Once you tell people you have only one more year left of graduate school, they always ask the million dollar question. The unknown that looms over you. It never fails.
"So whats next?"
And then they follow it up with an even more unanswerable questions like "Where will you look for jobs? What position are you looking for? What school do you want to work at?
People, people, people. Don't you know that I have no friggin' idea. None. Goose egg. It is too overwhelming and probably self destructive to have a "plan" because, get real with me for a second and name me one person whose life turned out as they planned. Silence is what I'm getting from you right now. It isn't going to turn out the way I will map it out and even if it did, I probably wouldn't be happy with it in the end. I don't know where I will look for jobs because I'm not yet sure where I want to be. I couldn't tell you exactly what position I am looking for because I've only scratched the surface of the world of higher education. And I have even less experience working at different types of institutions, so that one is up in the air too. So, what will drive my decisions for the luminous job in the future?
The people.
100%. No doubts about it. Wouldn't have it any other way.
A beautiful campus won't make me enjoy my work. An office with a view in a city where I feel alone won't do. A great position around individuals who don't respect and accept me isn't going to cut it. Students who I can't connect with won't do either of us any good. A college without a community will be, simply, unfulfilling. The people make all the difference in the world to me.
Working with a close and caring staff who are supportive, collaborative and down-right-fun is so important to me. People who are proud of me. People who will meet me for lunch. People who will make me grow in my work and in my life. People who I enjoy seeing at 8:00 a.m. People who will take silly pictures with me.
So from now on when people ask me "What's next?", I will reply "I'm off to search for my campus family."
2 comments:
When that time comes, get ahold of me if you are interested in Cedar Rapids. Mount Mercy is a wonderful campus and the people are absolutely AMAZING and I think you would be a great fit! :)
Thank you so much! I appreciate your thoughtfulness! :)
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