Takin' Care of Business #11

For the past week many of us grads in Student Affairs have been scheduling phone interviews to get a summer internship. I too have been on the boat trying to find a cool place to work at for the summer. This whole crazy busy time feels like when I was applying for grad school last year. It reminds me of when I went to OPE (Oshkosh Placement Exchange)...well, maybe not as nerve wracking. I mean...it is an interview over the phone, so it's not that bad.

When I was applying for assistantships last year at OPE, I let schools contact me. I never went and sought an institution out. I thought that with applying for Housing jobs with ACUHO-I and Orientation ones with NODA I would at least get like 20 e-mails from people wanting me to work for them, just like it had happened for me during OPE. Well...not so much. I've had a few schools contact me and so the search for a summer internship has been dwindling down.

What I've been trying to look for are things that I have limited experience in. I want to be a "Jack of all Trades" and I want to be well rounded in all areas of Student Affairs. That is why I chose Summer Conferencing, Summer Orientation, Parent Services, and community college experiences as practicum options. This past week I had 2 interviews...one school in Georgia for ACUHO-I, and a school in New York for NODA. I was going to have an interview with a school in Indiana on Thursday, but it got rescheduled for next week because they are without power because of the ice storms they had earlier this week.

On that note...I was ready at 3:30 p.m. Central Time, just as our e-mails had stated for Thursday, waiting by the phone in my office to have my interview. I waited, and waited. Then 15 minutes go by, and nothing happens. I'm staring the phone down, willing it to ring with my mind. I walk over to my Supervisor's office and ask "So when doing a phone interview, the school is supposed to call the interviewee, right?" My boss was like "Yes, why?" and so when I explained what was going on and how freaked out I was getting, he told me that myabe they were just running behind on their schedule. So I sat in my office, watching last week's episode of "Grey's Anatomy" waiting...4 p.m. comes around, I check my e-mail to see if I have an update from this school, but nothing is there. I checked my cell phone to see if they had called me there, but no missed calls and the volume is up at its highest. 4:15 p.m...still waiting...4:30 p.m. "that's why we're waiting--waiting--waiting for the world to change" (sorry, had a John Mayer moment). My office closes at 4:30 p.m. and so I grab my stuff and head out to get some dinner before class starts. I was so confused, and sad, and upset. I kept thinking "Oh my God, they forgot about me" and "What if they found someone else?" When I got to class, some of my peers were asking what was wrong with me, and I told them what had just happened. They all thought it was crummy if the school had forgotten about me. Some of my peers had experienced the same thing with other schools, who set a time to interview but didn't call until later. Well...everything was fine the next day when I saw my inbox. The person who was going to interview me sent me an e-mail through her BlackBerry explaining the electricty problem. So we are going to do this interview next week. Hopefully, this all works out.

My interview with the school in Georgia was bad. It was my first one of the season, and so I felt very anxious and nervous. My interview the following day with the school in New York went much better. I'm really looking foward to hearing from them next week to see if I make it to the second round of interviews. There was another school that I was highly interested in New York, but they haven't contacted me. To tell you the truth, the majority of the schools that I picked out for NODA haven't contacted me. Just the NY school I interviewed with, and another one in Illinois who happened to just send me a letter saying that they were NOT going to interview me. Something about they were only going to interview 5 people, and I didn't make the cut. You spent money on a stamp and paper to tell me you don't want to talk to me??? What the heck?! Couldn't you just send an e-mail? Way to go with their sustainability plan...and sorry if I sound bitter (I mean, hellooooo, 5 people--seriously?), but an e-mail would have sufficed. Tree killers.

Only time will tell...well, I'll know on February 11th. Hopefully, things work out. I have somewhat of a fallback plan. I contacted the community college I used to attend in Texas, and they have an opening for an intern in their TRIO/Passkey Program which works with first generation students and underrepresented groups. I'm pretty sure this internship is unpaid, so that might be a problem. The only bright side to going back to Texas this summer would be that I wouldn't have to pay for rent or food because I would be living at home with my parents. Downside is I'm going to have to take my car (at my house we have transportation problems)...and driving to TX is not a fun trip. I did it once when I first moved up to Iowa for undergrad, and I didn't drive that time because I didn't have a licence and I went with 10 other students in my scholarship program. But that was the longest trip of my life. I'm really hoping for the school in New York to offer me a job. I want to get an East Coast experience and leave the MidWest for a while. It's NY! Of all places, me going back to NY after a 14 year absence. Going back to where I was born. Trying to make a connection with that part of me that I don't have anymore. It would be so awesome!!!

Anyways, let's see if I took care of business well when February 11 arrives. Wish me luck :)