Job Hunting

I was recently asked to comment on how I went about job-hunting and securing employment following the end of my MA. Whilst the questions provided for me to answer resulted in what I fear to be an overly chirpy set of responses, it left me thinking about the harsher realities of securing employment.

Job hunting at the moment is tough. It has been for several years now. Whilst I have been fortunate enough to land employment following both my undergrad and postgrad courses, I know many that have had a much harder struggle. We seem to be living in an age of austerity, which sounds to me something like the title of an Eric Hobsbawm text. What I do not think I conveyed whilst talking about employment is that is it is extremely difficult not to become disheartened when an application is rejected (that is if you ever hear back at all), and this can be doubly hard to face following an interview. It can leave one feeling dejected, devoid of energy and down heartened. Generally full of words that begin with ‘D’ (I’d not noticed that before).

Unfortunately, I do not have a remedy for this, or a great revelation at the end of the post that will ensure that this malaise can be overcome, other than to keep going. There are jobs out there to apply for, and if you work hard to make yourself right for the job then that can go a long way in keeping up your spirits and increasing your chances at selection stage.

I wanted to write this post as a general “keep going” to those looking for employment. Hopefully it comes across as a positive message of goodwill. I have also summarised my tips for job hunting from my recent short section in CILIP Update:

- Constantly amend and critique your CV. It may seem like a bore, but even small things such as amending words to tie in with those used in job descriptions can make a difference. Keeping it up to date even whilst you are in employment or not specifically looking for a job can ensure that you capture and note down all of those skills that you have and projects undertaken that may be forgotten about when scrambling together an application at the last minute.

- Make use of recruitment agencies, but do not rely upon them. Imagine them to be like a walking stick, not a full set of crutches.

- Use RSS feeds to keep an eye on a range of sites that you are interested in without having to check them constantly

- Identify skills that you think may be useful for your ideal position, and then work to develop them before that perfect post arises so you are in a better position to apply.

- Don’t always worry about completing all of the desirable criteria perfectly, if something doesn’t quite match, explain any deficiencies and offer something else instead – demonstrate that you really want that job and have something special to bring to it.

- Apply for opportunities that present themselves through professional bodies and apply for bursaries to keep costs down! Use the JISC mailing lists to keep and eye out for things.

- Build a network, either via Twitter, LinkedIn or in person. You can then use your connections to help you job spot and suggest ways you could spruce up your CV. Don’t be shy in asking for help!

23 Years Later… And Still Discussing The Same Problems…

Perhaps you have read this post before? Or maybe something on this blog rings a bell? I wouldn’t be surprised if it did.

At Library Camp in Birmingham several months ago, I tried to encourage those who did not consider themselves to be ‘New Professionals’ to join in debates and discussions with those who did – especially in discussions such as #UKLibChat. My concern was that much of what I blog about, and discuss with my peers has been around for years. The same problems keep cropping up again and again, but as new entrants to the profession rise through the ranks and gain additional responsibilities, their spare time to tackle these problems rapidly diminishes. Many of their ideas therefore perish, or are simply lost into the depths of obscurity. New Professionals pick up on the issues, but from a fresh start, without building on work previously undertaken, and so the circle begins again.

This was partly confirmed to me this week when an old box of journals was returned from storage. Inside the box were numerous copies of the ASLIB Journal way back from 1988-1992. I was shocked and amazed that the capacity to publish journals existed in the Triassic period, but nevertheless, they made for interesting reading.

Yep, there was technology back then too. Photo courtesy of katerha on Flickr CC

My mirth at the many John Major look a-likes was rapidly quelled though when I realised that one of the journal articles was not far removed from one of my own recent posts. Entitled “Information Work: Occupation or Profession?”, it dealt with challenges to the professionalism of information work, and touched on the ‘Information Professional v Librarian’ job title issue. The conclusions reached were almost identical to the many discussions that can be seen all over the place today; we do not let our users know of the skills we possess, nor are we valued as much as we might like to be. There was one slight difference though, less militancy! The ending sentiment was that providing our clients are happy, then “our professional credibility will be beyond reproach” – sadly, credibility does not guarantee the protection of a service or jobs in today’s economy.

What really struck me though, was that the article confirmed with a concrete date of October 1989, how long these issues have been discussed for. They are not new challenges facing New Professionals and taking established workers by surprise – they are been discussed and debated for slightly less than my entire life, and longer than my entire educational life (that’s school, sixth form, 3 years of uni and a postgrad course…). It has left me wondering, if the problems have been discussed and debated for this long with no avail, what difference will it make now? If it has taken approximately 23 years to get to a stage where libraries are facing closure, it doesn’t exactly bode well for the next 23 does it?

And so I left this blog post in situ, feeling rather despondent, until last night when I had a bit of a revelation. I have since added a more upbeat addendum.

There is no need to be in total dismay. Whilst the same issues are still be discussed, a greater amount of action is being put in place alongside these discussions, and their impact is reaching a wider audience. Fantastic groups such as Voices for the Library are raising awareness, and initiatives such as National Libraries Day are starting to get the amount of press that they deserve. Whilst job situations are still grave in most sectors, information professionals are proving themselves a resourceful bunch and finding work in usual non-traditional roles.

And what of the issue surrounding the point on continuing to blog about issues that have been around for a while? Unfortunately for those subscribed to this blog, I have decided that there is a point to continuing to write about age-old issues. It demonstrates that the profession is still critically assessing itself. By voicing these concerns, hopefully further collaboration will be continued between all levels of the information profession, from the brand new ‘new professional’ to the highest upper echelon of management, so that we can learn from each other, preventing either a one way learning process, or a complete disregard for work undertaken previously.

There is also a point to be made for discussing the same issues, but in a different context. 23 years ago, the information landscape as we know it today was completely different. The Internet was but a twinkle in Tim Berners-Lee’s eye. The issues that were discussed had to therefore be relevant in a time where people believed CD-ROMs would still work, even if covered in jam and breakfast foods. The solutions that were discussed were therefore appropriate for that time and place, but are in no way applicable now. The fast changing information world means that these problems need to be addressed again in a new context, a world where Opal Fruits are now universally known as Starburst and Coco Pops and milk now make a bowl full of fun. Changes such as this mean everything needs to be evaluated, again.

Spontaneity

I recently had a discussion in which I weighed up the pros and cons of spontaneous blogging against producing posts on a regular basis. Briefly summarised below are the results of that discussion.

 

Benefits of Regular Posts

 

• Forces you to think about your thoughts on a more regular basis, encouraging regular reflection.  Posts can be timed to trigger reflection on a weekly basis, monthly, or whatever suits your own timetable.
• It generates interest for your readers – if a blog produces material to a schedule, then as a reader I am likely to check it more regularly, comment more frequently and create greater discussion due to a higher level of through traffic. It creates something of a “promise of engagement” with its users. I need only compare the #UKLibChat blog stats with my own to see the difference regular posts make to traffic!
• Regular posts force you to pin down thoughts that may otherwise seem insignificant, forcing you to tackle them and turn them into something you are willing to share with others. This increases the likelihood of discovering a new (possibly important) idea.

 

Benefits of Spontaneous, Erratic Posting

•  It is done on the spur of the moment. Have some spare time? Pop in a post! Capture that fleeting thought in an off-the-cuff moment.
• There is less chance of ideas being overcooked in an effort to scramble together a post in order to meet your self imposed deadline.
• Reduces the pressure on writing and has the possibility to make blogging more fun! 
• Your writing has the ability to feel more natural, allowing it to flow; at times coming out as a stream of consciousness, and at others full of metaphors and similes that you have been mulling over for some time. Words and ideas have the ability to come to the boil in their own time.

 

Of course as is always the way with questions posed in an “either or” situation, much like GCSE history, the conclusion states that the answer is a little of both. I prefer the spontaneous approach, however if I adhered solely to that, the chances are that the blog would feature one extremely long post that no one would read, roughly every 3 months.

I try to ensure that I produce something at least every month (sorry January, I failed you), and if it is only one post then so be it, however other times it will balloon into multiple entries. This also allows me to fit in posts as and when I have time, and group them around other commitments such as SLA events and #UKLibChat.

To round this off, I will leave a note to myself. Spontaneity does not mean that proof reading and quality can go out of the window in return for a speedily written post.