Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Yibin Wei. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Hi Yibin, thanks for joining us today. Any advice for creating a more inclusive workplace?
Meet people at who they are and never give up learning. I attended New York University for my master’s degree and this is the most diver US campus to my perspective. The student demographic is equally distributed among different ethnicity and there wasn’t an ethnicity that predominates over others. The environment has significantly shaped my inclusiveness and caring personality. You can be whatever you would like to be. No one will judge you for who you are. There is the culture of curiosity where people learn to embrace the unknown and get motived to uncover the different narratives they’ve never imagined previously. Thanks to this experience, I have been able to carry this mindset to my current workplace where I work as a full-time professional for the first time. My current workplace is less diverse than my graduate school, but I believe the power of holding up to my principles and educating my students as much as possible.
Yibin, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
My name is Yibin Wei and I work as a full-time career advisor at James Madison University based in Harrisonburg, Virginia. I mainly provide career advising services to our students across all colleges and school years. In this capacity, I helped students with their application documents, practice interview skills, and work with them to develop an individualized action plan for career development. I also create programs to connect them with alum and employers to broaden their career opportunities.
I developed the interest of working with students in a diverse and vibrant environment during my junior year at Binghamton University. Originally, my degree was in linguistics and I had thought about the possibility of continuing on in this field. However, I just became so passionate about being a student worker at different campus offices that I eventually decided to go to graduate school and earn a master’s degree in student affairs. This field perfectly combines all of my interests in navigating other students through the rigorous transition and acclimation process while making full use of my foreign language skills and cross-cultural competencies. Working with students has always been a rewarding endeavor to me, and I truly enjoy witnessing students’ growth along with my own professional development. During my time as a graduate student at New York University, I actively sought different internship and assistantship opportunities, and have gained valuable experiences in a variety of functional areas including student engagement, admissions, service programs, and career coaching. When it comes to the point of job searching, I aspired to land my first employment opportunity in career services, because I have been deeply mesmerized by the way it allows me to learn so many interesting and inspiring life stories from students.
I mainly work with art and education students, and both populations have very unique career pathways than their engineering or business peers. I create two programs every semester that tailor to one specific field within these two categories. For example, I’ve done programs in Publishing, Human Resources and Teaching. The students benefit greatly from networking with alumni and employers.
I meet students one on one everyday. I’ve seen many students coming in with frustration and stress because they are lost in the internship/job search and their classmates have already secured something. We work a way out together by identifying available resources, building up skillsets and developing a mindset of resilience and confidence. Sometimes, one appointment is not enough, which leads to multiple follow-up appointments until a concrete solution comes up. Our office has received overwhelmingly positive feedback from the students and we are constantly developing new concepts to better accommodate the growing students’ needs. For example, we’ve introduced the concept of “career community” in Fall 2024. These are a bunch of loosely connected industries that reinforces the interdisciplinary application of knowledge. Students can sign up for newsletters and stay up-to-date with employer events, internships and jobs in these communities. I feel proud of the innovative practices and receptiveness our office has demonstrated. Most importantly, all of us care about our students’ growth and we want them all to succeed.
Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?
During my graduate school at New York University, I was juggling with 2 assistantships, one practicum internship as well as program courses. There were a lot of night time in order to fulfill deadline needs. I manage to meet up the expectations for all of these by setting up my calendar to reflect the priorities for each deadline so that things won’t mess up. There were definitely times of tears where I feel really stressed out, especially in the last semester where I also have the pressure of graduation, finding full-time employment and relocation. I am grateful that I am cognizant of the fact that tough times are so common that they play the role of mosquitos in nature – they are annoying but essential components for the circle of life. I just need to learn to combat it or at least live with it and don’t feel down.
How about pivoting – can you share the story of a time you’ve had to pivot?
Destiny sometimes plays a tricky role in our lives as it can introduce us to possibilities we may not have previously considered. This is how I feel when I reflect on my career path so far. I mentioned this in my previous narrative but would like to add more details here. I used to study linguistics because I have a strong interest in learning foreign languages. I had always dreamed myself wearing a fancy suit and interpret for those important figures at international conferences. I never thought I would feel in love with a field named students affairs after serving as an orientation advisor in my undergraduate school. But this is how life plays tricks on us, where it takes you to a possibility that you may never have thought of. I completely shifted to the new field and pursued my graduate school, so now I am satisfied with where I am at and decide to commit to this field in the foreseeable future.
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