Welcome to my new adventure!
In 18 days (which includes only 7 actual "in office" days, 10 days of conference fun, and one lone Sunday off), I will officially, for the first time in my professional life, enter the world of "professionals in transition," or, for the less tactful, unemployed.
For those of you who are just catching up, my partner and I are moving to Missoula, Montana in June, getting married in July, and he's starting Law School at the University of Montana in August. Myself? I am taking the plunge and moving with him, although as fate would have it, jobless at first, and hopefully not for long.
In order to soothe my ramblings, and my need for connection and purpose in a crazy, crazy world, I've decided I'm going to share my experiences through the Chronicles of the Student Affairs Professional In Transition, or, as any good SA professional would do, I've acronym-ed it, the Chronicles of SAPIT. Through this experience, I will share my thoughts on Student Affairs, on trying to move THEN find a job, and probably throw in some ramblings on feminism and sustainability, just for fun.
So, my provoking discussion starter of the day is this... in my current "opportunity," of which I have made a conscious choice to do for our family, and for the fact that myself and my life partner want to settle down and raise kids in the great state of Montana, I find myself struggling how to balance this choice with my professional goals. As I search for a Student Affairs position, of which none are currently posted that appear to be a strong professional choice for me, I'm left with the thought and potential benefits and consequences of a few options:
1. I could wait it out for a couple months, and hope something at the UM DOES come open, even if it’s a “step down” just to stay in Higher Ed/Student Affairs so that if when my partner graduates, we end up in town in Montana that DOES have a college/university (which is most of the major ones, and most of the areas we’re interested in), I’m still “fresh” in the field and will have a good chance of being employed in a better position at that point. Worry: Taking a “step down” will look bad on my resume, or something better will open up shortly after I take a lower position, and then I have lots of “short term” work on my resume and makes me look flakey.
2. Keep looking at UM, but start pursuing career options in other fields, such as non-profits or community agencies (my undergraduate work was in Family Sciences), and build some additional, and hopefully parallel skill sets so that when Burt graduates I can hopefully have some additional things on my resume, but hopefully still have the option of going back into HE/SA if we end up in a town in Montana that has a college/university. Worry: Once I leave HE, it will be infinitely harder, if not IMPOSSIBLE, to get back in, and monetary considerations are also a factor, as I’m the primary “bread winner” right now.
3. Take any old part-time job and go back and get a second Masters, in Sociology with an emphasis in Rural and Environmental Change, which would compliment my undergraduate and my interests OUTSIDE of HE/SA, and reserve to the fact that I may be leaving HE/SA for good. Worry: Both Burt and I racking up student debt at the same time, the frowny face of leaving HE/SA.
I'll leave you all with those thoughts for now, and this:
The highlight of all of this is, if you're EVER in your life going to spend a period of time unemployed, summer in Montana is probably the best time/place to do it.
