The Placement Exchange is officially over.  In all, I had 13 interviews, three of which were 2nd interviews.  I'm walking away from TPE with several good prospects and couldn't be more pleased with my decision to attend this year.

Looking back at the Exchange, I must say it was a well-run experience.  The best decision the organizers made was having the waiting areas arranged by candidate name instead of employer table number.  I knew that I would always be waiting for my interviews in Area A instead of running all over trying to make it to interviews on time.  Well done, TPE!

While sitting in the waiting room you couldn't help but notice the nervousness that the candidates were feeling.  More importantly, there was a sense of genuine support and care amongst the candidates.  As people were leaving to an interview, you could hear quiet whispers of "good luck" from others in the room.  That's the joy of this field we are in: there's support at every turn, even in the midst of this incredible competition we're in.

One thing about TPE that I wish we could change.  I made every effort I could to not try to compare interviews.  By that, I mean I never wanted to know "how many interviews do you have?"  Sure, I would ask how many more someone had left in the day, or if they were happy with the number they had or if they had any interviews they were excited about.  I just wish we could get away from the culture of comparing one another by how many interviews they have.  I'm sure I'm guilty of it from time to time, but I try so hard not to be that person.

Don't get me wrong: we are all going into this process with the best of intentions.  We don't ask these questions in an attempt to make the other person feel bad but rather to make ourselves feel better.  Deep down, we're trying to calm our own nerves, worried about if we have scheduled enough interviews and if we're on the right track for success.

My rant aside, as I've said previously, I do sincerely wish everyone the absolute best of luck in your search.  We may be competing for some of the same jobs, and I may let the air out of your tires if you land the job I'm after, but in the end there are no hard feelings.  We're all amazing candidates, and the most difficult job is truly with the employers trying to decide just which of us amazing people they're going to hire.

I came in here today expecting to have a bit of a rough start.  They always tell you to schedule a couple interviews as "practice" or "warm-up" interviews to get rid of the nerves and to work out answers that you were still unsure of.  Today I didn't have that luxury, though.

My travel plans changed as I was trying to save a little money by staying one less night in the conference hotel, so I woke up at 4:30 this morning and was on the road by 5:15 driving to Chicago.  I arrived at about 10:30am and immediately ran into several people I know, and a couple I hadn't seen in a few years!

First interview: 1pm.  It was a school I was very interested in.  I feel as though I did very well, and managed to land a 2nd interview with them.  Bonus!

Then there was the surprise interview that somehow didn't make it onto my schedule on my computer, but was on the website.  I did some frantic quick research and managed to finish strong with that interview, though I don't know for sure if the school is the absolute best fit for me at this time.

Then there was some down time.  I spent some time trying to track down some folks on Twitter for an impromptu tweetup, while simultaneously inhaling a Southern Style Chicken sandwich from McDonald's at the bargain price of $8.  Despite our best efforts, @thestacyface and I couldn't make our schedules jive.  We'll try again tomorrow.  Any other Higher Ed/Student Affairs twitter folks out there who want to meet up at TPE, hit me up: @erikbates.

I wrapped up the evening with one last interview that went pretty well, and I started to mosey back to my room, after calling home and stopping off to chat with @dwibb, an old friend from graduate school.

On the whole, it was a very successful first day.  The volunteers were very friendly (one was actually an old friend from undergrad) and helpful.  Check-in went very smoothly, and the waiting rooms were quiet, but not dull.  People were obviously nervous, but not annoyingly so.  I'm looking forward to day 2.  I have several more interviews tomorrow, so I'm going to be much more frantic.

With the ArsTechnica post above, it makes me wonder: how popular are the student blogs hosted by universities?  Are they actually seeing heavy use?  I know I read them, but, as I mentioned above, I'm old and fit into the age range of people who are still interested in blogs.  I don't recall ever hearing a student mention reading the student blogs at my previous schools (a sign that maybe it just wasn't implemented properly?).

I'm not breaking any ground here saying that Facebook seems to be the most popular and effective way to communicate with our students.  I'm encouraged by the fact that more official groups sponsored by campus offices are starting to spring up.  I recently stumbled upon this post over at Eighteen and Life (written by Debra Sanborn, who you should all be following), which, while a bit old, brings to light the age-old argument that faculty and staff are often reluctant to adopt new tech trends.

That being said, I am encouraged by the number of my colleagues I see using Twitter and posting to blogs.  Sure, our students may not be flocking to these arenas, but I am very happy to see the network that has formed using these services.  Fortunately, plenty of the posts out there, and even one #sachat has focused on utilizing Facebook to connect with students.  The "unpopular" mediums may not be a hit among our students, but they are a very valuable tool for us professionals.