Advisory (Closed Doors)

“You need to make sure that you’re humble when you take this position.” My Financial Aid Director told me as they were verbally offering the Financial Aid Advisor job at the North Idaho College (NIC) Financial Aid Office.

It was the summer of 2011 and I was so excited to be receiving a promotion, getting more pay, and more responsibilities. But I was also a little miffed at the comment. Yes, I know, I’m a confident guy and at times cocky for sure. The hiring committees’ biggest hesitation when it came to hiring me was my ego. I was up against 3 other colleagues from my office. Some of them had more life experience and work experience than me, but none of them had the required degrees. The combination of experience and degrees were minimum requirements when it came to hiring for this position. Historically, and despite my current career in recruiting now, I never really interviewed well. But it was clear during this process that I was ready to take the next step in the office and in my career.

I had just graduated with my Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration with a minor in Marketing from Lewis-Clark State College – Coeur d’Alene, had 3 years of experience in the office as a Financial Aid Technician, another year of relevant experience in higher education overall, and was 24 years old. The experience was all in line and met all the requirements compared to who I was up against. But I also think that my age was a factor. Over the course of the previous 3.5 years I had grown a lot as a man, a father, and a professional. Personally, I knew I was ready, but they also saw the immaturity in me and wanted to be careful about how they would navigate my promotion. It was boggling even still how long it took for them to make a final determination.

The Advisor position was something newly created out of necessity but also a long-term plan that Eric had put in motion years before. In 2010, Eric ended up getting the President position at Cascadia College in Bothell, WA and moved to Redmond, WA. I stayed behind in Coeur d’Alene, ID to continue raising Kiwi and to pursue my newfound career quest of becoming a college president

July 1st, 2011 I officially started as an Advisor. At that time, the Technicians, part-time employees, and Work Studies would work in an open area bullpen. Over the course of my time in the office, I moved desks multiple times, we rotated sitting at the front window, and there were three offices that were on either side of the bullpen. One of the offices was for the Financial Aid Director and the other two were reserved for the Financial Aid Advisors. Now that there were three advisors, two of us had to share an office. I would move in with the less experienced and tenured Advisor, Nellore, who had been in the office since 2009.

Nellore was the oldest lady in the office, (the office was full of women aside from me.  Other than one of the directors in 2009 and the new director, hired in 2010, I was the ONLY man in the office. The joke was always that ‘Alex was just one of the girls.’ That experience taught me a lot when it came to workplace drama, dynamics, and interactions) she was quiet, and not necessarily the office favorite. My colleagues felt bad that I was going into an office to share with her. I was a little nervous, but more excited about the opportunity and therefore knew somehow some way, we would make it work.

And guess what? We did. She became one of my best friends, like a second mom, and a great office mate over the years from 2011 to 2015. Kiwi would go into our office to get a ‘Krispie’ (Rice Krispie treat) most mornings before heading to the NIC Children’s Center for the day.

Because my goal was to be a college president, I needed to make sure I was doing everything I could as an Advisor to gain more experience and add to the professional tool belt. The biggest task, and something I was a huge part of, was to bring the outside scholarships process, state scholarships, and NIC Foundation Scholarships from their various interim managers all back in-house to the Financial Aid Office. It was a long process, but from July 2011 to July 2012 all of these responsibilities were brought back to my office and I oversaw this transition.

Policies and procedures were created, reconciliations done, mistakes caught and rectified, and I learned a lot. 2012 to 2013 was more of a smooth process since the State Scholarships were under control and the outside scholarships were being managed. But the next endeavor was to create more access to and enhance the NIC Foundation Scholarships. Over 15 committees were created to aid in the selection of students and make for a more robust separation of duties. Applications were migrated from being filled out by hand to an online web-based scholarship application program. This took a lot of testing, programming, and planning.

2013 to 2014 the scholarship processes were continuing to be refined and improved but overall had been successfully transitioned. This was a great experience from a database management perspective, relationship management between the NIC Foundation and NIC, the business office, the State of Idaho, and a number of other constituents on and off campus. One of the biggest reasons I was able to successfully collaborate with people on campus and create these committees? The Music Video that I made for the Financial Aid Office when I was a Technician.

I also was a huge contributor when it came to processing verifications (collecting, reviewing, and verifying additional information when it came to the Free Application for Federal Student Aid – FAFSA). The Department of Education’s application algorithm would flag various students and automatically prompt Financial Aid Offices to request additional information. It was then up to the employees of the office to review, make a determination, and continue the process for awarding financial aid. Once I became proficient in this activity, I was doing most of the volume for the office.

In addition to the above, I also was integral in keeping the office’s website up-to-date and handled a majority of the external communications and marketing. With the office finally in a stable condition, we were also allowed to be involved on a state level. That’s where I decided to become a part of the leadership of the Idaho Association of Student Financial Aid Administrators (IASFAA). Our office had participated in meetings and I thought it would be good exposure for our office, NIC, and great experience for me to be a part of the association. So, I ran for the Secretary/Treasurer position.

Hindsight, this role seemed to be the one I DID NOT want but I also knew I needed to push myself to try new things and learn. In 2012 I was voted in and spent the year as Secretary/Treasurer Elect where I learned the ropes before taking over as Secretary/Treasurer in 2013. In 2014 I ran for another position and didn’t get the votes. That was a bummer but also a relief based on the amount of time it required.

The first 2.5 years as an Advisor I was all in on my career. But then, when I was in the Master’s of Business Administration (MBA) Program at the University of Idaho, Coeur d’Alene, and started to change my thinking. I had a lot of classmates telling me I had a ton of potential and needed to get out into the world and make some money. I also learned how slow higher education moves and how long it takes to actually make a livable wage. Kiwi and I went from a family of two renting Eric’s house with one of the homies, Bigs, from October of 2010 to March 2013, to moving into a 2 bedroom 2 bathroom apartment with my then girlfriend and her son where we lived from March 2013 to April 2016 as a family of 4. My then girlfriend worked off and on part-time and full-time and was a full-time nursing student. Despite these efforts, we were struggling to make ends meet.

That never sat right with me. How am I working so hard and working in a “respectable” career and still struggling? Since Kiwi was born it was always a borderline situation financially. I was achieving my education, growing as a professional, and advancing but still……not comfortable.

The final straw was when my Financial Aid Director was fired in 2015. Out of nowhere, he was arrested for soliciting sex for scholarships. I had worked with, traveled with, and had been friends with he and his family for almost 5 years. This thing flipped me onto my head. The Vice President for Student Services and and his office handled the situation poorly and none of us were provided with much support. It was a confusing time learning about a close co-worker/friend who was living a secret life. My duties with scholarships put me really close to the situation which I didn’t appreciate at all.

This was a hard pill to swallow, but, like in a lot of situations, this was also an opportunity. There was now an opening in the office; the Financial Aid Director.

The role was opened internally and I applied for the job. I was up against the Assistant Financial Aid Director who was the longest tenured employee in our office. She had a bachelor’s degree and over 10 years of experience. Whereas I, had 8 years of experience and had just graduated with my MBA.

In my mind, I was just as qualified for the job.

And how did I do in the interviews? Killed them.

I was absolutely ready to take this leap, knew the office well, and was ready to manage after 4 years of progressive experience as an Advisor. But what ended up happening was the VP of Student Service made the political move and promoted the Assistant Director. Don’t get me wrong, she was experienced and worked hard, but she wasn’t the leader I was. It was the safe move and showed me ALL of the things I needed to see to understand the culture of NIC and nature of higher education.

Disappointed I didn’t get the job, worst case scenario I thought, was now the Assistant Director position is available and I can step into that role. Then, while the Assistant Director was Interim Director and not officially the Director yet, she and the VP eliminated the Assistant Director role to "save money" for the department. This effectively closed the door on my next advancement and, ultimately, my career in higher education. But, they did give me my own office, the biggest in the department. As cool as it was to have my own space, I felt so disrespected and slighted by these events. I had worked hard over 7.5 years and earned my keep. This was an absolute slap to the face.

Burning out, never thanked, and then not given an opportunity. I decided…..”I’m not going to brown nose my way to the top or wait for someone to die or retire to get an opportunity.”

If I’m going to work hard……I want to get paid for it.

I learned firsthand that a simple “thank you” or “hey, Alex, I see you working hard. Keep it up” would have gone a long way. Then I learned that I wasn’t truly valued with the elimination of the Assistant Director position.

Doors close and then you have decide if and how to change course. At 28 years old, I knew if I was going to make a change, now was the time.

And that’s when I decided……I’m out

Alex de Golia