SEAHO Report - Summer 2019 - 27

SEAHO Feature Articles
Doing your job well
The age-old saying "it's not how you start, it's how you finish" must have never worked in Higher Education.
It's a reality to your colleagues, supervisor, and leadership team that how you start, specifically in the first
3 months, can impact the work you do for your remaining time in your department and at your institution
(Watkins, 2003). This means you need to learn the systems and pay attention to what matters in the department
you work for. If your department is focused on administrative work, you should be doing everything to meet
deadlines, being up to date on emails, and creating methods to complete processes set by your supervisor.
If your department is focused on relationships, you should be creating time to connect with colleagues and
supervisor, prioritizing time to learning who is a change agent, and joining working groups to meet other
campus partners to better the work you do. It is important to take time to figure out what your department
values, prioritizing that in your work, and devoting the energy to be great in those areas.
Making friends
You go from college friends to your graduate school cohort to .... coworkers. We are not usually taught how to
make friends and create meaningful relationships outside of the workplace or our cohort during our studies, and
it can be a truly daunting task to find your new network of non-student affairs friends. Some simple things you
can do to create that network is taking up a new hobby like yoga, learning calligraphy, or even poetry writing.
One way I have found friends is through fitness whether it is spin classes, run clubs, or CrossFit, and you are
able to do two things at once - make friends and workout. If you are in a larger city, using an app like Meetup
is great at finding like-minded individuals doing things you enjoy as well. It's important to make these friends
so you are not always surrounded by people talking about student affairs or work. Finding your squad can be
crucial to your work-life balance.
If anything, these first two years have taught me solid life lessons while also pushing me to be the best
professional that I know I can be. Head these words and take care of yourself because sometimes it may be
all that we have. Learn what your money can do for you, find your squad, and go out and be the best new
professional your department has possibly hired. You got this, and I believe in you.
References:
Watkins, M. (2003). The First 90 Days: Critical Success Strategies for New Leaders at All
Levels. Boston, Massachusetts: Harvard Business School Press
Adams, O. (2015, June 17). 7 Easy Ways to Make Friends After You Graduate. Retrieved March
2, 2019, from https://www.brit.co/how-to-make-friends-after-college/
Rattner, S. (2018, January 19). Opinion | We're Making Life Too Hard for Millennials. Retrieved
March 2, 2019, from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/opinion/sunday/were
making-life-too-hard-for-millennials.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1

SEAHO Report Summer 2019

https://www.brit.co/how-to-make-friends-after-college/ https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/opinion/sunday/weremaking-life-too-hard-for-millennials.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1 https://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/02/opinion/sunday/weremaking-life-too-hard-for-millennials.html?smid=tw-share&_r=1

SEAHO Report - Summer 2019

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