ACUHO-I News Blog

A woman of distinction! Dr. Valerie S. Averill has truly touched many individuals across the country and throughout higher education. For the members of the National Board of Directors of NACURH, she was more than just our National Advisor. She was a mentor, a muse, a hero, a friend, a mom, a shoulder to lean on, an encyclopedia of NACURH and its history, and an inspiration to all of her colleagues and students that she interacted with on a daily basis.

NACURH would not be where it is today without the guidance and contributions that Valerie provided during her tenure with this organization. Her commitment to student development is recognized across the country. Valerie has been serving in the role as NACURH National Advisor for the past eight years and prior to that she served as a Regional Advisor for GLACURH, MACURH, and SWACURH. It is its undeniable that she makes an impact in every organization she comes in contact with and every student that has had an interaction with her. Valerie was an individual who truly lived for the students.

NACURH was fortunate to have Valerie in attendance at the Strategic Planning Retreat two weekends ago. Knowing that her ideas, philosophy, and vision will be part of the next five years of this organization is heartwarming. As the National Board moves forward in completing our term, Valerie will forever be in our hearts.

Dan Ocampo, Director of Residential Living at University of California Berkeley, was selected at the Semi Annual Business Meeting in January 2010 to be the next NACURH National Advisor. At this time he has been appointed by the National Chair to serve as the Temporary National Advisor until NACURH 2010 when he takes on his new role.

NACURH is often viewed as a family, and now more than ever, we are coming together to celebrate the life of an individual who instilled upon us that our life was important and that we should never waste it living below our potential. Dr. Valerie S. Averill you will always have a special place in the heart of NACURH.

Editor’s Note: October is Careers in Student Affairs month. In recognition of that, Ellen Heffernan of The Spelman & Johnson Group is acting as a guest blogger and offering advice applicable throughout job search process. In this post she addresses the subject of selecting references.

Are you preparing to enter the job search world? Consider that, earlier this month, registration for The Placement Exchange opened. It’s the place for student affairs job placement services. Join us March 3-7, 2010 in Chicago.

View all the posts from Ellen Heffernan here.

Providing references is one of the most critical, and underestimated, parts of the job search process. It is important to create a strategy for developing a range of references that can speak on your behalf about your work as well as your accomplishments. It is also important to manage this network of references carefully and constantly. When you consider the types of references you need to have on your list, think broadly.

Your references should include your former supervisors, staff who reported to you, a faculty member you worked with, people you worked with on key committees, students, and professional colleagues that you partner with on campus. Additionally, you need to consider alumni that you may have worked with on a fundraising committee, business partners such as architects or construction developers that you worked with on that new residence hall, and professionals that you have worked with outside of your institution, such as colleagues from ACUHO-I committees. Your reference list needs to be broad and deep and your references should be able to speak to your work and accomplishments on a specific project, within a committee, or across campus.

After you ask someone to serve as a reference and you name them as a reference in a specific search you should:

• Talk to them about the position you have applied for, what you know about the institution and the position, what you think the search committee is seeking, and what you would like the reference to talk about.

• Be sure they understand that a reference may not be able to answer all the questions asked about you. They may not have worked with you in that context and they should simply acknowledge that if asked.

• Check back with them after they have spoken on your behalf to get their feedback and impressions on the process and the institution. You may learn something critical!

For more tips on creating a strategic reference list please visit the SJG website!

Tell us what you think!

Editor’s Note: October is Careers in Student Affairs month. In recognition of that, Ellen Heffernan of The Spelman & Johnson Group is acting as a guest blogger and offering advice applicable throughout job search process. In this post she addresses the subject of the job interview. And speaking of job interviews, registration for The Placement Exchange opened this month. It’s the place for student affairs job placement services. Join us March 3-7, 2010 in Chicago.

The goal of your resume and cover letter is to get you an interview for the position you are seeking. Interviews can take many forms—telephone, video conference, airport, on campus interview, etc. However, the cornerstone of a successful interview process is to be prepared.

Do your homework to gather information about the institution and the position that you are applying for and focus on the culture of the institution and the responsibilities of the position. Use resources such as the institution’s website, call your colleagues, search the Chronicle of Higher Education Web site, review the institution’s admissions materials, and whatever other resources you can find.

The best interviews are designed to test your ability to think on your feet, to make a clear and concise case for why you are a fit with the institution and with the position, and to create a sense of excitement about your work and interest in the position. Some tips for a successful interview include:

• Telling someone about your skills is not the same as showing them. Everyone has stories about solving problems or getting out of difficult situations—use them!
• The “why is this position appealing” question — you MUST draw a connection between your skills and the institution’s needs!
• Have at least Three Good Questions (ask at least one of the same questions of everyone you meet – it’s always interesting to see how many different answers you get!);
• Take your time and be on time!
• Remember the concept of FIT—you are interviewing the institution as much as they are interviewing you;
• If you don’t know which is your bread plate you better learn it before you get to the interview meal!
• Anticipate difficult and potentially inappropriate questions. Remember there are really only three interview questions in the entire realm of interview questions!

Good interviewers create a feeling of enjoying the interview process, of having balance between answering and asking questions, and of having a genuine interest in the institution and the position. For more tips on successful interviewing you can visit the SJG website.

Tell us what you think!

Editor’s Note: October is Careers in Student Affairs month. In recognition of that, Ellen Heffernan of The Spelman & Johnson Group is acting as a guest blogger and offering advice applicable throughout job search process. In this post she covers, well, cover letters. You can read about resumes here.

Cover letters are exercises in marketing and remember the basic concept of marketing: The ability to identify your audience and reach out to them with your message! So, when you create a cover letter for a position you MUST consider your audience.

Your cover letter should be specific to the institution and the position and as you craft your letter you should ask yourself what does the institution/division need in this position? What are their challenges? What, specifically, do I bring to the table that might interest them or get them excited about my application?

The mechanics of the cover letter include:

• The Four Basic Paragraphs: 1)State the purpose; 2) Summarize your skill and knowledge areas – highlight some solid, measurable accomplishments; 3) Briefly state what you know about the institution/position; 4) Indicate why you are a good match for institution/position
• Speak to the position description/advertisement
• Speak to any special situations that you may have
• Personalize your letter! (use the web to look things up)
• Proofread, don’t just spell check. Ask a friend to read the letter. Sometimes it helps to read it backwards so you ensure you have included every word.

A good cover letter should not be more than two pages in length; it does not rehash what is in your resume, and it indicates that you have knowledge of the institution to which you are applying as well as the position you are applying for!

For more tips on crafting a strong cover letter visit the SJG website! For questions on your cover letter, just e-mail us!

One of the best places to go for good information on how to be successful in a search process is your own memory. Think back to the search committees that you have served on and give some thought to the dynamics you observed. You’ll probably recall that there can be “interesting” politics on these committees — people are chosen for the committee for various reasons, and objectives can differ among the members. You’ll likely also recall that some good candidates are passed over for very minor reasons such as typos in the cover letter, the “tone” of a cover letter, a confusing résumé, etc.

Put yourself in the committee’s shoes. When you create your résumé, you want to provide the committee with the information they need to move you on to a phone interview. Your résumé serves as the foundation for information about your professional skills and experiences.

Your resume should provide:

• Contact information—cell number, home phone, office phone, email, mailing address, etc.  Do not provide a phone number if you don’t want someone to call it; do not provide an email address that you don’t check daily. Be sure your e-mail address is appropriately professional!
• A brief description of the institutions you have worked at. Were they public or private? Residential? Selective? What was the total enrollment? The search committee should have a sense of your responsibilities and achievements within the context of your institution.
• A selective list of presentations, publications, conferences, etc from recent years.

Remember:

• Your current position should contain the most detail about your responsibilities and accomplishments and should be on the first page of your résumé.
• The attention of the reader wanes after the first page so keep information clear, concise, and easy to find.
• Style manuals are your friend. Make sure your citations are correct for publications and presentations!

As many institutions are now accepting your materials electronically, it is more prudent to have your resume in a PDF format. For more tips on crafting an effective resume you can visit the SJG website!

Tell us what you think!

October is Careers in Student Affairs month. We at SJG-The Spelman & Johnson Group are very excited about being invited to be guest bloggers for ACUHO-I this month to talk about those aspects of career advancement and job search strategies that have relevance to student affairs professionals throughout their careers.

SJG-The Spelman & Johnson Group is an executive search firm that serves colleges and universities. We have conducted hundreds of searches for directors, deans, and vice presidents within housing, residence life, and student affairs. We will share our experiences all this month as we tackle a variety of topics starting next week with a discussion of resumes. The following week we will talk about cover letters, the third week in October we will cover references (the most underestimated part of the search process), and we will close the month with job interviewing.

Throughout the month, if there are specific questions you have or topics you wish us to address within any of our four themes please comment!

But to get this conversation started, for those of you that may be currently conducting a job search or if you are considering a potential move, here are some things to consider:

• Do an assessment of your strengths and understand what energizes you!
• Have a career goal –if you don’t know where you are going that is where you will end up.
• Think broadly about career paths within student affairs—options energize your job search.
• You don’t need to have a linear career path but you need to be able to explain your career path!
• Do your due diligence about a position and institution and trust your intuition about the fit.
• You can stay at an institution too long!
• You need to make sure your online brand/social network information represents you as a professional (we don’t need to see THOSE vacation pictures).
• Your new job starts the second you decide you are a candidate.
• And, you can’t turn down a position you have not been offered.

Next week we will dive right into to the topic of resumes and here is a hint as you pull out your resume to review it: Have you updated the information about your current institution?