You Never Know

Let me tell you a story . . .



If you've been following my blog for a while, you may recall that on Day 5 of my trip to Oregon, I drove 3 hours to an informational interview that failed miserably.  That day was a total waste, right?

Turns out, not exactly.



At the very end of that article, I mentioned that I stopped off at a community college and had a pleasant chat with someone.  Let me give you a few more details of that event.

As you can imagine, my confidence was shaken after the failed interview.  I don't like rejection, and I felt like just bagging the entire day, or the entire trip, and just going home.  So I started driving up the freeway.  After an hour of driving, I saw a sign for a community college in the next town.  I thought that I didn't want the day to end so badly.  I mean, if you are thrown from a horse, you get right back on, right?  It's to keep you from being scared of horses for the rest of your life.  At the same time, I thought another rejection really wouldn't be very fun at this point.  So fighting against my insecurities, I decided to stop.

Once I arrived, I looked around to see if there was any sign of where to go.  I found one building that advised first-generation college students.  This is an area I was interested in, but didn't know much about, so it seemed like a good place to visit.  But in the parking lot, I had another attack of insecurity.  It took me 15 minutes, but I finally gathered the courage to get out of my car and head into the building.  The people inside were nice and friendly, and I ended up having a lovely conversation with a very helpful individual.  I learned a lot, and even better, left a business card, so my name was out there.  I left, feeling better about the day and very grateful to that office for restoring my confidence in myself and my mission.

Skip forward 3 months.  It turns out that I will be heading back to that campus, and that exact office, for a job interview on Monday!

About 3 weeks ago, a job was posted on the school's website for a position in that office.  I applied, as I've done countless times before, but this time, they called me back and offered me an interview.  Now, this community college is 2 hours from my parent's house, my home base during my trip to Oregon.  I was only in the area because I was visiting the university.  If it hadn't been for my failed interview, I wouldn't have been in the area, and if the interview at the university had gone well, I wouldn't have stopped at the community college on the way back.  Because I did, however, I learned more about the community college, I met some nice people, and more importantly, I am more prepared for my interview on Monday.

Was it Fate?  I'll be exploring that in an upcoming blog post.

Changing your Master Plan

In the past, I wrote about creating a Master Plan, and then went over the Paco Master Plan.  Now I'm going to write about forgetting everything I wrote.

You see, Master Plans are there to serve you – you're not there to serve your plan.  Remember; you are in control; if something doesn't work, get rid of it, and move on.

Anita Johnston wrote a good analogy for this.  Imagine you fall into a roaring river, and as you flail around, your hand brushes against a log that is floating downstream.  Quickly you grab hold of the log and it saves your life as you rush through the cascading rapids.  Finally, you make it to a calm part of the river, and now you can swim to shore.  But wait a minute – as hard as you try paddling, you can't seem to make any headway towards shore.  That's because you're still holding on to that log.  But, you think, that log is what saved your life when going through the difficult periods.  Yes, that's true, but now as you try and make progress, it's holding you back.

Master Plans are the same way.  They help give you direction in your life and get you going in the difficult periods.  But as you shift focus or learn more, the plan that you so painstakingly prepared may no longer serve you.

Take my situation.  When I created my Master Plan, I felt that the most important thing was to move to Oregon.  I was willing to take any job just to get there.  But as I've done my research, I've decided that my first priority is to get a job in the academic advising field, regardless of the location.  As I changed my focus, my plan needs to change as well.  As I explore the “how” of finding a job in the field, I've started to apply for jobs near where I live, as well as conduct informational interviews in this area.  It's much easier to accomplish this than trying to do informational interviews 16 hours from my house.  Parts of my Master Plan have been rewritten, and my success has increased as well.  If I had continued to focus on the Oregon job hunt, it would have been much more difficult to reach my goal.

Now, does that mean my original Master Plan was faulty?  Not at all.  It was the best plan I could create with the resources I had.  I learned a lot from my two weeks in Oregon.  One of my recent job interviews stemmed from an application I submitted while on my trip.  And my plan changed as a direct result of my experiences in Oregon.  My plan changed my course of action, and my course of action changed my plan.

So by all means, continue to create a Master Plan.  I have one, even if I haven't updated it online.  It gives you direction.  Just don't be afraid of changing that direction when your personal goals change.

Me in 30 Seconds

As I talked about yesterday, it's important to have a prepared 30-second introduction – this is mine.  Remember, though that each time is different, depending on the person and the situation.  Below are two general examples of what I might say in two different situations.

So without further ado, I give you –

Paco In 30 Seconds!*

1.  Informational Interview
Scenario 1 is for an informational interview.  These are interviews I've set up beforehand.  I've never actually met these people, but I have emailed them to introduce myself, inform them that I'm coming, and why.  This 30 second introduction is to reintroduce myself, and let them know where I'd like the conversation to go.  I walk into their office, shake their hand, and when we sit down, I say, “Let me tell you a little about my situation:”

I've been teaching English to international students for the past 6 years, and I'm currently working on the NACADA Master's degree in Academic Advising through Kansas State University.  I'll be done in December,  and I'm looking at full-time advising positions at colleges or universities, preferably working with non-traditional students.  What I'm doing is learning more about what I should be doing to be marketable when there are openings at schools like this one.

From there, we just go wherever the conversation leads.  I have some questions in mind, but with a good introduction, things just seem to fall into place.

2.  Introductions at a Conference
This is a new one for me, but it's what I worked out at the recent advising conference.  At the breakfast or lunch table, before a meeting started, or even while standing in line, I would look at another person's name tag, say their name, and ask them which school they worked for.  This would inevitably lead to them asking my name and my school.  This left a perfect opening for my introduction as follows:

I'm not actually with any school.  I'm getting my Master's degree in Academic Advising through Kansas State University, and am looking for an advising job right now.  I've been working with international students for the past 6 years at a private ESL school, but am trying to make the transition to full-time advising at a college.  I'm at the conference to meet other advisors, hear their experiences, etc.  How did you get into advising?

From there, I would learn more about their experience, and they would ask more about my story and hopefully they would remember me as that one guy who crashed the advising conference.  It worked at least once, as I received an email from one of them yesterday, telling me of a job opening.

So there you go.  This is me.  I wouldn't recommend plagiarizing my exact introduction, but I hope this helps you see how to do it.


*Actually, when I timed these, they were more like 18 seconds.

You in 30 seconds

So you've made contacts in your field.  You've networked with the right people, and they've set up an interview for you with the vice president of the company.  You're wearing your nicest clothes, you are introduced to the vice president, you sit down with him and he asks, “what can I do for you?”  You then spend the next two minutes babbling about nothing, never get your point across, and the vice president thinks, “what a waste of my time!”

When I was in Oregon, it took me a few tries, but I figured out a way to explain to people quickly who I was, and what I was doing there.  I then memorized the key points, and was able to sum up me in 30 seconds or less.  Why is this important?  For one, it gives a good first impression --you come across as intelligent, easy to understand, and well-prepared.  The conversation is also more likely to go where you want it to if you can steer it in that direction immediately.  And finally, you want to make sure that you have sold your good qualities from the beginning, whether that be education, experience, or motivation.

So what goes in a 30-second introduction?  This is what I recommend –

Your Past
This is where you give your background, and also sell your abilities.  What experiences have lead you to the point where you think you could get hired in this company or field?  Do you have applicable education?  Have you worked in the field?  If not, do you have education or work experience that could transfer?  Who are you, professionally, that this person could help you find a job?  This will help the person tailor their answers to your specific situation.

Your Purpose
What are your ultimate goals?  What are you trying to accomplish?  Are you looking for a job in this specific company, or just this specific field?  Are you looking for a job immediately, or are you just considering a move sometime in the future (say, after you finish your degree)?

Your Expectations
Why are you here in this specific office, talking to this specific person?  What are you expecting this person to do for you?  Are you looking for names of higher-ups in the company?  Are you trying to learn more general information about the company?  Or are you learning how to be competitive in the field?  Each one of these will steer the conversation in different directions; you need to know which way you want it to go, or you may end up wasting this opportunity.

No matter what your purpose or expectation is for the interview, you've made a new contact.  If you've made a good impression through your introduction and the remainder of the interview, they will remember you.  When it comes time to hire, or if they hear of an opening, you will be in an ideal place to take advantage of the situation.

Going where the contacts are

One of the purposes of informational interviews is to gather information about what jobs are out there, and to let others know that you're interested in those jobs.  Making contacts in your field is one of the best ways to become employed.  If people in your field have already met you (and you make a favorable impression), your name sticks out when you apply for future positions.

The thing about informational interviews is that they take a long time.  You've got to set up the interview in advance, drive to the location, wait for your contact to be free, talk to them, drive home again, etc.  While I was in Oregon, it sometimes took me 3 hours for one 20-minute interview.  And that's when the interview didn't fall through at the last minute.  Wouldn't it be nice if all these contacts would come together in one place so you could meet them all at the same time?

One option is professional conferences.  This is where people in your field get together to listen to presentations, hold training meetings, etc.  These are generally for those who already have jobs, which means that if you don't, you have a good chance of being the only one in your situation there.

At least, that's what happened to me.  Through my informational interviews, I learned that there was a statewide advising conference coming up, and it would be a good way for me to meet a lot of people.  I signed up, and went to the 2-day conference with 200+ other participants.  It was a great experience.

Because of confusion about parking, I arrived late for the keynote speaker on the first day.  As I was waiting outside the room, I started up a conversation with another latecomer, and we spent 20+ minutes discussing her job, my situation, the hiring situation at her school, and general getting-to-know-you information.  You don't usually have time to really get to know people in informational interviews, but since we were just waiting, there were no time constraints to worry about.

Throughout the two days, I tried to get to meetings early, find someone that was sitting by themselves, and start up a conversation.  I learned more about a number of schools, and have a list of names I will contact in the upcoming weeks.  During the course of the conversations, I found out which schools were hiring or were about to list positions (quite a few), and the advisors' appraisals of my chances to get a job (pretty good).

I also learned that my Master's degree has prepared me well to be on par with the latest trends in academic advising.  I had taken classes or read articles on most of the concepts being discussed, and was even able to add my 2 cents to the conversation.  I may not have the daily experience of other advisors, but I can hold my own when discussing theory!