Discover Interview Reflections

Discover Interview Reflections

Brad Griffith - October 4, 2016

I had the fortune of serving as an Academic Advisor to business students for about two years.  This is one of the most empathy-focused positions in a college setting because you truly confront all types of issues with students, specifically those that they often are not willing to reveal right away.  Here are some of the techniques I can remember that worked well for me (and hopefully my students). 

1. Conduct background research.  My first step in empathy occurred in a review of my students' academic records and personal file before actually greeting them for an appointment.  Advisors usually have a specific set of information that must be communicated to each student, regardless of their stated needs for that exact appointment.  This was my way of conducting research of the person's current situation academically so that I could try to understand how it fit into their holistic place in life at that moment.   It is important to be informed about your learner, but to not cast a judgment or try to complete a picture before you have all the information. 

2. Intrusive and developmental questioning.  One of the most challenging skills to master as an academic advisor is that of intrusive advisement and questioning.  It's simple on the surface in that you should try to ask open-ended questions that provoke thought on the part of the student about their current and future academic career and personal goals.  This is particularly useful when students are confused about their purpose or direction.  Advising students can easily fall into a transactional pattern where you're just asking the student what they need and giving it to them, but it's in these intrusive questions and my observations that I was able to truly sit in their shoes, understand the obstacles and opportunities they faced, and then try to get them to take charge and own the learning environment/track I had proposed to them in the form of recommended classes, extracurricular activity opportunities, job connections, or just returning to me for feedback and encouragement.

3. Track progress and give constructive feedback.  In order to truly empathize with my 700+ students in some cases over the course of multiple years, I found it necessary to keep diligent notes about them and to make sure they saw our relationship as one that was continuous.  Fortunately, we used a program called Degree Works that had a note taking feature, with additional capabilities for confidential notes.  The conversation could be as simple as remembering that someone had a job interview between their appointments and asking how it went, or as complicated as following up on developing relationships between students and faculty mentors.  If I was keeping track of my students' progress, I could also help them modify their educational plan when needed to meet their needs.

4. Get to know who my students (or your clients) know.  My experience as an advisor changed when I started building personal relationship with the faculty that were teaching my students.  It wasn't until I observed the personality of the faculty, learned about their individual expertise, and inquired to my students about how they perceived their instructors that I was able to merge the interpersonal and academic reality of my students.