Introductions and expectations

As cold snowy weather slams the east coast and friends keep posting pictures of their view of the winter wonderland, it seemed a perfect time to cozy up with a mug of tea and my laptop and write my "Hello" post.

I am an Employer. Plain and simple- I hire people. I've been involved in recruitment, hiring, orienting and training new staff for much of my professional career and when the opportunity arose to write anonymously from the employer perspective I couldn't help but jump with joy. The fear of lawsuits or EOD investigations, the protection of candidates' experiences and campus processes, technology distancing us from candidate contact, lack of time, lack of care- whatever it may be there are many reasons why we Employers can't talk from "Inside the Search". I'm about to change all that.

Join me this search season as I share inside information, details that only an employer could know (but you would benefit from), real life examples or errors that candidates are making right now and ways to turn those mistakes around. I'll provide timely advice in an era of job scarcity, cutbacks and the ever-present funnel from entry-level to that "next-step" position. This isn't just about Residence Directors-I'll tackle search tips for nearly every level.

I've served on or coordinated searches for Housing, Student Activities/Student Unions, Career Services, Disability Services, Dean of Students, VPSA's, Academic Advising, Fraternity and Sorority Affairs and more- nothing is off limits. My current position has me primarily running Residence Life searches- so this year's advice might lean heavily in that direction- but don't hesitate to ask questions about searches in other functional areas! My goal is to help you learn from the inside so you can have the most successful job search possible. I hope that other employers might write and share their insider tips and real life candidate examples so I can include those in future posts as well.

I'm old enough to be an "upper level administrator", and young enough to use Facebook. I can still remember my first interviews and shudder at some of the answers I gave (thank goodness I was hired anyway!). I have also been quite successful in every job search I've conducted- and trust me, you would rather hear from someone who has also had their own job search success! Every day I wish I could write to an applicant or candidate and tell them specifically why they are cut from our process, or why we didn't offer them the job. Now I get to share that feedback and advice with you.

I'm looking forward to the next few months as I get to write to you from Inside the Search!