In graduate school, we often had guest speakers join our classes. From Vice Presidents to Directors, they all came to our classroom to share some of their wisdom and help us on our way to a fulfilling career in higher education. Inevitably, our instructor would ask each of us students to introduce ourselves to our guest speaker and share what functional area we were interested in working in after graduating. For me, it often went something like this, “Hi, my name’s Daniel Vorwerk and I don’t know what functional area I’d like to be in yet, I just know I don’t want to do Res Life.”
Fast forward to July 2017, 2 months after graduation and I was still without a job heading in to the next academic year. I was living out of boxes as I sublet from a couple different people that summer with the hopes of landing a job soon. As my search progressed, I broadened my considerations in July to include jobs in functional areas I was less interested in, including jobs in student housing. This spreadsheet is what I used to track where I was at with my search, what jobs I still needed to apply for, and the subsequent interviews/offers I received.
I applied to a social media specialist position, a lead position at Target, and an admissions counselor to name a few. None of which I was overly excited about but hey, they were untapped potential at that point at least. On Monday morning, July 10, 2017, I found myself scrolling through old e-mails I had received from a variety of people with different job opportunities. One of them caught my eye and seemed like something I might enjoy, even if I wasn’t gung-ho about being in housing. I quickly fired off an e-mail to the individual who the e-mail originated from and asked if they were still accepting applications for the job since a couple of weeks had passed since it was sent out. Within hours, I received a response stating that no, the original position had been filled but as luck would have it, someone else submitted their resignation that same morning so there was in fact a vacancy.
Holy dang how lucky did I get.
I sent out my resume and cover letter that afternoon, received an offer to do a phone screening interview Tuesday, did my interview Wednesday, was offered an on campus interview Thursday, interviewed all day the following Monday, and accepted an offer to be in my current job as an interim appointment on Tuesday the 18th, all within 8 days.
8 days is all it took to change my trajectory and land me in a role I had been reluctant to even consider during my graduate school experience.
On August 1, 2017, I made the drive from Cedar Falls, IA to Mankato, MN to move in to my new apartment, a 3 bedroom unit at Stadium Heights Apartments. On August 3, I started my job, and 3 days later on the 6th, I started training my new staff into their role as Community Advisors.
That 1 year interim appointment was all it took to convince me of how big of a role Residential Life plays in the lives of students at a college/university. I applied for my job again in January 2018, and after a 3 month process, accepted it again in April 2018.
Now I find myself in a similar spot as I did in grad school. My Hall Director position was a 4 year assignment with an option for a 5th year if both the University and I exercised it, which we did. So now in my 5th year in the role, I’m still excited about where I’m at and the work I get to do to help students build connections, get involved, and achieve success at the University, but also excited for what’s ahead and the new opportunities that are out there. I started soft searching for my next opportunity in October 2020, and really ramped up my job search in May 2021.
What’s next though? Who’s to say. I’m actively looking to stay in higher education and looking to make a move into academic advising, student success/enrollment management, or the operations side of housing. If there’s anything I have learned from my last job search, though, it’s that I shouldn’t limit myself to the opportunities that are out there and where I might find myself.
What I do know, though, is that I have 9 months left in this job. Sure, I might get an offer from somewhere else and leave the role sooner, but that’s never a guarantee. What is guaranteed, right now, is my ability to love the work I am doing and continue to help students be successful living at Stadium Heights.
I’m excited for what’s up next and to continue to help students be successful in whatever new role I find myself in. And if you find yourself reading this and are looking to hire, hit me up - I’m always down to chat about new opportunities. :)