Challenge and Support What did we get ourselves into?

The Placement Exchange: Day 1

Day 1 of the placement exchange is in the bag!  I forgot just how much I really do enjoy this process.  It is nerve-wracking as all hell, but it's incredibly exciting.

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.