Transferrable Skills From a Senior Educational Consultant
By: Taylor Krivas, Senior Educational Leadership Consultant
Taking on the role of an Educational Leadership Consultant, or ELC, goes far and beyond what many undergraduate members see in those brief 3-day stints. There is a lot happening behind-the-scenes effort made by Lambda Chi Alpha International Headquarters (IHQ) members to make sure that time at IHQ prepares our ELCs for personal and professional growth immediately after college. To properly prepare, there is a mentor pairing program and supplemental “Adulting 101” sessions.
Each Senior Educational Leadership Consultant and second- year Recruitment Specialist, or RS, is paired with a mentor in a field related to what they are interested in pursuing. Career paths range from wanting to become a lawyer, learn about database planning, going into student affairs, or looking for some direction on their next career move.
I and three other peers plan to go into Student Affairs and work at a university in Higher Education. Due to this, our mentors are four of the senior staff members that have some form of degree or other in Higher Education. This is fantastic for networking abilities, learning what potential institutions are looking to hire for assistantships, and having someone walk you through what tests need to be taken to gain admittance to most programs (in my case the GRE). I was lucky enough to be paired with the former Director of Chapter Services, Nick Zuniga, who also worked as a Fraternity and Sorority Advisor at Texas A&M prior to taking this position. Outside of our mentor meetings, senior staff and former staff lend their expertise in areas like these “Adulting 101” sessions below:
- Personal Finance and Basic Budgeting
- Graduate Schools: Looking for the Right Program for You
- Uprooting & Moving to a New Place
- Social Media Presence: Do’s & Don’ts
- Interview Skills
- Applying ELC/RS Skills to the Real World
- “Translating Greek”: Putting ELC/RS in your Resume
- Former Staff Directory Based on Location
Throughout all of the “Adulting 101” sessions offered, the two I would like to highlight are the “Social Media Presence: Do’s & Don’ts” and “‘Translating Greek’: Putting ELC/RS in your Resume.”
When it comes to social media, as I’m sure we can all relate to, freshman year me was not necessarily posting with finding a job in mind. There is truly no difference between “Me on Twitter” and “Me on Facebook” … it’s the same person. Make sure you are presenting an image that is consistent!
Beyond graduate school preparation, as I have a desire to go into Student Affairs, “Translating Greek” aided in putting the ELC position into layman’s terms, which was extraordinarily helpful. It is easy to get into the groove of using commonplace terms for members in the Fraternity and Sorority Community, but those that have never been members may not always have the greatest perception of our field. This particular session aided me in quantifying the amount of chapter visits I conducted, the breadth of topics I’ve presented, and translating the insurmountable amount of customer service expertise I now have.
With this job, as any other, there are trials and tribulations outside of the job description that show off a unique skillset gained outside of the contract.
The ELC mentoring program has truly furthered my knowledge on how to apply for graduate school, how to network effectively, and how to incorporate the skills I learned in this job. Most importantly, this position has taught me that “adulting” is not an end-all be-all, but a continuous road that we must travel by always looking to build upon current practices. Serving as an ELC or RS is rewarding in ways you would never have guessed, but working for IHQ truly is a stepping stone to achieve bigger things after time on staff.
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