Three Things That Can Transform Your Career

Full Transcript

[00:00:00] Jeremy Tiers: Hey

[00:00:11] everybody, this is Jeremy tears from tutor collegiate strategies, and you're about to check out the latest episode of the mission of mission podcast, a show that's designed to help higher ed become better recruiters, communicators, marketers. And managers each week, I'll introduce you to an industry leader or difference maker who will share helpful advice, tips, and strategies that will help you grow professionally and personally.

[00:00:33] Mission admission is part of the enroll five podcast network. I'm excited to share my latest candid conversation. So let's get started.

[00:00:49] Hey everybody, it's Jeremy tears. And this is episode 29 of the mission admissions podcast. I'm ending season two with a bonus episode of [00:01:00] sorts, and instead of bringing on a guest, I want to spend a few minutes talking with you about three things that have come up a ton over the past couple of months. As I've been traveling the country, leading workshops for admissions and enrollment marketing teams and working with many of our college partners.

[00:01:16] The first one is a question that I ask whenever I lead training workshops. Why do you do what you do? I want you to think about that for a minute. Like if someone asked you to define your why, what would you tell them? And I know that's a deep question, but it's a super important question that I encourage you to think about.

[00:01:40] I would also tell you, the answer is not to make money. Yes, we all need to make money. I agree. But making money is a byproduct of your why. Your why is your purpose. And so that can be something that's very, very powerful, and I'm finding more and more professionals, both young and [00:02:00] new in higher education and veteran, are telling me, Jeremy, I don't think about that.

[00:02:05] I don't know how to answer that. I don't know about why. Your why can be a very powerful statement that will help guide your future career decisions and direction in your life. So that's why if you're listening to this and you don't have an answer to that question I just asked, it's very powerful. I really want you to write something down that immediately comes to mind and ponder it.

[00:02:28] Think about it. If it takes you a little bit of time to come up with it, totally okay. When I ask that question, what I typically hear from a lot of people is, Jeremy, I like helping people. It makes me feel good. Or Jeremy, I was a first gen college student. And so for me, I'm doing what I do now because I want to help other students, especially other first gens, see that college can be possible.

[00:02:52] Understand there's no right or wrong answer here. The point is you need to have something here [00:03:00] If you want to continue the growth process what ultimately though I tend to see when I ask again that question is so much of the feedback and answers I get revolve around this idea of helping other people.

[00:03:19] I want all of you listening to this to understand you have the ability and influence to impact perspective and current students. Every single day. Think about that for a second. That's pretty powerful. And if you want my honest opinion, it's pretty cool to be able to say you work in a profession where you can truly make a difference, especially at a critical point in life.

[00:03:47] For so many of these students and their families that you have an opportunity to engage with. And a lot of times I'll hear, come on, Jeremy, like sending that one email or [00:04:00] showing empathy or doing something little like that, that that's really going to make a difference. I really have that kind of impact.

[00:04:08] Yes, you do. We've been asking on surveys. We do ahead. A lot of the training workshops that I lead. Talk to us about what you remember about your interactions with the admission staff at the school. You ended up choosing. So these would be incoming first year students. This is an anonymous survey. There's no motivation for them whatsoever to mention admissions counselor by name.

[00:04:34] The amount of quotes I have seen over the last couple of months. And I want to read you a few of them because they're powerful. I know if it wasn't for, and you put the admissions counselor's name in, I wouldn't be attending and you put the college's name in this fall, literally that's a student saying, if it wasn't for that person, that counselor, I wouldn't be attending this school or the counselor was my admissions [00:05:00] counselor.

[00:05:00] And I credit her largely. For why I'm even going to college or the counselor was so kind and helpful and made me feel confident. She definitely made me feel wanted to, which was refreshing and added to my interest in the school. When you have a defined why it is so much easier for you each day, especially when we all get caught up in all the different things we have going on.

[00:05:27] Cause I'm well aware we're all juggling a lot of things in our lives to really fall back on. This whole concept of purpose and why we do what we do. So I want to again, encourage you one more time to think about and write down your why. The next thing I want to talk with you about is self evaluation.

[00:05:51] And I'm not just talking about, you know, your yearly review with your boss. I am talking about, are you taking time very [00:06:00] intentionally each week to sit down and think about Kind of replay back what happened over the past seven days, especially when it comes to your work. I had Anna Dearman Kornick on recently in episode 27, and Anna shared some great questions that will help you with weekly self reflection.

[00:06:22] So I really encourage you to go back and listen to that or re listen to it. Two of the ones that she mentioned that I really like and I personally ask myself every week are what did I learn this week and what challenges and obstacles arose that like I didn't anticipate or see coming, but weekly self reflection is a super important practice because if you can get into the habit of tracking your progress on different things and identifying areas for improvement, it's totally going to help you grow in your personal and professional life.

[00:06:53] And I can also tell you that as I encourage counselors or marketers who are brand new to their role to do it, [00:07:00] I often hear, Hey, Jeremy, it actually helped me improve my self confidence too. So don't wait. And just once or even twice a year, do that self evaluation or self reflection again. I highly encourage you to block time each week.

[00:07:16] Probably doesn't even need to be more than 10 to 15 minutes, maybe a half hour max. And I think you'll see a lot of value. By doing that, the last thing I want to touch on today is work life balance. And this is always something that I don't even remember the last week when this topic didn't come up in a conversation that I have with somebody.

[00:07:41] I know juggling work, friends, family, life, you time, right? It's it's me time. It's a constant battle for all of us. But I also know that achieving a better work life balance, it's super important and it really helps us in our day to day. And I would just tell you [00:08:00] a couple of things. Number one, please, please, please understand like there is no one perfect balance.

[00:08:06] It doesn't exist. Don't try to copy someone else's. It's not what I want you to do. What I want you to do is I want you to think, all right, if I look at my daily life, things that I'm doing personally and professionally, like, am I happy with my balance? Do I have what I think is a good work life balance to me?

[00:08:24] That's what matters most like you're the most important person in your life. Please. Let me say that again You're the most important person in your life and you get to decide what kind of balance makes you happy

[00:08:37] Well, it happened again You've got prospects who are interested in attending your institution and are all excited about taking the next steps but they keep getting consistently confused by all of the information and tasks that they need to complete to enroll and This is something that you feel like you'd like to take and have a meeting with your marketing admissions [00:09:00] and IT staff To ultimately improve the digital experience for prospective students.

[00:09:05] But here's the problem. You've got some challenges trying to convince your partners in those departments across campus to let go of their marketing automation software or changing their CRM. And IT obviously is understaffed too, but what if you could come to the table with a solution that didn't require anyone to let go of their software while at the same time ensuring a frictionless experience for prospective students and your current students alike.

[00:09:32] Today's your lucky day because that's exactly what Pathify does. Pathify sits at the center of your school's digital ecosystem becoming the single user experience interface tying together all systems content and communications. Their engagement hub elevates the information that matters most and pushes systems like the SIS behind the scenes where they belong, making it simpler for students to discover and engage with the opportunities your institution [00:10:00] provides at every step of their higher ed journey.

[00:10:03] What's even better, Pathify has a mobile experience that provides 100 percent parity with a responsive web app so your campus app is always in sync. Pathify is a platform that every stakeholder on campus, from marketing, to admissions, to student affairs, to IT, can equally get excited about. I encourage you to learn more about how Pathify is unifying strategic units across campus and bettering the entire student experience.

[00:10:31] By visiting pathify. com. That's P A T H I F Y dot com. And be sure to tell them that Jeremy Teers from Mission and Missions sends you their way.

[00:10:46] So for me, I'll give you an example. All the time. Like Jeremy, you must not be happy with your balance guy. I see you all over social media. You posting your newsletter, your traveling crisscrossing the country. Like, gosh, you must be [00:11:00] miserable. No, I actually have an amazing work life balance. So for me, give you an example.

[00:11:06] I get asked all the time, like Jeremy, you must not be happy with your balance. God, I see you all over social media. You post in your newsletter, you're traveling crisscrossing the country. Like gosh, you must be miserable. No, I actually have an amazing work life balance. Part of that is, I have chosen to travel as much as I travel, because, tying back into the first thing we talked about, part of my why is, like, I love being part of the growth process of another human being.

[00:11:37] Like, that's just super fulfilling for me. And so when I have an opportunity to do that at so many different schools, right? People look and go, Jeremy, you got to do 20 one on one meetings back to back. Like, what are you doing? You're going to go stir crazy right now. That's 20 different opportunities for me to help.

[00:11:59] Another [00:12:00] person, if that person is engaged, that's how I approach it. So for me, there are times in a year when my work life balance looks completely different than the rest of the year. It's okay if you want to work 40 hours a week. It's okay if you want to work 60 hours a week, in my opinion. I just, again, want to understand, are you happy?

[00:12:23] I'm not going to tell you to change. Unless you're not happy, but I think this part's important too. So let's talk about it for a minute. If you want more responsibilities at work, you're hoping to get a promotion. You want more money. You're going to have to change your work life balance. It's unrealistic to think, well, I can have my cake and eat it too.

[00:12:43] Please, please, please. That's not realistic. If any of you think that way, right? Bigger goals will always require a different kind of balance. I don't know a single leader out there who has the same work life balance. As someone who's new to the profession or been [00:13:00] doing something in higher ed for one or two years And I would tell you also that your work life balance tying back in even with your why sometimes they both can change over time or very so my balance before my wife Jen and I had our daughter Olivia was totally different, right?

[00:13:15] I was a college basketball coach for a handful of years. I was a high school counselor for a handful of years when you're a newlywed, like there are different points in your life where like your balance changes. And when you become a parent. And those of you who are parents listening to this can understand what I'm saying.

[00:13:32] Your balance changes. Totally okay. Right? The right balance for you will just be different at different points in your life. And the last thing I'll add is this idea that like work life balance has to be equal. Like it has to be 50 percent work, 50 percent life. I personally. Don't believe that trying to split your work and personal activities 50 50 is realistic.

[00:13:59] So I just [00:14:00] encourage you, right? To have constant communication and transparency with the people closest to you when it comes to work life balance. Like each week I talk with my wife, Jen, about my schedule and you know, there's going to be some days where I might focus more on work and some days where, Hey, it's a nine or a 10 hour day.

[00:14:18] And there's some days where it's a shorter day, but I'm very intentional and I encourage you to do the same thing. About finding the balance that you need and then encouraging those who you're having communication with or who are closest to you and important to you in your life to let you know if they think you're not doing a good job of finding the balance that you are looking for.

[00:14:42] Two final things related to work life balance. And this is something that a lot of people struggle with. I was in New York city yesterday and I had a brand new enrollment leader tell me, Jeremy, I struggle, right? Saying no, I get it. [00:15:00] Totally normal, but it's super important. You will not have. A happy, positive work life balance if you do not set boundaries and say no to things.

[00:15:12] The last thing I will say, please, please, please don't be afraid to completely unplug. And I have no problem, honestly, admitting this one continues to be my biggest challenge. I have found that little things, though, like putting my cell phone far away in the corner of my office when I'm in my office working and not traveling.

[00:15:33] Or really trying to wait and do things like edit my Tuesday newsletter until my daughter goes to bed Monday night. It's little things like that that allow me to feel better about my balance. So I hope that listening to me chat about those three things has been helpful for you. Even if it's one, two, or all three, I just, I really encourage you to spend a few minutes [00:16:00] today or sometime very soon.

[00:16:02] Thinking, do I have a clearly defined why am I consistently doing self evaluation for myself? And what do I think about my work life balance? When all three of those are aligned, you're going to be much happier just overall in your personal and professional life. Again, I want to tell you on the way out the door how much I appreciate all of you and your constant support of this podcast.

[00:16:32] It is so much fun for me to get those messages or to speak with people at conferences who tell me how much value they're getting out of this. Please continue to send me emails. Or messages. If you have certain topics or things that you're wondering about, and I do want to let you know that season three is already in the works and it will kick off later this fall.

[00:16:55] Probably late November is what we're aiming for.[00:17:00] 

[00:17:03] Have a great rest of your week and I look forward to the next time that we connect.

[00:17:12] Zach Busekrus (Annoucer): Hey y'all, Zach here from Enrollify. I hope you enjoyed this episode of Mission Admissions with Jeremy Tears. If you liked this episode, do us a huge favor and hit that follow and subscribe button below. Furthermore, if you've got just two minutes to spare, we would greatly appreciate you reading a rating and a review of this show on Apple Podcasts.

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[00:18:08] org. We look forward to meeting you soon and welcoming you into the community. Again, you can subscribe for free at enrollify. 

[00:18:16] Jeremy Tiers: org.