Feb 29, 2024
In this season of the SA Voices From The Field Podcast, we had the privilege of delving deep into the world of job placement and career development in higher education with D'Najah Thomas, a dynamic figure leading The Placement Exchange (TPE). Her insights reveal a holistic and innovative approach to connecting talent with opportunity in student affairs.
Transitions in Student Affairs: A Modern
Take It's no secret that the job market in higher education has undergone significant shifts, particularly with the advent of virtual platforms. Thomas brings a refreshing perspective to the conversation, emphasizing the need for psychological safety and well-being during the job search. As TPE adapts to an increasingly digital landscape, it prioritizes mental health by advocating for scheduled breaks and creating virtual lounges for decompression—a much-needed change welcomed by both candidates and employers.
The Crafting of TPE's Identity
Thomas's journey to the directorship at TPE wasn't a conventional one. With a background in marketing, public relations, and a stint in the non-profit sector, she found herself drawn to the world of student affairs through a combination of chance, economic circumstances, and personal choices—highlighting that a nonlinear career path can lead to fulfilling leadership roles.
Her diverse professional experience, enhanced by her empathy and commitment to supporting others, is now channeled into redefining TPE as a central hub for career development. She envisions TPE as a platform that not only facilitates job matching but also serves as a resource for continuous professional growth.
Empowering Job Seekers and Recruiters
Thomas is keen on equipping job seekers with tools for self-advocacy and proactive searching. TPE's year-round job board and the on-demand TPE Academy sessions affirm her resolve to meet modern job seekers where they are. Similarly, she encourages employers to highlight their values and culture authentically, showing that recruiting in student affairs must evolve beyond mere job advertising to a more strategic and narrative-driven approach.
Looking Ahead: A Future of Innovation and Inclusivity
With initiatives like TPE Talks addressing hot topics in employment and the WRAP Session focusing on diversity, equity, inclusion, and accessibility, TPE is broadening its impact beyond job placement. Thomas reimagines a future where TPE continually adapts to uphold a vibrant, healthy, and diverse workforce in student affairs.
Thomas's work with TPE exemplifies strategic transformation driven by understanding and meeting the needs of its community. The focus on accessibility, storytelling, and mental health showcases TPE's commitment to harmonizing candidate and employer expectations within an evolving digital world.
TRANSCRIPT
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:00:01]:
Welcome to student affairs voices from the field, the podcast where
we share your student affairs stories from fresh perspectives to
seasoned experts. This is season 10, continuing our season 9 theme
of on transitions in student affairs. This podcast is brought to
you by NASPA, and I'm doctor Jill Creighton, she, her, hers, your
essay voices from the field host. Hey, essay voices. We've got a
really awesome episode for you today all about the placement
exchange or TPE for short. So I'm pleased to welcome D'Najah
Pendergrass Thomas, sheher, who is a practitioner and whose work is
centered around organizational behavior with a focus on
recruitment, professional development, and career advancement.
She's committed to helping organizations and communities bring
about transformational change in these areas. And currently, she is
serving as the director of the placement exchange, which is also a
partnership of AUCHO-I and NASPA.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:00:53]:
In this world, Inesha works directly and closely with a planning
committee of professionals from across the field of higher
education and student affairs to drive equitable and inclusive
practice and innovation to deliver transformative networking
communities, knowledge resources, job search, and recruiting
experiences that cultivate and sustain a diverse and robust
workforce in higher education. Before coming to TPE, D'Najah worked
for 9 years in residence life and housing. Prior to that, she
served as a marketing and communications practitioner in the
nonprofit sector with Goodwill Industries of Southern Piedmont, The
Florida Bar, and The Florida Psychological Association. D'Najah is
past president of North Carolina Housing Officers or NCHO, and she
also served in other leadership roles with NCHO and the
Southeastern Association of Housing Officers or SEHO. She was a
2018 participant in NASPA's Mid Managers Institute and served as
faculty for SEHO's 2021 regional entry institute or RELI. D'Najah
also finished her term with a Kujo AI's 2021, 22 Leadership Academy
cohort. A native of Charlotte, North Carolina, D'Naisha holds a
master's of divinity from Duke Divinity School, a master of science
in sport management from Florida State University, and a bachelor
of science in public relations from Appalachian State University in
Boone, North Carolina. Whether you are a candidate looking for a
job this year or thinking about looking for a job this year or an
employer who has an entry to mid senior level job to post, this
episode, I hope, will be a wonderful resource for you so you can
learn a little bit more about how the placement exchange process
has grown and changed over time.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:27]:
Don't miss this one. Hope you enjoy our conversation. D'Najah,
welcome to SA Voices.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:02:33]:
Thank you for having me. I am excited to be here.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:02:36]:
I'm really thrilled to help you have you on the season at this
moment in time, especially in our theme of transitions in your role
at TPE, I think that you personally hold a lot of keys to success
for people in the profession. And especially given the changes that
are happening in TPE right now, it's a great time to talk about all
of the things. But before we talk about all of the TPE things, I'd
love to get to know you a little bit better because you've had some
interesting transitions in your career as well from housing
professional and, I believe, training as an attorney to the TPE
space now. So tell us about you.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:03:10]:
I was an attorney. It's not quite that exciting, but I will tell
you a little bit about what I've done before coming to TPE. My
background is actually actually in marketing and public relations.
So I did undergraduate work in North Carolina with great dreams of
working for an NFL team. I thought that I would travel and do
on-site communication and public relations. And so that led me to
get a master's in sport management at Florida State University down
in Tallahassee, Florida. And then that program was my 1st
interaction with student athletes. And so while working on my
degree, I worked with at risk student athletes in academic
services.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:03:45]:
And I had the luxury of graduating in 2008, which if anyone can
remember, was the recession. And so I humbly took my brand new
master's degree home to North Carolina and started searching for a
job. And so I spent a good bit of time volunteering while looking
for work simply because my mom, as an educator, was of the
background. You get stuck in your own head when you're looking for
a job and you can get discouraged. And she suggested that I
volunteer. And so I volunteered like it was a full time job and
landed in non profit work, particularly crisis support services in
North Carolina. And to be transparent, if you live in the South,
particularly North Carolina, it is, still called the Bible Belt.
It's deeply steep in religion, particularly working in crisis
support.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:04:27]:
The questions were typically existential. How did this happen? Why
could this happen to me? Oftentimes, how could a god be god allow
this to happen to me? And in the course of serving people, I
thought I will either get a master's in counseling or maybe a
master's in divinity. And I chose the route of divinity school and
so I landed at Duke University in Durham, North Carolina. And they
mentioned this opportunity to be a graduate hall director while in
the program. And so I thought anything that will help me save money
on the cost of this degree is going to be a wonderful opportunity.
And so I landed in residence life and housing as a grad hall
director while working on my master's of divinity. And so during
the 3 years that I spent at Duke, I realized that college students
were amazing. They are complex.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:05:09]:
They have great demand. They are extremely diverse, and they were
very much and are very much looking for a relationship, mentorship,
and support. And so as a grad student, I found they liked me a
little better than the professional coordinator because grad
students are where they wanna be. They're gonna graduate and they
wanna get master's and doctoral degrees. And so, residents and RAs
alike would just hang out in my apartment. I would host programming
for them, all while working on this master's of divinity. And my
3rd year in divinity school, a full time position opened. And I was
eligible because I had the previous master's and so I did what I
honestly would not recommend to anyone.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:05:44]:
I worked full time on that last year and stayed a full time student
because I just didn't wanna pass up the opportunity to be able to
get the position at Duke. And so that is how I landed full time in
student affairs. I was a resident life coordinator at Duke
University. And so stayed in Durham for about 5 years and moved on
to Wake Forest as an assistant director, staying in residence life
and housing. Had the joy working under doctor Kitty Ryu, who was a
great leader and really believed in what we were trying to do in
Residence Life and Housing. She's NASPA famous. She is NASPA famous
and rightfully so. And so in my the 1st year and a half in my role,
we actually did a full reorg in our department.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:06:21]:
We did not have full time residence hall coordinators. And so in
the spring of 2019, we fully reorgued, went to TBE in LA, and
bought on 7 new full time live in staff members, which was pretty
important because halfway through their 1st year the pandemic
happened. And we recognized that had we not had full time staff
living in, there's just no way we would have survived supporting
students, in the ways that we needed to. And so the next part I
shared transparently because I think it matters with how I work
with PPE and how I approach talking about career trajectory with
people. I got pregnant and had a pre work for baby in the middle of
the pandemic. And so, residence life and housing was very demanding
at that time and work and life just were not meshing. And so, I had
to start to look for other opportunities and very regrettably
didn't wanna have to leave residence life and housing, but knew,
you know, you have to make some life choices. And so the position
with CPE opened up and I thought, gosh, this will be a wonderful
opportunity to help meet our field at a place that was a point of
crisis.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:07:18]:
Right? Trying to retain staff in the middle of the pandemic.
Campuses were triaging vacancies everywhere. And it would give me
the flexibility to think about what I needed to do to be a mom to a
brand new baby. And so I applied, interviewed, and in about 6 weeks
found myself in the role as Director of the Placement Exchange. And
so I bring to the role a little bit of nonprofit work, a little bit
of student athletics work, and a whole lot of housing and
residents' life experience coupled with supervision, hiring, and
retention.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:07:45]:
That's an incredible journey, and especially to an organization
like TPE where you can keep a lot of the skills you learned in your
on campus experience by also bringing your nonprofit based
experience. And I'm realizing now where I accidentally referenced
an attorneyship, and it's because you were working with The Florida
Bar as well as Florida Psychological Association. And so with all
of those experiences kind of creating a melange of things for you,
what is life like now given that you're serving professionals
instead of students?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:08:15]:
Life is amazing. Part of my work with TPE has really helped me
solidify what I work with candidates around, which is understanding
your story, your values, and your overall professional goal. And so
when I look back at my career, I think the thread that ties it all
together is relationships and investing in the success of others.
And so for a while, that was student athletes. Before that, that
was in the sports arena, that transition to serving people in the
nonprofit world, coming back to my students at Duke, and then
becoming a supervisor, particularly being very invested in the
career trajectory of those that I supervise. And so, now I find
myself with TPE being able to concentrate and be less of a
generalist, but to spend so much time thinking about how to support
the goals and the career trajectory of both who are doing work that
I love so much. And so now my days are are filled with
understanding what's coming out of SHRM and coming out of corporate
HR and following trends on our campus and in our field and thinking
about how TPE can now, in essence, be a career hub for the
profession. How can we say to practitioners that this is your
career trajectory? PPE is where you can come to develop the skill,
review this resource, engage in the support so that you can
continue to be a knowledgeable and competent and competitive
candidate? And on the other side of that coin is how can we say to
employers recruiting, retention, and advancement of staff really is
a free market.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:09:42]:
Meaning, they've got a set of skills and a salary they're looking
for, and you now have to showcase how you are a place that people
want to work at, and that the package you have to to offer is
competitive. And so, how do you look at your efforts around
recruiting, and interviewing, and hiring, and onboarding, and
retaining staff, such that when you sit down with a candidate, you
can say, This isn't just any assistant director role. The assistant
director role on this campus is going to provide you with these
opportunities, support you in this way such that you don't wanna
walk away from this opportunity. So that is how everything I do is
centered. How do we really equip these practitioners? And then how
do we empower employers to see themselves as great places to work
and be able to really share that with candidates in the
process?
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:10:24]:
Now TPE is short for the placement exchange. I think it's its own
living acronym. Now people just kinda know what it means if you've
been in the field for a hot minute. But it's also a joint
partnership of Akuhoai and NASPA and also serves as a hub for
professionals who are not affiliated with either of those
organizations as people search for student affairs in higher ed
positions. What is the experience of a candidate today who's
utilizing TPE?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:10:52]:
Sure. I hope that the profession as a whole. It experience even
though we are serving the profession as a whole. It has expanded.
We now have a job board that is 20 fourseven, three sixty five. So
I hope people aren't up in the middle of night. You feel the urge
at midnight, you can go to the job board and look for that next
job. If you do that on the weekends or whatever that looks like for
your schedule, it's available.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:11:22]:
And it's got the features that now allow you to upload your profile
and resume at a level of comfort. So it can be fully visible by
employers who are looking to hire. It can be one level down, which
is what we call confidential, in that they can see the content of
your resume, but not your identifying information. But if I were to
message you as an employer and you choose to do so, you can then
disclose who you are. Or it can be fully private, meaning it's
there and as you see an employer that you may have interest in, you
can share that resource with them. That's something that has been
added on since what we've been known for. The once a year in person
week of interviewing that happened the week before NASPA. So I
appreciate now that we recognize, right, people are looking for a
job 365 days a year.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:12:02]:
We cannot make people wait until March to get their next job. So
being able to offer the job board with some customizable options
for candidates is something that we're really proud of. The other
thing that I'm really proud of for candidates, and I hope they
would say they are appreciating, is how we've taken the TPE Academy
and really tried to make it more accessible for the year round
experience. So it used to be being a part of the academy was from
November to March, it was much more like a mentorship experience
and culminated being in person. Now we create the sessions on
demand and candidates can go to the YouTube channel and access any
one of those 6 sessions. Right? So again, at a time that works for
you, whether it's October, February, or April, you can have access
to those resources in a way that your lifestyle and fits your
schedule. So again, just thinking about the things that used to be
centered around that once a year experience and expanding those to
be accessible anytime a candidate would need that. We still keep
our Candidate Development Subcommittee and so we still offer those
year round webinars.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:13:00]:
And what I appreciate about those sessions is they don't feel very
stiff and structured. The content is there but our presenters and
speakers are very engaging and the pace still allows for question
and answer, learning opportunities, almost like a workshop. Like,
we may pause you and have you do an activity, do some reflection,
and engage. And so we are still trying to make sure that we serve
on a larger scale to everyone who may need us, but not without
having that personal experience and that interpersonal connection
that we've been known for.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:13:30]:
So the addition of the psychological safety piece, I think, is
incredibly important from a candidate experience, especially
knowing that there's a lot of reasons that someone might not be
able to share with their current employer that they're looking or
maybe they just don't want to. That's also fine. I also really
appreciate the expansion of the academy and this on demand element
because it really is meeting candidates where they're at in the
modern era of search. So for those who are listening who may be
newer in the profession, my 1st job experience job hunting
experience in student affairs was at TPE in the year that ACPA and
NASPA were last combined for a joint conference. That thing was
bananas. I think I did 45 to 60 interviews in 3 days. I had a pair
of extra tennis shoes in my bag. I had physical thank you notes
with me.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:14:21]:
There were candidate physical Dropbox mailbox systems that were
just organized but chaotic at the same time. And it was also a
place where I feel like more of the candidates were like myself in
their 1st or second job search, not necessarily in their mid or
senior level spaces. And I believe that has shifted quite a lot in
the last several years. So who's in the TPE now in terms of the
level and type of position that candidates are looking at and
employers are hiring for?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:14:50]:
Sure. You know, you shared a memory that just stuck with me. I was
not at that particular one, but I remember being in San Antonio.
And the way the my my boots. It was huge. And you have the
candidate's a through m, n through z, and there were just hundreds
and hundreds of people and hundreds of tables. And when we decided
to go virtual, what you just shared is what we really listen to
from candidates. I had a lot of listening sessions and I listened
to people say I had 30, 40 interviews and, I was so stressed that
an interview would go terrible and I didn't have time to, like,
gather myself.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:15:31]:
And then it was a trickle down effect or I was at a table and I had
a hard time focusing because the interview was right next to me or
sitting in the waiting room and hearing people talk about their
number of interviews and struggling with comparison. And I remember
as an employer just reminding candidates, you don't need every job,
you just need 1. And I remember pausing interviews and saying, I
don't think you have the stamina to show up well, and we reschedule
you. And so what I appreciate now about us being virtual is the
ways in which we are advocating for protecting the schedule of both
candidates and employers. So we do last the full week, but we offer
block. Our schedule builds and breaks. It's virtual, so we can't
regulate everyone. But we highly recommend that people take the
lunch break, take the afternoon break, adhere to the block, pause
and go to some of the round tables.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:16:17]:
And right now that we are virtual, you can go into a space. When an
interview ends, don't book back to back. Give yourself a chance to
go into a space, decompress, review that, drop into the candidate
lounge, talk with 1 of the subcommittee members to just kind of
help you have a better mental health experience through the
process. And we actually do that for employers as well because we
have to remember that people are away from their responsibilities
on campus while doing these interviews. And I remind employers that
they are being interviewed as much as they are interviewing
candidates. And so you get distracted, you get fatigued. Some of
these things that we are embedding because we are virtual are to
help you show up, your best version as an employer, to the
candidates who are giving you their time and trying to tell their
story to you. And so I really do appreciate that the virtual space
is allowing us to prioritize mental health, psychological safety,
and well-being of everyone who's currently involved, for sure.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:17:12]:
The experience of the employer shifting as well, I think, is a very
big deal because I think, especially as younger professionals, our
instinct at the beginning is, you know, my job is to show up and
show out, and the employer's job is to judge me. At least that's
how I felt in my first TPE. And now it's I think we're trying to do
more to push more of a balance that it is a mutual understanding of
if this is gonna be the right job match. From the employer side,
what else is new or changing for them?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:17:41]:
Sure. From the employer side, a few things are new with the virtual
experience. We really did listen to them 2 employers when they
said, you know, it may be virtual, but we used to have reception.
We wanna build that warm connection. If we can't physically touch
or see other same spaces with candidates, how are they going to
feel our full spirit, our vibe? We used to have swag. We used to
fill mailboxes with all these things. And very lovingly, I said,
there are ways that you do this now, but it has to actually be with
the meat and the substance of who you are. And so you actually have
to help candidates want to work for you because of the substance of
what you offer, and you can do that.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:18:20]:
So my coaching conversations with employers now are a lot about,
tell me about your team, tell me about your campuses, tell me about
the affinity spaces and support that is available to your staff.
Talk to me about your professional development opportunities.
Because this generation of candidates is very interested clear
pathways to advancement? What is their supervision and leadership
going to be like? And so I said employers, your booth, it's the
sims. So that part is still fun. Your booth is fully branded. You
can hyperlink it to videos. You can show a day in the life of. You
can showcase your campus and your teams in ways virtually that you
actually couldn't do in person.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:18:58]:
You couldn't pick up your campus. Everybody just had the floor
extensions with their brand on it. So now with your booth, you can
use imagery, but you are linking to all of the resources and
information that your campus has to offer in a very nicely branded
way. But on top of that, your engagement with candidates is now
about who you are, what you believe, what you value, and what the
candidate experience will be. And so, in short, I'm finding that we
are helping employers learn what it means to recruit, which is
something other industries have been doing for some time, but I do
think it's very new to student affairs. We knew that people were
going to go to the graduate program. They were going to graduate,
and they were going to need an entry point. And we just kind of
knew that TBE would be that funnel.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:19:41]:
But we know that the pipeline into the profession now looks
different. And so virtual really does allow us to still serve that
pipeline but also expand. Like your earlier question was, who all
the CPE serve now? I am excited to say that we serve the full
profession. We really do stop before you kind of get to the
executive search firm level. That's not our wheelhouse. But up to
director level positions, they are there in terms of employers
posting those positions and candidates that are currently in the
candidate pool. And I say that very excitedly because we are really
carving out supporting those who want to do a nationwide search.
There are lots of regional groups and associations that can do in
person placement.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:20:16]:
And I think that's wonderful. If you know you're gonna stay in the
Northeast or the Southwest, and you can be at your conference and
have that interview process, absolutely go for it. But if you know
you're in California and you want to look at Illinois and Michigan
and Virginia and Texas or a couple of different states and you
don't want to break the bank as a candidate or if as an employer
you want to cast the largest net as possible and you don't want to
have to pick up and take a a team of 6 or 7 or 8 people, the
virtual platform allows us to do that for everyone who wants to do
it. Being virtual now lets us say that engaging in CPE is free for
all candidates. That was a huge one. I just feel like it says
something about an industry when you have to pay to get your job.
We all want people to have to pay, let alone go into debt or use a
credit card to get their next job. And so virtual allowed us to
say, if you're looking for a job and you wanna meet some great
employers, create a free candidate account, participate in the
career fair, let our employers recruit you, and then in a few
weeks, come back, have those interviews and hopefully find your
next job.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:21:23]:
Same way we say to employers, if you are a community college or a
small college a limited budget, you are on the same footing as the
flagship institution for whatever state you're in. It's the
substance that you have that puts you in front of candidates and
allows you to say to them, we have something that you want, and we
would love to have you be a part of our team.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:21:42]:
I just wanna reiterate one thing that you said, which is that the
placement exchange process as a candidate is free to you to use,
which is such a critical point that wasn't always true. I believe I
registered for a fee when I originally went through many years ago.
It wasn't high if I recall, but, you know, it's still a fee. So I
really appreciate that that is a major positive change for
candidates. So if you're looking for a position this year, please
register with TPE. It's totally free for you. Now if I'm an
employer, let's talk about how much it might cost my
institution.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:22:16]:
Again, I can say it's probably going to cost you less than you ever
remember. Like, full transparency, when I went to LA in 2019, we
were in the 1,000 of dollars to have our booth, take our staff, to
pack up all the slack, to stay in the hotel. Employer booths are
only $475, And that is to keep it comparable with the actual
technology that we use for the platform. And so in that employer
booth, you can have up to six recruiter seats and each recruiter
can run their own schedule. So if anybody remembers CPE in person,
it was a table and you often ran 2 interviewers per table. And some
employers ran 2 tables. You can do that with 6 recruiters and 1
booth. So you can have up to 6 interviews if they're individuals or
3 interviews if you run them in pairs for 475.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:23:04]:
We are not in the business of trying to to bankrupt anyone. We
actually want to make it as accessible as possible for our job
seekers and our employers because that is how the field wins. When
we can bring the largest pool of talent together and the largest
pool of hiring employers together, I believe that both sides will
be presented with option and possibility and increase the
likelihood that we make really strong career matches across the
field.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:23:30]:
I love that. That's amazing.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:23:31]:
It makes me smile. So I'm glad it makes you smile.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:23:34]:
Absolutely. So as we look forward then, there's already been, I
believe, at least 1, if not 2, virtual events that have happened
this year. There's another couple major ones coming back up,
including one that will be concurrent with the NASPA annual
conference. So this episode should be airing right before the
conference begins. If I haven't registered for TPE yet, but I want
to, what do I do now?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:23:58]:
All you have to do is go to our website, which has not changed.
We're never gonna change that web address. It is
www.theplacementexchange.org. You will see virtual placement
highlighted on our web page. Click that live green button,
register, and join us. Registration takes about 30 minutes. Setting
up your booth only takes 30 minutes. I did it just to be sure I was
being truthful when I tell an employer anyone can do it, anyone can
do it, and then you have full access to to our registered
candidates and the ability to participate in placement.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:24:30]:
You mentioned value congruence as probably one of the number one
things that this generation of job seekers needs in their employer.
How are you seeing employers demonstrate their values in a way that
is really digestible for candidates?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:24:43]:
I think, again, it starts with us introducing career fairs. We
really wanted there to be something between I see a job on a site,
I do my own kind of investigative research, and I hope they
interview. I believe in the power of storytelling and human
interaction. And so us since starting the career fair before
placement has really been a great place for employers to do that.
So there's what I see on your booth in terms of your printed
materials about your your campus. I am now clicking to have a
conversation with a recruiter and we are really working on helping
candidates understand the questions to ask and the follow-up
questions to ask. Ask. And so it is developing those conversational
skills to engage in active recruiting.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:25:23]:
And so I may say, you know, I read these are the values of your
institution. An employer may say, yes. We value creativity,
exploration, leadership, and service. Now in our in our recruiting
chat, I can say, well, tell me a little more about how the value of
service is played out on your campus. Often times employers are
gonna talk about the student experience. And I say, as a candidate,
when you listen, tell me what it is you're really wanting to hear
and how do you have the question to get to that answer. So we kind
of walk through scenarios and then the oh, they talked about the
student experience. Well, they that sounded wonderful for
students.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:25:56]:
Can you tell me a little bit more about how this value, is
experienced or plays out for your staff?
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:26:02]:
Mhmm. Mhmm.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:26:03]:
So it's just keeping the art of engagement. And we do the same with
employers because this is new to engage in recruiting as well. So
we talk about when you when you choose recruiters, you want to
choose people who, a, understand the values, the mission, the
vision of your university, who can talk about their own experience
with them to showcase that congruence. And I recommend you collect
stories of your colleagues, of your team, of your peers that can
validate that or affirm that. I also talk to my employers about
transparency to say these things are so aspirational and here's
where we are in working towards this. I think this is a wonderful
generation of candidates that appreciate the honesty and the
transparency. So even if you tell me you're not there yet, if you
can tell me how you're working towards it, I'm gonna appreciate
that you didn't tell me a lie.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:26:50]:
Yeah. For sure.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:26:50]:
That you have that awareness, and I have an understanding of how
you're still trying to get there. And so it's not a ding to you as
an employer if you haven't hit everything inspirationally. It's
your ability in preparation to talk about how you're working
towards it and what you have in place to bridge that gap if you're
not there yet.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:27:08]:
Let's talk a little bit about the numbers. How many candidates and
employers and jobs are in the TPE portal at any one given time and
particularly during high season of hiring?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:27:19]:
Sure. At any given time, we average between two 50 and 375 for jobs
monthly. And so I give the average because we have new jobs posted.
We offer 30, 60, 90 day postings. So we're in that 2 to 300 range
on average per month. We currently have about 380 candidate resumes
on the job board. That's the year round component. And we have
about 600 employers who are in our system.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:27:45]:
They may not be currently posting at the time, but they have posted
in the past calendar year. Those numbers are continuing to grow as
we continue to, a, inform people that we have a job work because a
lot of people still just know us at the event. So as we continue to
tell that story, those numbers increase. I am excited with
placement that we are seeing numbers to start to increase to what
they used to be. I told you the background in PR and marketing
comes in hand. It helps me develop patients. Our field loves the
things that have been a part of our journey, And we know that
change is a process. And so replacement, our candidate numbers are
are very quickly getting to what we are familiar with, closer to
300, 400 candidates.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:28:22]:
Our employers are slow to adopt. And so our hope is as we continue
to grow and employers continue to have that positive experience, a,
that their testimonial, their validation, and their word-of-mouth
will help. We are also marketing though, making sure employers know
our candidates are getting it. We're getting up to 300 plus
candidates almost to 4. And so right now, we actually are almost a
100 registered employers, which means there's almost a 100
positions. So it's a position per employer that they're being hired
for. And they are from early career to senior, mid level, or senior
level positions. And so I am just telling employers, you are
looking for the candidate.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:28:56]:
I can tell you where they are. They are leaning into technology.
They are leaning into equitable access. They are leaning into
spaces that fit better with their time and their schedule to look
for a job. And so we are pacing it year by year to help employers
see that we've heard what they were looking for from the in person
experience, and we can't copy and paste, but we can find ways that
technology allows us to reach that goal.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:29:17]:
I always say that transition and change always takes at least 3
years in higher education. 1 year to formulate and push the change
out, the 2nd year to work out the issues or the kinks with it, and
the 3rd year to let it fly and see if it actually works. It's
because our profession is so cyclical. The hiring quote unquote
season in higher ed really only happens once a year en masse, but
it is it is all year round. But you're not gonna see if the impact
is is what you're hoping for for a while, and that's just true for
anything in higher ed, I think. So I'm hoping that our show and
featuring TPE can help others discover you again.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:29:53]:
Well, I appreciate that very much. This role as a former
practitioner on the campus has helped me lean into we talk about
redefining success. We easily say it, and then you have experiences
that require you to live that amount. Up. Rebranding and
restructuring CVE has really challenged me, and I've embraced what
it means to redefine success. And so right now, redefining success
is not the highest registration numbers. It is listening to those
who were leaning into this process, say that it worked and they
experienced an improved week going through the process in this way,
hearing people say, oh, this felt very innovative, or this was
engaging, or this was fun. Words that we used to hear from the in
person experience to now hear them in the virtual experience lets
me know that we're headed in the right direction.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:30:34]:
So I'm very much leaning into the feedback from our participants to
make sure that we are hitting the mark with what equals a quality
experience for them. And I believe that as more people have the
quality experience, the numbers will do what they need to do.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:30:47]:
Well, I think the number one thing that virtual space creates is
accessibility. Right? And that's accessibility in a lot of
different ways. But when I was, working as an AVPDOS at a large
public university, you know, it made the TBE process possible for
us because we couldn't afford to send 7, 8, 9 recruiters to the
experience. But we could say, okay. Let's pay 1 fee, and we can
post our hall director positions. We can post some assistant
director positions, and we can try to find our people, this way. So
I think that's that's all good stuff. What other transitions and
developments have come about for TPE that you want our listeners to
know about?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:31:25]:
Sure. I think the the next big piece is what's happening in terms
of programming and in the social media space. So we are about
placement. We absolutely want people to connect employer to
employee and find those jobs and make those hires. But again, as we
think about being a career resource, it also means creating space
to talk about and address the factors that impact our ability to
retain staff and advance staff in the field. And there are some
very role factors that we have to think about broadly if we're
going to get the talent and keep the talent. And so, a big thing
that I'm proud of is called TBE Talks. It's from our 2 planning
committee chairs.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:32:00]:
Every last Friday of the month, they get on the TPE Instagram live
account and they talk about hot topics. So anything that is making
someone think about, I don't wanna do this job anymore or what's
driving my search for the next job, they talk about it. And I don't
hang out in that space because I really wanted to be a free space
for peer to peer conversation and engagement, and those
conversations have been wonderful. The 2nd piece that will launch
in March that I am extremely excited about is the one that I get to
host. They're called TPE WRAP Session. And the sole subject of
those conversations is around diversity, equity, inclusion, and
accessibility, and how that is impacting our ability to recruit,
retain, and advance practitioners. And so each month, I'll have a
guest join me to have that conversation. And so it varies.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:32:46]:
My first guest is going to be someone who was the director of HR
and DEI for a West Coast campus. And so for people to be able to
hear how campuses are doing this work, get some ideas, ask them
questions, and then I'll talk to some practitioners about their
journey and their experience in the field. But I really want us to
create spaces to just talk about the importance of accessibility,
the importance of DEI, and how that's impacting the talent in our
field, whether they're staying or going, moving up, or whatever
that looks like. I think there's no harm in having a space to
really have that niche conversation. So those are 2 big things
coming up that I'm really excited about is offering to the
field.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:33:25]:
And repeat for us how people can listen into those dialogues?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:33:29]:
Sure. If you want to listen in to TPE Talks, you can go to the TPE
Instagram account on Fridays at 2 pm and join them live. If you
want to join us for the wrap sessions, they happen the last
Thursday of each month. And again, our website is magic. You go to
our website and go to events. You'll find the link to join those
when we are live on those last Thursdays of the month.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:33:53]:
Any final thoughts on TPE's evolution from you,
D'Najah Thomas
[00:34:02]:
3rd year in the role, and this is the 3rd iteration of TPE in a
virtual space is what you really alluded to. Right? We were really
trying to fine tune what it means. And although it's a 3rd
iteration, what I would say to the field is it's just an indicator
that we're listening and that we are committed to refining it until
we create what it is the field needs. And so I am excited for TPE
to continue to evolve, to be a career hub for our field because I
think that is the way forward for making sure that we can sustain
our workforce. And not just have those bodies in seats, but make
sure that our workforce is fulfilled and healthy and vibrant and
able to have the creativity and the flexibility to do the work that
they need to do.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:34:43]:
It's time to take a quick break and toss it over to producer Chris
to learn what's going on in the NASPA world.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:34:50]:
Thanks so much, Jill. Glad to be back in the NASPA world, and
there's a lot going on in NASPA as we prepare for the 2024 annual
conference. One of the things that I wanted to talk about because
we're talking about the placement exchange today is that there are
opportunities within the placement exchange for your organizations
to be able to find those employees that you need. Many of you may
either be looking for jobs or may be looking for individuals to
fill positions. And TPE, or the Placement Exchange, is the largest
career placement resource in student affairs for over the last 15
years. TPE is committed to helping employers and job seekers in our
industry find each other and build our community one great job at a
time. The methods and practices for job searching and hiring
continue to evolve, and TPE is also working, as we've been hearing
about, diligently to deliver the best in technology and innovation
as well as accessibility, affordability, and dependability when it
comes to recruiting and retaining talented professionals in student
affairs. I know you've been hearing about it a lot today, but I'm
going to plug it again.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:36:03]:
To go to the placementexchange.org to find out more information.
Another great opportunity for you to explore is a new partnership
that is called the Program Review Collaborative. This was developed
in collaboration with organizations such as the Association of
Colleges and University Housing Officers International, the
Association of College Unions International, NASPA, and the
National Intramural Recreational Sports Association. The PRC is a
new joint venture aimed at enriching departmental reviews through
the guidance of seasoned experts. These associations bring together
a wealth of knowledge, resources, and a unified commitment to
advancing the work of campus of campus professionals and
institutions alike. PRC reviews focus on appraising the strengths
and opportunities of a department with particular emphasis on
staffing, administrative processes, programmatic offerings, student
engagement mechanisms, and collaborative ventures within the
broader campus community. Find out more at program
reviewcollaborative.org. Finally, thank you to everyone who voted
in the annual NASPA leadership elections, which closed on February
8th.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:37:19]:
We are thrilled to announce the following results with each
position following the NASPA board of directors for the terms
noted. The board chair elect is Michael Christakis, vice president
for student affairs at the University of Albany, the region 2
director, Chaunte Hill, vice president for student life athletics
and campus services at St. Joseph's University, region four east
director, Juan Guardia, assistant vice president for student
affairs and dean of students at the University of Cincinnati, and
region 5 director, Carnell McDonald Black, vice president for
student life at Reed College. Congratulations to all of these new
leaders that are going to be leading NASPA into the future. Every
week, we're going to be sharing some amazing things that are
happening within the association. So we are going to be able to try
and keep you up to date on everything that's happening and allow
for you to be able to get involved in different ways because the
association is as strong as its members. And for all of us, we have
to find our place within the association, whether it be getting
involved with the knowledge community, giving back within one of
the the centers or the divisions of the association. And as you're
doing that, it's important to be able to identify for yourself
where do you fit, where do you wanna give back.
Dr.
Christopher Lewis [00:38:40]:
Each week, we're hoping that we will share some things that might
encourage you, might allow for you to be able to get some ideas
that will provide you with an opportunity to be able to say, hey. I
see myself in that knowledge community. I see myself doing
something like that. Or encourage you in other ways that allow for
you to be able to think beyond what's available right now, to offer
other things to the association, to bring your gifts, your talents
to the association, and to all of the members within the
association. Because through doing that, all of us are stronger and
the association is better. Tune in again next week as we find out
more about what is happening in NASPA.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:39:27]:
Chris, as always, you just do such a wonderful job with keeping us
updated on what's going on in and around NASPA. Thank you for all
you do with our NASPA World segment. Denasia, we've reached our
lightning round. I have 7 questions for you in 90 seconds. Ready to
start the clock?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:39:43]:
I'm ready.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:39:44]:
Alright. Number 1. If you were a conference keynote speaker, what
would your entrance music be?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:39:49]:
It would be Beyonce's I Been On. It's such a fierce song, and it
reminds me to know that my track record is pretty good, and I don't
need to be nervous about what I'm about to do.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:40:00]:
Number 2. When you were 5 years old, what would did you want to be
when you grew up?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:40:04]:
I wanted to be a bank teller because they always handed out
lollipops when I went with my parents to the bank.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:40:10]:
Number 3. Who's your most influential professional mentor?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:40:13]:
My most influential professional mentor would be doctor Stephanie
Carter Atkins. He is the embodiment of servant leadership, and she
taught me extreme patience as a supervisor.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:40:24]:
Number 4. Your essential student affairs or career read.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:40:27]:
Oh, my essential read would be Dare to Lead by Brene Brown. It
leads me into some vulnerability that I had to really work through
to offer to my staff, but was transformational.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:40:38]:
Number 5, the best TV show you binged during the pandemic.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:40:41]:
During the pandemic, there wasn't a lot of TV because there was a
kid in the house. But I would say that My Guilty Pleasure was The
Real House 5 series. You could pick 1. They were always on A&E.
So yeah.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:40:53]:
Number 6, the podcast you've spent the most hours listening to in
the last year.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:40:57]:
Harvard Business Review.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:40:58]:
And finally, number 7, any shout outs you'd like to give, personal
or professional?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:41:03]:
I would love to give a shout out to my partner who is also in
higher ed and helps me find a way to navigate both of us reaching
the goals that we have. I definitely wanna give a shout out to
black women who are doing this work. They are my sisterhood. They
are my network, and they are my support. And I am always here for
empowering them. And then lastly, I have to give a shout out to my
TPE planning committee, both current and past. TPE, when I say we,
it's just me. And so without my planning committee, I would not be
able to do what I get done.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:41:32]:
They continue to be a dream team, and I love them dearly.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:41:35]:
Denasia, it has been a pleasure to have you on SA Voices and get to
know more about how TPE has been changing and evolving to meet the
needs of the modern candidate and the modern employer as well. If
folks would like to reach you or TPE, how can they find you?
D'Najah Thomas
[00:41:50]:
Sure. If they would like to reach me or TPE, they can come to the
TPE website. Again, it's www .theplacementexchange.org. You can
click about us and get in touch with myself or our general email
account. You can also follow TPE on Instagram, Facebook, or
LinkedIn. If you put in the placement exchange on all 3, we will
pop up. There's no competitors. You'll definitely land at us, and I
do my best to get back to people as quickly as I can.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:42:17]:
Thank you so much for sharing your voice and the new story of TPE
with us today.
D'Najah Thomas
[00:42:22]:
Thank you so much for having me. It's been a wonderful
conversation.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:42:28]:
This has been an episode of Student Affairs Voices From the Field,
a podcast brought to you by NASPA. This show continues to be
possible because you choose to listen to us. We are so grateful for
your subscriptions and your downloads and your engagement with the
content. If you'd like to reach the show, please email us at essay
voices at NASPA dot org or find me on LinkedIn by searching for
doctor Jill L. Creighton. We always welcome your feedback and your
topic and guest suggestions. We'd love it if you take a moment to
tell a colleague about the show and give us a 5 star rating on
Apple Podcasts or wherever you're listening now. It really does
help other student affairs professionals find the show and helps
raise the show's profile within the larger podcasting
community.
Dr. Jill
Creighton [00:43:09]:
This episode was produced and hosted by doctor Jill Creighton.
That's me. Produced and audio engineered by doctor Chris Lewis.
Special thanks to the University of Michigan Flint for your support
as we create this project. Catch you next time.