I took today off, extending my long weekend and enjoying a day trip - getting out of town, wandering back roads and poking around in my favorite eclectic tiny bookshop. On my way through one small town, I was behind a school bus. I spotted a girl, maybe 11 or 12, wearing a fantastic outfit as she got off the bus: a purple t-shirt, silver lamé pants, black-and-blue striped leg warmers, and flip flops. (It was about 80 degrees. I bet the flip flops balance out the leg warmers.) I totally would have snapped a photo to share, if it wasn’t generally considered creepy to take pictures of kids you don’t know getting off the school bus.
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This weekend, I shared an idea I’ve been toying with on twitter: That professional identity is personal identity. I got some interesting responses - that yes, professional identity is personal identity, but personal identity isn’t professional identity; and of course the ubiquitous “work/life balance!” responses.
professional identity = personal identity
In talking with folks who are searching (and rounding over a year of searching), as well as grad students just leaving their programs, I’ve been thinking about the intersections of personal and professional identity a lot.
In our culture, for better or for worse, we are defined by our careers and our jobs. In this sense, professional identity is personal identity. I think of myself as a student affairs educator and that’s how others view me. Of course, we all hold many identities (and I think the intersections of our identities and how we make sense of them are fascinating). But stick with me for a minute.
If we’re defined by our jobs, and I don’t have a job, what am I? who am I? What if we don’t like our jobs? Can we like ourselves?
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This is the third in a series of posts by contributor Ann G. Knoezer. Ann tweets at @AnnKnoerzer.
“What do you do?”
Like most, I’ve sometimes struggled to describe my work in student affairs to others. Whether I was surrounded by a crowd of cousins at a family party or engaging the person sitting next to me on an airplane in light-hearted conversation, this question inevitably arose. I had a stash of answers saved up for occasions like this and rotated them based on the context of the question. In my experience the simplest answer was typically the one that’s best understood by an inquisitor. I’ve drawn from my job title (“I’m an advisor”), my campus department (“I work in a career center”), and even my job description (“I help people with their resumes”) to answer this question. Some got it, but I know there were others who arrived at their travel destination and told a loved one that they sat next to a teacher during the plane ride.
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Check out the transcript from our chat on evaluating job openings, after the jump.
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Check out the transcript for our chat on placement, featuring guests from ACPA’s C3 and NASPA’s TPE, after the jump.
Many thanks to all who participated and answered questions!
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