Moving from Austin, where I did my undergraduate degree, to Ithaca, where I’m pursuing my masters, has been a smooth transition. The two cities have many of the same values: localism, environmental sensitivity, strong academic centers, cooperative organizations, and fantastic local music. The first farmers market I went to in Ithaca blew me away. I was delighted that with just a quick bike ride I could find myself in the heart of a beautiful state park. The local bookstores, cooperative grocery, dive bars and art museum in Ithaca easily keep pace with Austin despite Austin’s much larger population.

One of the few things Ithaca isn’t able to keep up with, however, is the opportunity to teach.

An institution that prides itself on training music educators, Ithaca College offers an incredible range of courses on all aspects of musicianship and education. It places it’s undergraduates in a junior and senior student teaching assignment, and offers observations for string players at one of the pre-eminent Suzuki schools, Ithaca Talent Education, within walking distance of the college.

Because the college churns out so many amazing teachers who want to stay in the beautiful area, and because the area’s population is more college and older-professor aged, it is difficult to find young students to take on. Which is why I was delighted to be informed of the opportunity to work in an administrative capacity for the newly formed Cayuga Chamber Orchestra Youth Orchestra (CCOYO).

The CCOYO was started at the beginning of this school year by two ITE violin teachers, Sarah Cummings and Kirsten Marshall. Seeing the lack of opportunity for young students to play symphonic works in the Ithaca area, they built a youth orchestra from the ground up under the parent organization of the Cayuga Chamber Orchestra. Though the work of the youth orchestra is shared by Kirsten, the conductor, and a small board (Sarah the chair), members felt that the organization needed an operations manager to take on the bulk of the administrative duties and to be present at all rehearsals.

When Carrie Reuning-Hummel, my Suzuki teaching mentor, discussed the opportunity with me she emphasized how incredible the chance to work closely with Sarah Cummings and Kirsten Marshall would be. Beyond that, I easily saw value in the opportunity to hone my administrative skills at a time when I wouldn’t be able to teach very much. Most importantly, I knew that if I was offered the job I would be helping to lay the foundation for a very important organization in the Ithaca community.

Wanting to put my best foot forward, I took the following steps. I share these steps below not to brag about the process, but because they have been helpful thus far in landing me an important music administration job. I want to remind myself — and share with others — a process that can lead to successful employment in this field.

1. Wrote my first cover letter. I did a lot of research to make sure I did this step correctly. I learned it is extremely important to write a cover letter specifically tailored to the job at hand (similar to writing a statement of purpose for a college application). I used the same header as my resume for consistency, watched out for odd cover letter formatting expectations, kept it to one page, and structured my paragraphs as follows. The first explained my the job I was interested in and how I found out about it. The second and third explained how my skills were relevant to the job. The fourth describes why I want to work for the CCOYO. The final paragraph indicates my willingness to continue the dialogue and share more information. I had this letter proofed, too.
2. Tweaked my resume to suit the job offering. Reading the official job description I pruned my resume down to the most salient experiences directly related to the operations manager position. I chose experiences heavy on communication, organization, and management. Had it proofed by two other sets of eyes.
3. Got a clear idea of the job from the person offering it. Carrie recommended I reach out to Sarah who would be able to elucidate the details. Sarah sent me a detailed job description (pictured below), and talked to me about the history and future of the CCOYO. This initial chat totally guided the way I thought about the program, but also (I think) how Sarah perceived my interest in it. I made sure to list several guiding questions in advance to ask during the phone call.
4. Got a clear idea of the job from a third party perspective. After hearing about the job I immediately asked Carrie if she would be willing to talk on the phone about the role. As the director of ITE she peripherally knows about the CCOYO but isn’t involved. She was able to give me a general idea of what work I’d be doing, how the CCYO has been functioning in the larger community, and whether, personally, she though I should pursue the job. After the cover letter and resume were reviewed, I was offered an interview and asked to provide references!
5. Confirmed references. I selected three references who would be able to speak to my administrative abilities — Dr. Scott (UT), Dr. Mick (IC), and Shana Guidi, the director of Monarch Suzuki Academy. I emailed each with a brief description of the job and asked if the would be willing to serve as a reference. They all said yes! I sent their contact information (name, description of job, phone and email) to CCOYO.
6. Prepared for the interview. With an interview in the books, I started to think about how I would respond to a variety of interview questions. I wasn’t very concerned about the interview, as I am most comfortable in conversation with 2 or 3 people and am confident that I would be a good fit for the job, but I wanted to make a good impression. I prepared responses (and awkwardly talked aloud to myself while commuting) to the following questions. The cool thing is they asked me almost every one of these questions, along with cover letter/resume follow ups.
   • Tell me about yourself
   • Why do you think you would be a good fit for the position?
   • What are your strengths?
   • What is a weakness?
   • Describe a moment of hardship that you worked through?
   • What is a unique skill you could contribute to this organization?
   • What questions do you have for us?
7. Waited. This was by far the most difficult step. Sarah reached out to tell me she was contacting my references, and it was still an entire week of waiting before I received the call that I was hired! Resist the temptation in this step to contact the organization prematurely; patience is key.
8. Gave thanks. I made sure to reach out to CCOYO and my references thanking them for their support throughout the process. Hopefully they would consider endorsing my work again in the future!

I’m so looking forwarding to serving the CCO Youth Orchestra — and will elaborate on the administrative work I do with them in future posts.

If you are interested, here is a copy of the cover letter and resume I submitted. This is the detailed job description.