Image by Daniel Zettwoch 

I’m sure at one point or another throughout your journey in Student Affairs someone, somewhere has told you to get out there and “diversify your experiences.” However, this statement is vague, and it is hard  to interpret what it actually means. Are you supposed to go to a different institution? Are you supposed to work in a different department? Are you supposed to switch cities? Career paths? Position types? Move up? Move out? Is it acceptable to go to grad school where you went to undergrad? How about work full-time where you got your graduate degree? So many options that can all be attributed to “diversifying your experience,” but no definitive move.

We all know the concept of diversity as it pertains to people of varying characteristics; but do we have a definition of diversity as it relates to experiences? We could probably best classify this type of diversity as a variety of experiences that contribute to who you are as a professional. However, this definition of “variety of experiences” changes from person to person, and even over time. Are we defined as being a diverse professional because we have worked at a lot of different institutions? Or are we a diverse professional because we have worked in many different departments that may be in the same institution? The point is that each person adopts their own definition of diverse experience, but there really is no standard from which to operate. The disparity that may exist in the different interpretations of “diverse experience” could hinder employees from getting a highly qualified candidate, or may hinder someone from landing that perfect job.

I’ve seen it happen; resumes are overlooked because of lack of institutional diversity, or resumes are placed on top of the pile simply because of the number of different institutions listed. The drive for “experientially diverse” professionals seems to sit at a face-level, only attributing to the variety of places one has been. Yet, its perfectly plausible that one candidate who has worked an equal amount at one institution can be more qualified than someone who has traipsed the entire country to earn the ‘diverse institution merit badge.’

What if we redefine the whole concept of diverse experiences. What if  instead we say, “go somewhere OR experience something you have yet to go or do–whatever or wherever it may be. Do it all to grow and learn as according to your career aspirations and personal goals.” After all, that’s all we really want for each other as Student Affairs Professionals anyways, right?

Let’s start encouraging our emerging professionals to seek experiences, rather than face-level diversity, because there is nothing wrong with staying at an institution that you truly enjoy.

I’m curious to hear some of the advice that your mentors provided you. Were you told to diversify your experiences? How did you interpret that piece of advice? Comment below!

The beginning of the summer is always filled with mixed emotions; you might be sad that students have waved goodbye, but thrilled at the silence of your empty campus. There is a stack of paperwork waiting for you, but your meetings with students are no longer on your Outlook.

How can you use this summer to rejuvenate and “reboot” your life so when August or September comes, you are revitalized?

First know how you “recharge.” 

Knowing if you are an introvert, recharging with your alone time is key. Extroverts need time with people, the more the better. (Granted there are exceptions and if you are “in-between” you are called an ambivert.) More information about introversion can be found in a great book called Quiet by Susan Cain.

Now for some tips. (E) for extroverts and (I) for introverts.

(E) Go to a conference out of your area. 

Extroverts need contact, but they might need a new batch of people. We tend to talk about college and college and college and then some college. I’ve found that attending conferences based on my own interests helps me meet a new batch of people who have never, ever heard of a Room Condition and Inventory form. You can find these conferences through word of mouth, Facebook and good ol’ Google.

(E/I) Get back to your interests.

If you have forgotten your hobbies and interests, you might be in some trouble. Write down a list of 10 things you love to do that have nothing to do with your job. So if you write down “Hang out with students in the dining hall.” you have to scratch that one. Don’t edit it. If you love folk art puzzles and Crossfit, that’s fine. But get back to what you like and aim for those.

(I) Catching up over coffee.

Take a look at some friendships that have drifted off and “caffinate” them with a coffee date. We tend to think we are connecting with people while on social media, but actually need real connection. Call your friends and ask them out just for coffee and talk about anything not higher education related.

(I) Start a blog. 

Introverts love to process by themselves over time and a blog is a wonderful way to do that. It can be for special interest (social justice, hobbies) or your personal blog highlighting what you have going on. You can create cheaper blogs at tumblr and blogger or you can have more professional blogs at wordpress.

(E/I) Travel.

When someone tells me that they don’t use their vacation like it’s a badge of honor, I roll my eyes (and I do it out in the open—I don’t care.) Get out of your college, your town, your state and even better, your country. There are a ton of ways to travel cheaply and you can head to chrisguillebeau.com to find out how about affordable ways to get out of town!

(E/I) Long Look at your Finances

Take ONE day, an afternoon or evening and find out these totals:

• How much money you have currently.
• How much debt you have currently.
• What is your exact salary.
• How many months/years it will take to pay any debt you have off.

I can’t tell you how many college professionals are swimming in debt and I find that debt will burn you out quickly. Get a handle on it and make a plan to annihilate that debt as soon as possible.

Ryan McRae has served on Western Association of University and College Housing Officals board, as a Western Training Institute scholar and an all around nice guy. He was a Resident Director at Cal State San Marcos for 7 years. He currently freelance writer which is a peaceful break from his year in Afghanistan. He can be reached at ryanmcrae@mac.com.

What are some other topics you would like to see us cover? Please let us know your ideas and feedback to keep #SAchat growing strong. Until next week, (if you haven’t already done so) please make sure to LIKE our Facebook Page. Thanks for your continued support!

What are some other topics you would like to see us cover? Please let us know your ideas and feedback to keep #SAchat growing strong. Until next week, (if you haven’t already done so) please make sure to LIKE our Facebook Page. Thanks for your continued support!

Evernote
Simply, Evernote allows you to capture everything, access it from anywhere, and helps you find things quickly. It’s likely the most feature complete, note-taking application. Whatever you want to remember, you simply make, or attach, as a “note.” You can do this with photos, presentations, documents, voice memos, or several other files. Notes are then synced across all of your mobile devices and to your computer allowing access to them from anywhere. You can even access your notes through a web browser. Furthermore, you can share notes with multiple colleagues for quick collaboration.

Most notably, Evernote comes with optical character recognition (OCR). Meaning, you can attach a PDF, photo, or other non-text document and Evernote will scan the file for words, telephone numbers, addresses, etc. that can all be searched. It’s fairly difficult to relate just how powerful this is until you use it. I’ve found the feature is especially convenient during conference season for managing business cards. Simply take a photo and Evernote is smart enough to make sense of the information. The feature is also great for archiving paper agendas from meetings.

Evernote offers a free service available for iOS, Andriod, Windows, and Blackberry.

Dropbox
By now, I would imagine most have heard of Dropbox. In many ways, Dropbox does for files what Evernote does for notes. Simply install the app and Dropbox places a folder on your device that remains synced with your other devices – on PCs this folder lives on your hard drive, on mobile devices it lives on the cloud. For example, if you place a document in your Dropbox folder on your computer, you can access the document on all of your other devices with the Dropbox app installed. If you save a document to Dropbox on your mobile device, it syncs to your computer. There’s nothing new about sync. But, what makes Dropbox unique is that it just seems to work the way you’d expect all the time. Best of all, you can access all your files securely from any computer using the web browser.

In addition, Dropbox allows users to share specific files or folders with multiple users. This is convenient when working with particularly large files that exceed email attachment limits or when multiple edits are expected to a document. When you’re done sharing, you can simply change the permissions or delete the folder or file. It’s like having a shared drive that isn’t limited to your work computer. Dropbox is great for accessing documents away from work (duty schedules, contact numbers, articles for an upcoming meeting, etc.).

Dropbox offers a free service available for iOS, Andriod, and Blackberry on mobile platforms and all major desktop platforms.

Fantastical
Fantastical might be the best calendar application ever created. Essentially, Fantastical allows you to schedule appointments by typing much like you’d speak. For example, type “Student Staff Selection Committee weekly in East Area Conference Room on Thursday from 1-2 beginning on June 6 and ending on December 19” and Fantastical creates the event as you’d expect. It eliminates the need to type in multiple fields, hit checkboxes, tab through to set beginning and end dates and times, etc. In fact, you can actually speak what you want and Fantastical makes the event. It’s likely the best way to schedule meetings on the go.

Fantastical syncs with Exchange, Outlook, Google, Yahoo, and iCloud calendars and has all the features you’d expect including scheduling assistant, calendar invites, and an incredibly powerful search.

Fanstastical is for iOS  and will cost you a venti mocha with a pump of hazelnut – which, understandably, could be a deal breaker.

What apps do you use to be productive? Share your suggestions in the comments below.

https://twitter.com/LosForrados/status/343052188756606976

Sometimes the most educational thing you can say to a student is no. #SAchat

June 6, 2013 7:05 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@ClareCady

Clare Cady

“Leadership and learning are indispensable to each other.” —John F. Kennedy. #AlwaysMoretoLearn #SAChat

June 3, 2013 11:17 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@TGIJFry

Jonathan Michael

“Fail fast… fail so that we all can succeed.” By DJ Patil http://t.co/iiiqtZklPl via @FastCompany #sachat #salead

June 7, 2013 2:08 pm via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@heidithuesen288

Heidi Thuesen

Is Your Company Too Nice? 8 Reasons It’s Not Working – @Forbes http://t.co/k9HOqUJdBA Is #studentaffairs too nice? #sachat

June 7, 2013 8:08 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@MalloryBower

Mallory Bower

An interesting read. great leadership or student dev application. “A Nation of Wimps | Psychology Today” http://t.co/YGzavIaulZ #SAChat

June 7, 2013 6:44 am via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@FredJKuo

Fred J. Kuo

“How having kids affects careers in higher education: http://t.co/S7K4HwRMxe” – Great discussion piece in #studentaffairs #SAchat #equity

June 6, 2013 11:59 am via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@JasonCasares

Jason Casares

Article w/ great point: people don’t get feedback on why they didn’t get hired http://t.co/QIASaQWFoj #sachat #careerservices

June 5, 2013 8:36 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@MAndrewNagy

M. Andy Nagy

4 Social Resume Strategies To Help You Get Noticed And Get Hired – Forbes http://t.co/NLInagZntI #sachat

June 5, 2013 7:06 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@amylcarmack

Amy Carmack

Don’t get ready, stay ready – philosophy of great leaders and champions. Train and practice when you’re not performing. #sachat

June 9, 2013 5:23 pm via EchofonReplyRetweetFavorite

@AntonioLPee

Antonio L Pee

What a great read: Put That Shit Down, Now http://t.co/5lzByUpX1x #sachat #highered #greekchat

June 8, 2013 9:12 am via ReederReplyRetweetFavorite

@mikemcree

Mike McRee

Image via Thriol

Be active. Not just physically, mentally, or emotionally, but be active with your professional development – this is a philosophy I’ve truly learned throughout my graduate assistantship and first full-time job search. I’d like to say that it was in my first year of graduate school where I realized that my professional development was in my own hands, but in reality I think this was a lesson I learned as a second year student staff member. As a second year RA I realized that Residence Life had the potential to be a great way to get through graduate school and was something that I truly enjoyed. So – why not combine something I enjoyed with another degree – but how to get that “sweet” assistantship…

My mentor and I quickly identified some things I could do to make myself more marketable, but more importantly give me the experiences I was looking to build upon. So I set forth and decided on planning a large-scale program and getting involved with Up ‘till Dawn with Greek Life. Eventually, I got that assistantship, moved-in, and started a new job. Then the panic set in – what was I going to do was the question that paralyzed my mind. What was I going to do in this new role to make an impact, to change the students I worked with, change the department, and change myself – what was I going to learn?

Most recently, going through the #sapro job search has inspired me to reflect on what I consider professional development to be. As I reflected I came up with, yes I know I know another acronym for the field of acronyms, but here is my professional development philosophy and all you have to do is be ACTIVE.

Authentic: Yes, I am joining in on the beating of the authenticity drum – why? Because it truthfully makes a difference and should be the first step in figuring out what someone wants professional development-wise. Being authentic in this sense, at the core, means being truthful with yourself about your skills, desired skills and experiences, and what makes you nervous. Being authentic with yourself is the first step in being able to share your professional development goals with others – so my unsolicited tip #1 is to spend some time figuring out what you want and need, and the difference between the two.

Create: “The opposite of war/ Isn’t peace/ It’s creation” – RENT. The next step is a process of creation. This part of the philosophy embodies the notion that professional development is up to you. As a young professional I have learned the value of creating a plan and serving an active role in creating opportunities for myself. I’ve learned there is no reason to be at “war” with professional development, but instead create it. There are tons of opportunities out there – and many come at the price of your time, passion, and dedication instead of having you empty your wallet of precious cents and dollars. Unsolicited tip #2: Focus on how you can create the opportunities you are looking for and figure out who needs to be included in this creation process.

Teach: Teaching others are opportunities to not only show your peers and colleagues your mad skills, but it also allows you to work on those presentation skills. In graduate school the biggest lessons I learned was that it is ALWAYS easier to present on something I am passionate about. When you pick that topic you love – it’s as if you didn’t spend hour after hour reading articles by people you assume there are statues dedicated to (when in reality they are retiring from Miami University of Ohio this year as you learned at NASPA – this shout out is for Baxter Magolda!), but have just always known the material. It’s as if the material has always been part of the fabric of who you are. Unsolicited tip #3: Present. Write proposals to present. Present. Then write more proposals to present. Pick topics you love and it will be easier. Lastly, take the feedback and work on it.

Individualization: Now that you have taken the time to be authentic, create a plan, and teach others – now make sure you are taking an individualized approach. Sometimes it is difficult because all your colleagues are going to a certain conference or you believe after a certain number of years you should be at a certain level or place. It is important to remember that it really is about YOU. Take the time to make sure you are exploring what you want and need to do and not because everyone else is going to that conference or you are at a certain year in a job – do it because you have a desire to expand that area of expertise.

Variety: Mix, spice, stir, or however you want to add variety – just do it. If I had never volunteered to serve on a recruitment team, work as a conduct officer, or start a task force/committee I would have missed out on three substantial professional experiences. These three experiences were consistently brought up in my interviews and I was so excited to share them with all these potential employers. Professional development is not about creating resume fodder, but about gaining meaningful experiences that help you discover areas of passion, interest, or even expertise. Unsolicited tip #4: Don’t be afraid to step outside your comfort zone. If you know the exact career path you want to take – fine – but if you don’t adding variety will let you explore and develop more skill sets.

Engage: Involvement vs. engagement was a recent #SAchat conversation topic and I notice a lot of people advocating and encouraging people to transcend involvement within organizations by entering into engagement. This year I had an opportunity to work with NASPA during the annual conference as a graduate intern. This opportunity highlighted why I enjoy being engaged with an organization in that capacity. Unsolicited tip #5: Get engaged with an organization. Define engagement in your own capacity and become excellent at that.

In peace,

Ryan Bye

Curious what Student Affairs folks read about the most in May? Below are the top 5 posts for last month:

1)  Why is it so hard to just go on vacation?!?!

2)  Like a Boss: Building personal yet professional relationships with your supervisees

3)  When an advising session goes over the cliff

4)  “Flipped” Advising: Ways I am Using Technology

5)  Why Our Lack of Social Media Adoption is Cause for Concern