Getting Back in the Game – Tips from your hosts

ALA-APA Program for the People – June 27, 2010

Oliver Cutshaw (veteran, job reconfiguration)

  1. Your mental attitude is crucial to job searching success. Belief in your skills and your abilities is essential to maintaining a sense of optimism.
  2. You were always more than just your job; most of us have a wide range of skills and abilities that we have developed over the years.
  3. Honest evaluation of your skills, needs, and career goals is the first step in the process to finding a new career or re-starting an old one.
  4. If you think you can never be laid-off, squeezed out or downsized...then you are wrong.

Terry Darr (school librarian, recruiting support staff)

  1. Stay at home mothers who are re-entering the workforce should highlight volunteer work and home/child management for the following: decision making, staying calm under pressure and reasoning through challenging situations. No one in a hiring position will look down on these experiences.
  2. Don't apologize during an interview for a lack of experience, for staying at home with children or any self perceived negatives on your resume or experience. If you need to, practice appearing confident, even if you aren't. Interviewers are generally uncomfortable with overt nervousness and unnecessary explanations from prospective employees.
  3. Be familiar with the mission of the organization before the interview. Write down how you envision your work and workplace behavior would impact at this organization.

Linda Dobb (changing jobs)

  1. Keep learning new things. If given the opportunity to serve on a hiring committee or to do some variation on your work--seize it. You can never tell when some exposure you have had to new tasks or different tasks will pay off.
  2. Even if you are not searching for work, stay familiar with the marketplace in the profession.
  3. Be particularly acute for new skills that are being asked for in your area--whether it is teaching information literacy, digitizing materials, or familiarity with the new cataloging rules. You should stay on top of the skills demanded of people in your position these days. If possible work toward acquiring those skills.
  4. Consider taking an online course. Being familiar with online teaching and learning cannot hurt these days. More and more teaching in community colleges and even universities is taking place online. If possible, have the experience of taking an online course and--even better--developing one. Teaching online may not be something you want to do now BUT if you have the skill, it is one of the best ways to enhance your income or plan for supplemental income in retirement.
  5. Don't get comfortable. If you ever find yourself in a lull, ask for a day of professional development so that you can shadow another librarian or an administrator. Keep searching for opportunities to see how other people do things or handle themselves in complex situations.
  6. Think broadly about the skills you do have. Librarians often take for granted that the budgeting, personnel, legal, operational, and other skills they have are confined only to the library profession. Many of these skills would be valuable for any administrator to have. Some day you may have to make the leap from the library to another field. Brainstorm with someone outside of libraries about what you do and how your skills might be transferable--then think about whether or not you might want to/need to make a move. Always keep your resume up-to-date and broadly-worded, making sure your jargon is the current verbiage used in the profession.
  7. Overall, stay alert, think broadly, and be prepared.

Brian Gray (NEWLIB)

  1. Focus on your uniqueness. For example, I took an education in engineering and leveraged it on my own niche in librarianship. Took my interest or hobby in web development and found a home in teaching about web 2.0 technologies. What skill, interest, or hobby can make you stand out in a profession where everyone has the same graduate degree?
  2. Maximize personal exposure. Every chance to meet someone or have a conversation can turn into a job offer or opportunity. I teach a lot of workshops and other sessions, and I rarely initiate the process. The people I know are better advocates of my skills than I could ever be directly myself.
  3. Job hunting is like playing a casino game - pick the game with the best odds in your favor. What does that mean? Put the odds in your favor by eliminating anything that could jeopardize your chances of getting an interview while increasing the positive. You do not need to hide on the web, but overwhelm things that people may find questionable with all the gold star content.
  4. Job preparation and job hunting are more about who you know than you can even imagine. Use professionals from organization that you would like to work at to guide your education and job search. If you doing the things they expect to see, it is a good chance that other organizations will like your process as well.
  5. Find other roles and experiences that can count towards the "few years of experience", even if not in a traditional library. You can sell anything on a resume if you spend the time and use the lingo recommended by the hiring organization. For example if you were a customer service representative describe it in your resume using the library terminology instead of assuming that people just know what skills you can offer.

Mary Anne Hansen

  1. Job shadow – find two or more willing professionals who will take the time to talk to you about what they like about their jobs, plus let you shadow with them for half a day, a day or even over a few weeks’ time. Stretch yourself and shadow with someone in a position that’s different than what you’ve done, but of interest to you.
  2. Scour the career literature, especially LISCareer.com and the Library Success Wiki
  3. Explore general career resources such as Occupational Outlook Handbook, the Vault database if you have access to it, plus any other career resources you can find on the web or at a career center in your community. if you’re questioning your career choice, you should see what other options are available, especially those to which you could directly apply your library education.

Meggan Houlihan (Securing and surviving your first professional library

job)

  1. A library degree by itself will not secure you a professional position—get as much work and volunteer experience in library school as you possibly can!
  2. Think twice about accepting your first job! The ability to manage your student loans is a nice feeling, but is it worth your sanity?
  3. If you survived the job hunt surely you can survive your first year on the job, even if it’s not the most ideal position or location—make the most of your first position get involved, join committees and network.
  4. Never stop looking for the right job—it’s out there, you just need to find it (and qualify for it).

Marilyn McClaskey (recruiter)

  1. If you're in the job market, have everything about your phone be professional, including the voice greeting and the way you yourself answer. You never know when it will be a recruiter or HR person on the other end and that first impression is so important.
  2. Make job interviews your number one priority; don't dither and waffle about dates. If you do have unbreakable commitments--your sister's wedding, e.g.--be professional and simply state, "I already have a commitment on Friday, but will be available the following week." Let them wonder if it is another job interview.
  3. Do your homework. Become thoroughly familiar with the webpages, including organization, mission, current initiatives of the library to which you are applying.
  4. Think through ahead of time your answers to the hard questions. Websites or library books can provide examples.
  5. Do not badmouth your former employer. Not ever. Not for any reason.
  6. Present yourself appropriately.
  • Be clean, well-groomed and appropriately dressed.
  • Combine confidence with humility.
  • Keep humor positive.
  • Be sincerely interested and appreciative.

John Sandstrom (experience being out of the game)

  1. Be Flexible! Geographically, type of library, type of job, everything. Go for making a snake envious.
  2. It is easier to get a job when you have a job. If you get an offer, seriously consider it, even if it isn’t a perfect fit.
  3. Don’t be afraid to push your boundaries.
  4. Be disciplined. Even though you aren’t going into an office, try to work at least eight hours every day.

Manuel Urrizola (furloughs)

  1. Be flexible.
  2. Update your resume and professional activities regularly.
  3. Use furloughs and layoffs creatively.

Pat Wand (International librarianship)

  1. Before considering international librarianship, ask yourself
  2. Are you ready for serious change?
  3. Do you like adventures?
  4. Are you curious?
  5. Do you like people?
  6. Can you be flexible?
  7. Do you have high tolerance for ambiguity?
  8. If you can say “yes” to all those questions, or to most of them, international librarianship may be for you.
  9. Then begin the search.
  10. Decide if you have a geographical preference.
  11. Ask yourself why you want to go there.
  12. Decide if you are flexible about where you are willing to go.
  1. Once you start your research about libraries in the area
  2. Look at job websites – ALA, Chronicle of Higher Education, IFLA, etc.
  3. Follow up on all leads
  4. Follow up on applications
  5. Begin networking with librarians in the area.
  6. Attend meetings of the
  7. ALA International Relations Round Table
  8. ALA International Relations Committee
  9. Contact Michael Dowling, ALA International Relations Office
  10. Be upbeat! Be optimistic! Give yourself time.
  11. Keep trying, even repeatedly.
  12. Good luck!

Key Factors to Keep in Mind During the Job Hunt

By Matt Warnock, Deerfield Public Library (IL)

Be careful of what you put on your resume/application.

Most often during the job hunt, the job application or resume is the first point of contact with a potential employer. It serves as a representation of yourself, and so you should be careful about how it is presented and what is put on it.

Among the most striking and common mistakes to see on a resume are glaring typos. This shows that the individual was either too hurried or not thorough enough to review the resume before it was submitted. Read and re-read a resume before sending it to a potential employer. Or, if you are worried about proofreading your own work, have someone else read it over for you. If you are sending out many resumes at the same time, be sure to change the name and information to reflect the intended organization. There is little more off-putting than receiving a resume that has the name of another organization on it.

Resume content should be clean and direct. The reviewer should not have to try and puzzle out the applicant’s prior job duties, positions, dates of employment, etc. Humor and cuteness, for lack of a better word, can sometimes be effective on a resume or cover letter, but should be used very carefully. Clipart or graphics are never a good idea. Unless specifically asked for, a resume should not contain the reason for leaving a position.

And remember, the resume or application is only a tool in the job hunt process and should not be relied upon too heavily

Follow the recruiter’s guidelines.

If the recruiter has specific guidelines for the application process, follow them to the letter. A recruiter is putting guidelines in place to make the process easiest for him/herself. They ask for specific formats and submission methods for a reason. If the recruiter asks for resumes by email only, do not fax or mail the resume. Another way for a recruiter to quickly dismiss a resume, no matter how qualified the candidate, is to not fulfill his/her submission guidelines.

The resume is a bridge to the employer, but you have to walk across.

Sending a resume is only part of the process. The resume is a representation of the applicant, and while each resume will be different from the next, you do not want yours to get lost in the pile. When sending the resume, it is good to find out who the resume will be going to, and address it to that person. After sending the resume, it is acceptable to contact the recruiter to make sure he/she received it and reiterate your interest in the position. There is, however, a fine line between calling to check on a resume and pestering a recruiter. It is a sad fact of today’s economy that recruiters are receiving many more resumes than they were just a couple years ago, so you do not want to give them any extra reason to dismiss your resume or put it at the bottom of the pile. If you do get an interview, it is always a nice touch to send a thank you email or note to the person or people you interviewed with.

Generally speaking, the most recent 10 years are the most important.

The most recent 10 years of an applicant’s work history are going to be the most relevant to the recruiter. These positions are where the most up-to-date skills are going to come from. Therefore, the most job space on a resume should be devoted to that span of time. Jobs held more than ten years ago, while important to show consistent work history, generally don’t require as much detail. An exception to this might be if there is something in your job history that is particularly applicable to the job you are applying for.

Many of the things mentioned above might sound like common sense, but these kinds of mistakes occur all the time.

Host biographical statements

Oliver Cutshaw is the Librarian for Southern California for TCS-Southern California Campuses. He has been working in the library field for over two decades. During his career, he has been employed in nearly every aspect of academic library service ranging from preservation management to copy cataloging to interlibrary loan. A published author, he is currently working on a book concerning career re-assessment skills.

Terry Darr is Library Director at Loyola Blakefield, an all boys independent school for grades 6-12 in Towson, Maryland. She is a 2006 graduate of the University of Maryland College of Information Studies.

Nanette Donohue is Technical Services Manager at Champaign Public Library in Illinois.

Brian Gray is the Head of Reference and Engineering Librarian for the Kelvin Smith Library at Case Western Reserve University. He is adjunct faculty member of the Kent State University School of Library & Information Science, where he teaches a workshop he created that focuses on web 2.0 in libraries and education. He also teaches a KSU SLIS core course on the introduction of technology for librarians. He is a member of ALA, founded and moderates the LLAMA Dialog with Director's Discussion Group, and is on the LLAMA website advisory board as their volunteer web coordinator.

Mary Anne Hansen is Associate Professor and Reference Librarian and Distance Education Coordinator at the Montana State University-Bozeman Libraries; she also co-coordinates The MSU Libraries’ annual Tribal College Librarians Institute. She also holds a Master of Education in Adult and Higher Ed with a Counseling emphasis. Her research interests include leadership, mentoring, information literacy, Native American issues, and distance education. She is active in the American Library Association, the Montana Library Association, and the Pacific Northwest Library Association.

Meggan Houlihanis serving as an Information Services Librarian at Ball State University, but will be moving to Cairo, Egypt, in August to work as a Reference and Instruction Librarian at the American University of Cairo. She received a B.A. in history from Eastern Illinois University,M.A. in Modern History from the University of Reading andM.L.S. from Indiana University.

Marilyn McClaskey is working in Human Resources at the University of Minnesota Libraries, coordinating searches for academic librarian positions. While herpast positions were in cataloging, her interest in and affinity for people pulled her to repeated involvement in human resources or library services issues, such as diversification of the workforce, librarian classification, and services for under-served populations. Marilyn has been active in cataloging standards work in ALCTS and in other ALA divisions such as ACRL, ASCLA, and LLAMA. She is currently ALA Councilor for the International Relations Roundtable.

Manuel Urrizola received his B.A. from Amherst College and his Master of Library Science from UC Berkeley. He is the Head of Metadata & Technical Services for the UC Riverside Libraries, editor of Great Moments in the History of Technical Services, coordinator of Brief Lunchtime Talks, award-winning speaker, master of ceremonies, teacher, geographer, and poet.