How to survive working in a one-person department

Being a one-person office can feel like a non-stop race or a high-wire juggling act. In addition to resilience and hard work, you need strategies and practices to help you reach more students and better manage and reclaim your time.

To start, be kind to yourself. There is only so much you can do. Be friendly but clear with others about your time and priorities.

1. Working across grade levels

Although much of your time may be devoted to students who are currently preparing university applications, it is also important to engage with students in lower grades.

Touchpoints

Create a schedule of touchpoints throughout the year by grade/year group. For example, meet four times a year (two in first term, two in second term), with more time allocated for sessions with students in the last two year groups.

Sample touchpoints might be: “the importance of doing your best in school and building extracurricular interests” for grade 9 (Year 10) students; “Planning for SAT and English testing” for grade 10 (Year 11); “university essay and personal statement writing” for grade 11 (Year 12). Take advantage of advisory or homeroom time to schedule touchpoint sessions.

Share responsibility

You do not need to deliver all the touchpoints yourself. Create slide sets for advisers or homeroom teachers to present, or record yourself giving the presentation. Screencastify is an example of an easy-to-use presentation recording and editing tool.

Use university visits

Take advantage of university visits to provide selected touchpoints. University representatives often have specific presentations on university preparation or career topics. Local universities may be able to arrange for professors or instructors to deliver taster lectures on specific subjects.

2. Time management and streamlining

You may feel that on some days you have so many small tasks to complete, emails to answer and students to chase that you cannot focus on big projects or on meeting individually with students. There are ways to capture small and large pieces of time.

Use online file systems: Use Google Docs, SharePoint, Padlet or other online repositories to upload resources and information. Then direct students there, rather than repeating answers to common questions.

Use online platforms: If budget allows, subscribe to a platform such as MaiaLearning, Unifrog or BridgeU. These systems house and track student university plans and documents, send out communications to specific student groups, serve as a research tool for students on careers and universities, and store data and generate reports. The fees may seem high at first, but they provide valuable labour savings.

Do not fear AI: My fellow THE international schools advisory board member Jeff Neill has written about using AI to reduce administrative time and increase time spent working directly with students.

Hold boot camp sessions: During these, all students sit down and complete a task, such as creating a Common App or Ucas account and filling in basic details. Make sessions mandatory and schedule them during class time or advisory/homeroom, if possible.

Pre-plan: Ask grade 11 (Year 12) students to complete questionnaires giving their preliminary university country and major or course interests. Then you can anticipate the workload for different application groups.

Set internal deadlines for completing applications: These should be well ahead of the official deadline. This sets expectations for the time you need to complete your part.

Put your dates in the school calendar: Ask to include major university planning dates and deadlines on the master school or academic planning calendar, so that school leadership and teachers are aware of them. This also reminds the school community that university planning is part of the academic schedule.

Schedule meetings with yourself: Use an online meeting request system such as Calendly. Schedule meetings with yourself to block time on your calendar to work on specific tasks.

Remember that you are not alone: Build networks through professional groups such as International ACAC or IC3. Seek out local or regional counsellor groups, many of which have WhatsApp groups. Or join Facebook groups that are for specific university systems and countries. These networks offer professional development and connections with peers who are dealing with similar issues.

Many of these strategies come from veteran counsellors Eric Laug (International Community School, Singapore), Katie Leishear (Colegio Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Peru) and Hani Rahman (Dover Court International School, Singapore).