Dear Mr. President

Dear Mr. President,

My name is Rachelle Leeann. I am from Our Lady of the Holy Rosary Catholic School in Miami, FL. I am an honor roll student and a third year junior Girl Scout. I love learning new and interesting things constantly. When I grow up I want to be a journalist or owner of a transportation agency. But most of all, leading our country as the first female President of the United States of America. Do you believe I can? Because two ignorant boys in my class do not believe I can because I am a girl. What do you think? Thank you and tell Socks, Chelsea, and Mrs. Clinton I said hello.

Sincerely,

Rachelle

—

My mom is visiting and brought over a box full of pictures and other childhood memories. The above message is the verbatim text from a handwritten letter that I wrote to President Bill Clinton. I wonder why I never sent the letter. I was a pretty interesting 5th grader! Journalist…or…Owner of a Transportation Agency…or…President?!

When does the little kid in us stop reaching for the stars?  Also, I think I have always thought that I could be BFF’s with Chelsea Clinton. Chelsea, if you are reading this, let’s hang out sometime.

Why Haven’t I Heard Back From Companies?

“Professional Day” the University’s Annual Career Fair was a few weeks ago and lately, students have come to my office asking about why they haven’t gotten an internship yet. I could literally cut and paste the conversation because it tends to be exactly the same, person to person.

Me: How was Professional Day? Any idea on where you will be doing an internship?

Student: No. I don’t think it went well, I didn’t hear back from any of the people I got business cards from.

Me: That’s awful! l did you write them to say thank you and follow-up?

Student: No…not yet.

Me:

Following up via email or other means,  is the make-or-break in any job search. Many  students feel that if company representatives don’t write them back, then they are probably not interested in hiring. However, if you put yourself in the company’s shoes, they are thinking the same thing, “if the students don’t follow up, then they probably aren’t interested.” Unless the employer explicitly said, “please just submit to the website”, or “please do not email your resume” , or “please be in touch with me in about 3 weeks” then you should be in contact with them as soon as possible.

Less people follow up then you would think. Based on anecdotal evidence, I would say that 1 in 10 university students will actually follow up with every employer they met at a career fair. People just don’t do it for some reason, and it is the follow-up that can differentiate you from other candidates, especially in a tough job market.  The students that get the best internships are the ones that take Professional Day beyond that one interaction. Really,  job fairs are there to help you “Make the Connection”, but the results come from what you do after the event.

Sometimes I hear that a student followed-up with companies last year and no one contacted them after, so they felt discouraged and didn’t email the representatives they met this year. This logic is a bit flawed, and I think in most cases a regression to the mean would be in order. If you don’t continue to follow-up you are closing out opportunities for yourself. No one has ever been in my office telling me that they got an internship by ignoring employers. So, suck it up and write those emails!

Then the next question is, what do I write?

Your email should be brief

Completely free of grammatical or spelling errors

What about the subject line?

I used to get really caught up on what to write as the subject line. I would stare at the subject box and couldn’t move past it. Turns out, the event in which you met them works out nicely for a subject or you could go with the position or department for which you are applying to.

At the very least:

Your email should say that you enjoyed meeting the person, and should  reference the position/department that you are interested in. It would be good to restate some of your relevant professional interests, and include an soft copy of your resume.

Ideally:

The follow up should say thank you as well as engage the person. Mention something that you spoke about when you met them, or something that they might find interesting, something that they might write you back about regardless of wether you were looking for an internship. Some ideas may be an article relevant to the industry, a case study that is pretty cool, reference to research that is going on at your university, or another cool tidbit that makes you look well read, smart, and passionate about their particular industry. This is a lot easier to do if you are genuinely interested in the field. Then attach your resume and tie it back to your interest in the company/position.

Following up is an art and the key to effective networking and the sooner you master it, the better off you will be. Now,I hope this inspired some of you guys to get on your email client and continue to make the most of those Professional Day connections.

-rle

What does social justice have to do with it?

I quit my job. This is a first. I am going to graduate school. This is also a first, not just for me, but for my family. In the fall I will be doing a Masters of Education in Higher Education and Student Affairs (HESA) at the University of Vermont in Burlington, and I am totally excited. In some ways this makes complete sense, but in other ways my decision surprises me.  Here is some insight into my process.

Consonance

1. I have worked in Student Affairs for the past two years, and I love my job
2. It doesn’t cost a thing, they actually pay me for it! (big plus)
3. This will make my long-distance relationship relatively short-distance
4. I am truly inspired by the backgrounds of my future classmates, my “cohort”
5. When I think about the ways that I could apply my research and quant background it makes me starry-eyed.
6. I am quite fond of universities in general, almost to the point of nerdiness

Dissonance

1. If I want to practice law this brings me at least 2 years further away from that goal
2. Starting salaries in Student Affairs are about $10,000 less than what I was getting offered straight out of undergrad
3. The curriculum is less research intensive than I would have liked
4. I don’t like cold weather

So what does social justice have to do with it?

I had to make a few realizations (and a pretty extensive excel sheet which I may share) before I came to this decision, but as with most decision-making, it comes down to factors that are hard to measure. Things like happiness, satisfaction, meaning, love, motherhood, and adventure.  For me this ultimately became a decision about social justice. The reasons I want to work in student affairs are similar to why I want to be a lawyer, albeit through a totally different approach. Lawyers can create equity by remedying injustice through evidence and logic. Student Affairs professionals have the opportunity to create equity though education and support. In some ways I think this second approach is more progressive and less reactive.

Who gets to go to college? Who decides? Who will succeed? And Why does this all matter? How did I end up graduating from a top-tier university when many of my friends didn’t make it? I have tons of questions to ask of the system, questions I hope to explore in-depth at UVM. Around every corner of the application and selection process, I was constantly asked about how I could bring social justice into my work, and I like that. I hope that never stops, I think it is going to be a great journey. Burlington here I come! I hope they are ready for me too!

In other news, I guess I started blogging again.