturally, I'm torn. Thoughts and suggestions from anybody who wishes to chime in would be greatly appreciated.
On another note, is anybody going to TPE and needs a roommate? I don't snore (much), and I don't hog the bathroom!
The (Job) Hunt is On
Well, I'm hitting job search mode like a champ. God bless you, Office Max, but your part-time experience is not what I had in mind when I decided to spend 2 years in graduate school.
So, here I am, polishing the resume and trying to figure out just what my next step should be. My options (at least in my opinion):
- Residence Life
- Housing (yes, I'm making a distinction between the two)
- Academic Advising
- Admissions
- Dream world: Campus Ministry (though not likely with my experience and education)
I'm making preparations to attend The Placement Exchange. It's a short trip for me this year -- St. Louis to Chicago, and with some luck, I'll be able to share a hotel room with a friend or two who is attending the conference.
So, the hunt is on. Honestly, I enjoy the job search process. It is a little more fun when you're searching casually, though. This search has a little more importance, though, as it's going to (hopefully) get me out of retail land and back into the higher ed game where I belong. I've enjoyed working at Office Max. Don't get me wrong. I like my coworkers, and I think I could see myself staying there longer if I only got paid a bit more. Unfortunately, $8 an hour in a part-time job just doesn't make the monthly student loan payment.
To those of you who are entering the hunt this year, I wish you the best of luck. Unless, of course, we're applying for the same job. In that case, watch out. I'm coming for you.