Challenge and Support: The Needs of First Time Professionals in Student Affairs

In student affairs, new professionals’ transition from graduate school to professional positions have been studied to help identify needs and support strategies to increase retention. However, new professionals still leave the profession at roughly 60% within one to five years of completing a graduate degree. Further information on this transition is needed to help sustain our best practices with new professionals. This qualitative case study provided a description of four student affairs professionals’ transition from graduate school to their first positions. The study used a traditional data collection method through interviews, and a non-traditional method through photojournals. Photojournals are a form of a photoelicitation method where participants captured photos of their own experiences and explained these photos through written word. Through the lens of challenge and support, findings from this study captured seven themes for new professionals: mentorship, resources, stability, pushed outside comfort zone, advocate, fostering growth, and surrounding support systems. The paper concludes with implications and recommendations for new professionals, their supervisors and colleagues, and graduate program faculty.