New school years bring new professionals! While I’m entering my third year working in the higher education space, I’ve also had the pleasure of welcoming a new Assistant Director and three Graduate Assistants into this exciting, complex, and challenging arena we call the Fraternity and Sorority Life Office. 

The range of guidance provided to navigate the first steps into professional life can vary quite widely; like my students and colleagues hear me say constantly, I have a lot of thoughts. To prevent you from “trial by fire”, “drinking from a fire house”, or any other flammable metaphors defining your first semester, I’ve outlined steps and tips that have helped me find strong footing in my work and increased my personal success in my role. *results may vary

 The Low Hanging Fruit: Use what’s readily available

Be aware of and take part in your campus’ built in opportunities to be educated, and discover the communities that lie within. Are there affinity groups for faculty and staff? Can you take part in community building or volunteer initiatives? Are there groups who do yoga or power walk campus during the lunch hour? Read up on potential campus-based connection points. Make it a habit to utilize your universities newsletter or social media to create your calendar.

Your local city or living community may have opportunities like this as well. I’ve gotten connected to my local young professionals group, which not only allows me to network, but also provides the simple luxury of having something other than work on my calendar – which can at times be difficult to plan yourself. 

Go green: Use newness to your advantage

You will hopefully have some level of onboarding, which should include opportunities to meet, get coffee with, or pick the brains of other professionals on your campus. Come prepared to ask questions. What doesn’t make sense? What background knowledge do they have that you’d benefit from? What political undercurrents should you be aware of? Sometimes the answer to the question ‘why do we do it this way’ is that no one has asked for it to be done differently. Use your unknowns to your advantage. Vocalize your curiosities and be open to invitations to explore them further.

Ask for introductions

You may find yourself in new environments and struggle to make new friends or to find your place. Don’t allow yourself to get complacent there. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and knowing many incredible colleagues who would frequently talk about other professionals on campus that they believed I would enjoy meeting – ask for an introduction. A quick email goes a long way and has afforded me  a number of coffee hours, lunch breaks, and zoom chats to further connect and integrate me into the culture of my campus. Get comfortable asking questions like “what’s the best path to take to accomplish X” or “If I have a question about X, could you introduce me to her?”. If that is outside of your comfort zone, I also have sent many emails to people hoping to connect with the opening line, “X recommended we connect”!

Keep the party going

It’s easy to become overwhelmed by the sheer number of people you meet. Connect with them digitally and if you’re really brave, continue the conversation. Personally, LinkedIn is my favorite social media platform and I live for searching and requesting connections with new people. If LinkedIn isn’t your connection point of choice, or you wish to take a more individualized approach, get friendly with sending follow-up and recap emails. After meeting with someone, I’ve found it productive to send an email afterwards thanking them for their time, recapping any information you said you’d share with them, reminding them of anything they should be communicating with you, and offering to meet again. An example of this could look like:

Hey Alex, 

Thanks for grabbing coffee with me today. I appreciate the podcast and book recommendations, I’ve added them to my list. I’m really interested in the Cat’s Connect group you mentioned that meets weekly. I look forward to the meeting invite and to see you again soon. I’ve attached the research study I was talking about that I think would be helpful as you are navigating change in your office. 

Let’s connect again soon!

Alexandria 

Get it where you can: Professional Development that is

There is a clear benefit in having professional development funds that can take you to conferences, gatherings, summits and everything in between, but I’ll leave the advertising of that to the companies themselves. Professional development can be happening in all the space between those travels and without much financial commitment. Check out what your university’s calendar is for the semester. Do they have a Teaching and Learning Center of sorts that hosts educational sessions? Does your campus have lecture series or larger scale event days? Are there student groups who need facilitators, guest speakers, or advisors? You’ve entered a new stage where education is solely up to you. Even before you can define for yourself what you want that to look like, inquire about it, book it, and reflect afterwards. 

I’ve been blessed with an incredible campus of professionals and an ever-expanding list of long distance colleagues, connections, and friends who have helped me grow over the past three years. Allow yourself to find what steps, tips, and tools work for you. Whether your onboarding is a well oiled machine or more of a self-guided tour, I wish you the absolute best with the new semester and hey, lets connect ;).