Orientation: Review and Important Tips!

Wowee! So, it had been quite some time since I have written- my apologies. The orientation, held this year at the Stanford campus, was a fantastic two day experience that allowed new fellows to meet old fellows. Most importantly, it was a chance for us to really get a feel for how to go about preparing for (and having) a wonderful fellowship experience.

On the evening of the 18th, I was rushing from the SFO airport to make the dinner and lecture. I made it just in time to mingle with many former fellows and other public service staff of the Haas Public Service Center. That evening, I stayed at my brother’s apartment in San Jose.

On the 19th, I woke up bright and early to take Caltrain back to Stanford for a full day of Q&A and listening to both the experiences of the former fellows, and to the rules regarding logistics of the fellowship. While there were many lessons and short stories the former fellows gave us, I will include only the main tips and notes I took away from this session:

In your 1st month:
- Be Proactive
- Establish yourself as a "fellow," not intern (you can correct people by saying something like, "As a fellow, my goal is to," etc.)
- Go to happy hours and other such networking events
- Manage your workload
- Don't talk to coworkers about anything that causes "drama" or involves "gossip-like" activities. Keep whatever special privileges you have to yourself.
- PROVE YOURSELF IN OTHER PEOPLE'S TERMS FIRST!
- Cater to their expectations
- When you have down-time, peruse through the server, read online articles about your agency/org, etc.
- BE DELIBERATE BUT HUMBLE, FLEXIBLE BUT ASSERTIVE, and modesty goes a long way...
- Don't discount your ideas, but don't speak in the first meeting as if you know everything about the content you are working on.
- Be observant, read between the lines, read personalities, evaluate the environment, and see where you fit into the culture.
- Show your willingness to receive feedback (do not make excuses)
- Pick your battles.
- Be extra careful about your work (even emails!) because they are judging your work ethic straight from the start.

Mentor Relationships
- Look at everyone as your mentor, and learn from everyone
- Try to schedule a meeting of some sort within the first two weeks
- Emphasize that you are a quick learner and take feedback well
- Be open-minded
- Email before your first day to tell them how excited you are and that you are happy to be working there
- One month into your fellowship, create a learning plan with your mentor- try to look at what is reasonable, create expectations, and a timeline to stick by your goals.
- Do not underestimate other mentors.
- Take advantage of even "car/elevator" time to tell them how your are doing or hear what advice they have on any particular issue (always have a topic ready in your head or a question that can break the ice)

Networking
- If you have downtime, look at it as a time to network- introduce yourself to people, look up people in your office and reach out to them.
- Join the happy hour scene
- Create a list of names and people you want to know.
- Stay in contact with the people you were most fascinated with.

Office Politics
- Take good "read-outs" or notes during meetings and offer them in a types version to your mentors/fellow staff after the meeting. (Four main points, then details)
- Volunteer for meetings
- Be transparent about your projects (be professional, take personalities out of the picture, "pause before sending" in an email)
- If someone tries to take to you about gossip, just respond with "I don't know anything about that" and start a different conversation topic.

Worklife
- Try to keep your work at work and your life at home. Combining the two can cause some drama, unless you stick to these rules.
- Write/create a journal (hence, this blog)
- Follow HR policies when it comes to time off/sick days, etc.

What I wish I would have known (from 2009-2010 Gardners)
- Wear sandels/tennis shoes to work, heels are a pain
- Use the fellowship as an excuse to ask permission to attend relevant conferences in your area.

All very awesome advice, and notes I will revisit as I begin my fellowship.

We then had lunch and asked our last questions. For me, I was sad not to have known these fellows for a longer period of time, but hopeful that they put everything out there for us to be ready for our fellowship. It is also exciting to think that in one year, we will be sitting in their exact same shoes, giving more tips, and feeling more confident about where we will move forward in our careers and lives. After one last group picture, it was time for logistics and a movie of John Gardner’s life. Logistics included how we would be paid, ways to find housing, brief notes over taxes, healthcare, etc. It was great to know that all of our travel (flights, etc.) associated with the fellowship would be paid for.


2009-2011 Gardner Fellows


2009-2011 Gardner Fellows with UCB and Stanford Gardner Administrators

Lastly, we watched a documentary of John Gardner’s life and took away with us a book that will guide me for the next ten months.

John Gardner. Wow.

When I applied for this fellowship, it was not the top post-undergraduate experience on my list. I took the time to look up this “John Gardner” guy, but I didn’t really read into his life and what he did for others. If I had, I think it most definitely would have been at the top of my list. This man has thousands of life-changing quotes, many books surrounding leadership and service, and just a good heart. While I may not have met him, I have seen through others who have, through his works, and through documentaries that he is exactly the type of public servant I aspire to be: always learning, always humble, always creating community solutions, and always giving others the time of day.

Let’s hope I have it in me to be as amazing as he was.

Projects to look forward to!

Super excited for the work to come!

***Draft***

1) Engage agency leadership, especially the Board of Directors in Signature Events including but not limited to MLK Day, AmeriCorps Week, special United We Serve events, and the National Conference on Volunteerism and Service

2) Identify, respond to invitations, coordinate logistics for and prepare needed briefing materials for Board Member speaking engagements including local, regional and national events, community dialogues, National Conference roles, etc
a. Coordinate with the Offices of the Executive Secretariat, Public and External Affairs, State Offices and the Strategy Office to identify appropriate events for Board Member participation and briefing materials needed

3) Support the planning and coordination of Board Retreats, conference calls, New Member Orientation and all related briefing materials

4) Support additional projects of the CEO’s Office including but not limited to the Social Innovation Fund, the Strategic Plan execution, etc

5) General Support of the CEO’s Office and Projects
a. Devote time to increased understanding of the structure, projects and staff of the CEO’s Office
b. Attend relevant meetings, share observations, insights and questions.
c. Investigate and identify internal or external meetings for possible attendance.
d. Other duties that may arise during the Fellowship period

Engagement Specialist! :)

Fri, Jul 16, 2010 at 2:14 PM

Dear Christina,

I am happy to inform you that your request to complete your John Gardner Fellowship placement at the Corporation for National and Community Service has been approved. For the purposes of our records, your placement is considered a non-compensated, volunteer internship and the working title of your role is “Engagement Specialist.” The CEO’s team would like to welcome you to our family and we look forward to helping you achieve a productive fellowship.

This letter will cover our understanding of your fellowship and lay out the expectations of both parties. You will begin your internship on Monday Sept 13, 2010, and will end it on July 17, 2011, for a total of 10 months. We agreed that your work schedule is Monday through Friday, 9:00 am to 5:30 pm, with a daily 30-minute lunch break. I will serve as your supervisor and will provide you with day-to-day management, as well as a bi-weekly supervision meeting. _____________, Chief of Staff will serve as your mentor and will meet with you periodically through out your fellowship to provide professional advice and guidance. The attached draft work-plan provides a general position description with a list of projects, responsibilities and work tasks. Please note that this work-plan is in working draft form as we hope that this fellowship will serve as an opportunity for you to explore and learn all you can about the role of a federal agency in shaping the national service field and we want to allow for flexibility in defining the assignments that will best serve this purpose.

On your first day with us (September 13, 2010), we ask that you arrive at our office by 9:00 am. The Corporation is located at 1201 New York Avenue, NW. If you travel by subway, take either the Blue, Orange or Red line train to Metro Center. Once you arrive at the Corporation, please go to the 10th floor reception desk.

Much of your first day will be devoted to completing the on-boarding process. When you return to your computer, you will need to take the mandatory Computer Security Training in order to get your network account activated. During your first few days, you will also need to attend a new staff orientation presented by the Office of Human Capital and an external outreach training presented by General Counsel.

Space & Phone

Your workspace will be assigned the first week and should be ready for you to occupy on your very first day. As stated above, in order to use the Corporation’s computer network, you have to complete the mandatory security training first, to be granted access. We’ll also give you a short introduction to phone usage and our messaging system.

Schedule

You have agreed to a full-time (40 hours per week) schedule beginning Sept 13, 2010, through July 17, 2011. If this schedule is not accurate, please contact me immediately. We understand that you will need to be out of the office for a meeting in California in Dec or Jan as part of your Fellowship and that you will need time off for the holidays and other personal events. We ask that you give us at least a week’s notice if you will be out of the office.

If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact me. Once again, I want to welcome you and offer our best wishes for a productive, engaging and growth-filled Fellowship with the Corporation for National and Community Service. I look forward to working closely with you beginning in September.

Decisions Decisions...

When I began the crazy process of finding the perfect placement I talked to everyone including professors, supervisors, friends, the Gardner alums and even family. Someone always knows someone who is working on the issue you want to get involved in. And there never is an exact perfect match, I think, because they are all awesome! eek!

In the end, I sent a crazy email to the UCB Gardner Administrator that read as follows:

Date Tue, Jun 29, 2010 at 9:28 PM

Questions to ask myself:
What do I want and how will this fellowship get me there?
How comfortable will I feel to ask my mentor to allow me to be in on unique experiences?
How will this placement challenge me?
What type of service do I like to do, how can this be informed by my placement choice?
Thought: I should not have to convince myself to choose the placement. Rather, it should be a comfortable door opening to the placement. There is no wrong placement as I will take every opportunity to learn from it. No worries :)

Criteria:
1. Access (to high level meetings, leaders in the field)
2. Mentor (open to my personal growth, able to cater to my interests, provide me with substantial work)
3. Ability to challenge me (expand my skills, allow me to learn about how government is creating change)
4. Office environment (other people, general gut feeling of the place)
5. Travel/Capstone experience (what will this be? how will it fit into my goals)
6. Fit in with future aspirations (still shady...)

First Choice: Corporation for National and Community Service
1. Access is guaranteed to the CEO, Board of Directors, and all high level staff members. I will be in on meetings and even work on their strategic plans. I will be allowed to work with my direct supervisor to create my job description that will allow me to move through three different areas of the work at the corporation.
2. My official mentor would be the CEO, with monthly lunches (give or take). My supervisor(s) will also be mentors (I met 4 of them) that lead different projects under the mission of CNCS. All have access to leaders in the field, and will no doubt give me the opportunities to be involved in their projects. _______ has worked with ______ before and I trust, as _______ has said, that _______ knows what a fellowship means and will make it a wonderful experience for me.
3. ***While I was worried before that this placement would not challenge me, I think I was being too cocky. This placement will expand my knowledge of how service is done from the larger perspective. I will be involved in policy, strategic planning, and the face of national service which is completely different than direct service. It will inform my understanding of service and will challenge me to look beyond that.
4. My supervisor introduced me to people all over the office when I arrived and it was a very comfortable setting for me. It was very busy, but people still took the time to look me in the eye, welcome me and give me a little synopsis about their work in the office (even right before their largest conference!). It felt right to be there.
5. While this is a national institution and not a global one, I will be happy with the trade off. My capstone experience (and not the only one by any means) would be working on and even running part of the National Conference which can be a huge addition to my portfolio. There might be other possibilities- national service days, meetings with even higher level officials (why not dream big and say that I could meet our first lady or president!). They are only once removed from the CEO :)
6. This was the toughest criteria. Let me be honest and say that my future aspirations have always been shady. I know I can do things, organize, create, serve, lead others, but HOW has been my biggest question. Through a nonprofit? Does it matter the issue area (like immigration)? Or will it be through creating policy? SO...I do think this opportunity allows me to continue to explore how...I will be in an institution with tons of issue areas (I am a generalist, after all), and I will be working on policy and larger goals that meet the mission of our administration.

I am excited about this placement :)

Second Choice: Millennium Challenge Corporation
1&2. Access is almost as good as above, but unclear. It was made clear to me, however, that I would not have the opportunity to sit in on a high level meeting since my mentor would be around top 12 in the institution and the CEO really only interacts with his boss (top 6 people). BUT, my mentor would have a lot of contacts in other institutions (Treasury, State, White House, etc.) and would probably be willing to make introductions. He is a wonderful person who understands what a fellowship means and he would create a work for me where he would review it with me throughout my time there (quarterly reviews like an employee).
3. This would be challenging on many levels. Content-wise I would be learning about many different countries and cultures and how governments are working with local nonprofits and communities to create sustainable solutions to poverty worldwide. Wow (mouthful). I would learn evaluative methods and practical skills through writing, excel, etc.
4. I only met my potential mentor, which was wonderful, but it seemed that other staff were in their offices- very busy. I am wondering how difficult it would be to work with them, or if there would be opportunities to work with them. I felt wonderful with my mentor, but I did not really get a feel for the office except that it was very professional.
5. Travel is probable. My mentor mentioned that two compacts (agreements) would be closing this year, the first two, and that I could be involved with that process. I might be able to visit these countries. This would probably be my capstone experience.
6. I am not completely clear as to how this fits in with my future aspirations, but it would be a wonderful way to see how government, through MCC works with other governments to create partnerships and change for the people of those countries.

I know I will learn a lot here, and be challenged a lot here, but I am not sure how this will play into my future goals.

Third Choice: Central American Affairs Office, Department of State
It is funny to me how, a week ago I was saying how awesome it would be to work here, and now it is at the bottom of my list. Why? Well, the biggest part of this was mentorship and access. After a long conversation with a former Gardner fellow, it was clear to me that he got lucky and had a wonderful experience, which can also happen for me. But, my mentor was very clear about how little he could afford to give me (time, resources, etc.) so I would in some ways be taking the reigns in my projects and asking for work. I am not sure that that is how I want to use my "golden ticket." I need/want a mentor, someone I can learn from, watch, and someone who will introduce me to other people. It was clear that I would become like another intern and I would have to fight my way to recognition and greater responsibility. While this is not something I haven't done before, I would rather not use my time that way for this fellowship. I think that at CNCS and MCC I will be given work promptly, and I will be able to make a difference right away. My personal fulfillment has always been based on how much I feel I am contributing and it is always the reason why I have gone above and beyond my duties. It is as if once I know I can give, I cannot stop giving. So, if I am fighting to find work and give, I will not be happy there or needed there. I also need to see results from my work and it is not clear to me that State will give me that. Even if I might be the "expert on immigration," it is unlikely that I will be able to affect immigration policy at State. I have to admit that it was very tempting as first, but that realizing how I can be happy with my work is more important that what I will write on my resume afterwards means so much more to me.

So, I hope this makes sense...it has taken me a while and is still taking me some time to reconcile the WONDERFUL opportunities the Gardner Fellowship has given me. No wrong choice, and I think I will be very happy no matter what :)

Congratulations! The email that started it all...

Date: Thu, March 11, 2010 6:38 pm

Dear Christina:

Congratulations! On behalf of the selection committee, I am delighted to offer you a John Gardner Fellowship for Public Service for 2010-11.

We were deeply impressed by your outstanding academic credentials and extraordinary record of public service. In a highly competitive year for the fellowship, you stood out from other candidates for your intellect, commitment to service, and potential for future leadership. It is our hope that the fellowship will help you to begin a career helping the neediest among us, following many other distinguished fellows before you.

I'd like to arrange a time for you to stop by tomorrow to pick up a letter with more details about the fellowship and to answer any questions you may have. In addition, I ask that you let me know whether you will be accepting the fellowship by next Wednesday, March 17.

One of the benefits of the Gardner fellowship is that you will be joining the John Gardner "family" of fellows, past and present. They form a network of accomplished people who can help you as you consider the next steps in your career. In the days to come, you may hear from current fellows and alumni who wish to offer their congratulations.

Congratulations again. I think you have an extraordinary career ahead
of you.

All the best,

AND SO IT BEGINS...