Bethany Sieren Bauer

Major: Sociology

Year of Graduation: 2007

Graduate School: I have just started a graduate program at Avila University in their Master's of Science in Organizational Development.

Current position: I am an Admission Representative for Avila, a private, Catholic, liberal arts university in Kansas City. I travel a couple of months out of the year and attend college fairs and high schools to talk with students and get them excited about entering college and explaining the process to them. I also spend on average an hour on the phone a day, checking in with students who have applied to make sure they know their current status and information about events on campus. It is a lot of fun for someone who likes helping high school students!

What path did you follow to arrive at your current job?
I decided to move to Kansas City my senior year of college and then became interested in working in Admissions because of my student employment jobs my last two years of college (I was a tour guide and tele-counselor in the CSB Admission office). The person at CSB that recruited in Kansas City recommended Avila and she emailed a contact she had and I was able to apply for an open representative position shortly after graduating.

What advice/suggestions would you have for students who might be interested in your career?
If you haven't had the opportunity to give tours to prospective students, volunteer to give them for the next event that CSB/SJU holds. It is a great chance to see a snapshot of who you might be working with.

What skills are important in your field?                                                                                          

Communication! Admission Representatives have to be able to communicate effectively. I work with students AND parents from a variety of social and ethnic backgrounds and you have to know how to relate to each one of those individuals. 

Reliability and Adaptability- There is a lot of time that I am away from the office and I have to make sure to stay on task at all times.  Also, it seems that there is always a piece of my job that is in constant change. You will have to be able to quickly adapt to those changes.

What is the most satisfying/rewarding part of your job? Most challenging?                                                    

Enrolling the new students and helping them move in is the most rewarding. You get to see the students grow up in the whole college search process and see their excitement when they finally decide "school A" is the best choice for them. I get really excited knowing they have no idea how much fun they are about to have. 

The most challenging part of my job is the long hours during my travel season. I may work 10-12 hours a day and I am living out of a hotel. That is fun for awhile, but at the end of the travel season I am ready to go back to a more regular schedule. 

What activities/experiences were helpful at CSB/SJU (and elsewhere) in preparation for this career?Definitely working in the Office of Admission at CSB! If I wouldn't have done that, I doubt I would have gotten to the place I am today. I learned a lot and the staff in the office was always helpful. They were able to give me recommendations for my current position, which always helps. Studying abroad in South Africa also helped me open up my personal viewpoints. I think this helps me to relate to students that come from a different background than me.  Another piece that was helpful was my summer job for two years in college: I built hog barns and being able to put that on my resume was always a conversation piece in every interview that I did. I recommend finding something unique and showcasing that on your resume. It helped ease anxiety during each interview when we would start talking about building hog barns!