When I try to explain to people what my job is, I usually say, “We’re kind of like a student resource center.”  That’s because I can’t say that all I do is help students with revising their writing assignments, or that I rent out video cameras, or that I just help make movies.  Yes, the Studiolab does all those things, but it would be limiting to say that is all we do.  As a consultant, I am a guide for each particular client; and each person I work with has different goals and needs.  My days are hardly identical and each situation comes with its own unique set of variables.  More than anything, what I think I do as a consultant is problem solve.

At the most basic level: a client comes in with a problem and my job is to help solve it.  Sometimes this is made fairly easy if I have some expertise in the area, but sometimes the solution is not obvious.  There are a few occasions where the problem seems, or actually is, unsolvable.  I hate having to tell people that we can’t help them and that there is no workable solution.  This can be things like lost work because people didn’t save their work correctly, or a system crash, etc.  These events, thankfully, are rare.

Most of the time the problem solving goes smoothly, and I get fulfillment from knowing that I helped someone.  Usually I am content knowing that both the client and I are satisfied.  Yet, at the Studiolab, I don’t just fix the problem for the student and send them on their way.  After identifying the problem, I discuss with the client how to solve it, and then explain why it solves the problem.  The hope is that the client can take away new knowledge and that they will not have difficulties in the future.