(no subject)

[truepenny]

Have I mentioned I hate job-hunting?

There's nothing that makes you feel quite so much like a waste of carbon as getting turned down for a library shelver position. I didn't even make the interview.

Comments

[gwyndolin.livejournal.com]

If it makes you feel any better, library jobs are incredibly competitive. When I worked in HR for the University of Missouri, we had applicants with PhDs applying for $8/hr front desk jobs in the library because the library market was so tight.

[panjianlien.livejournal.com]

Ah, nothing like being overqualified, is there?

I'm sorry, hon. The process of applying for jobs and getting nothing is just so wearing and awful. Here's hoping that whatever good thing is going to come along for you (and I think something will) does so sooner rather than later.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[lagringa.livejournal.com]

My most-hated word when job hunting? OVERQUALIFIED.

Oy.

I feel your pain.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

YES.

[jeriendhal.livejournal.com]

Ouch. Now I don't feel so bad on consistantly not getting that library assistant position.

[fiction-theory.livejournal.com]

Like many of the other commenters, I also feel your pain.

The job market seems to suck for a lot of people right now. I'm pretty sure it's nothing wrong with you, just that...well...the economy sucks.

But I will cross my fingers for you and wish you good luck!

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[meerkat.livejournal.com]

I agree with the first comment- the library field is *extremely* competitive these days. I've discovered this in my own searches over the years... But hang in there and be persistent, and good things will definitely happen! The perfect position often appears when you least expect it. ^_^

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Sadly, this was the perfect position.

[aliettedb.livejournal.com]

Youch. That sucks--and it is a 100% draining process.
I hope you get something that suits you soon--fingers crossed!

[ronin-kakuhito.livejournal.com]

*nods* I've been applying for jobs at my local library for the last year and I've had one interview and no call-backs. *sigh* Overqualified for the entry jobs and since I've never worked at a library before underqualified for all the rest. *sigh* Job hunting is incredibly wearing.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that.

It really does suck.

[halfmoon-mollie.livejournal.com]

Boy you sure are right. You do your resume, tell them how wonderful you are,and then...they turn you down. Does wonders for your confidence, doesn't it?

You'll be okay. Something fabulous will come along, and you'll be just the right person for that because YOU are fabulous.

[wintersweet.livejournal.com]

Gah, I know what you mean.

(AFAIK, though, every tiny little library job is absolutely overrun with wannabe MLIS students, current MLIS students, recent MLIS graduates who can't find work, etc. etc.)

[libskrat]

Yep. Especially local to Madison, because of the tiny little detail of there being two library schools within a two-hour drive.

[kayjayoh.livejournal.com]

I can sympathize. I just finished 8 months of a grueling job hunt, during which I was often overqualified, underqualified, or the first runner up. (A year and a half teaching sex ed professionally and I couldn't even get hired to sell condoms and vibrators in a woman-positive sex toy store.)

Best I can say is to try not to let it shake you (though it will at times). Hang in there and things will shake out.

[sleary.livejournal.com]

Ouch. If it helps, libraries ARE insanely competitive. It's the lure of the books!

Have a Firefly icon! It always makes me smile.

[sartorias.livejournal.com]

You were probably way overqualified.

Plenty of people have been talking about having to hide creds and dumb down in order to get hired.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Well, I'm simultaneously over-qualified and under-qualified.

I have the Ph.D. and the three years of college-level teaching experience, but I have no other work experience, aside from two summers doing secretarial stuff in college--which was, jeez, fifteen years ago. So if I don't have the over-qualifications, I got nothing.

This is, by the way and for anyone who's weighing pros and cons, an excellent reason not to go on to graduate school straight out of college.

[steppinrazor.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I too know your pain ;P

I applied to the local newspaper on a whim (it's actually a pretty BIG newspaper). I certainly didn't expect a very fast turnaround NOR did I anticipate a very personal letter telling me, essentially, "what were you thinking?"

Good luck! *hug*

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[stillnotbored.livejournal.com]

In about two weeks or so I get to start this process. There are no words for how much I dread the thought. Finding a job that still leaves enough of you intact you can write is difficult.

Good luck to you and good luck to me. We're going to need it.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yes, we are.

[jenett]

Even on top of the library job market being tight, you live in an area which is even tighter than most.

Chances are really good everyone they considered has an MLIS and is desperately trying to get *any* kind of library job for career movement eventually.

Much sympathy. This is what my last year (before begging my current job into doing some rearranging to get me more money) was. It's horribly wearing.

[marydell.livejournal.com]

Ooo, that sucks, sorry it didn't work out. I'm sure it was because you're overqualified. I do some hiring at my (non-library) job, and we only interview a person if we think they'll be willing to settle for the salary we pay, and will be excited and challenged by the work. So I've had some really impressive resumes pass through my hands that I've tossed away, because I knew they'd chafe at a low-level, low-pay job.

If you're specifically looking for something that doesn't precisely match your resume, a cover letter explaining why you want the job anyway might get you through that initial cull. At least, in a corporate environment. Not sure how different libraries are.

Anyway, sympathies. Job-hunting is a serious drag.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I actually tried that. It obviously didn't help. But thank you!

[mariness.livejournal.com]

I so feel your pain right now.

(whatever happened to miraculous piles of money raining down on needy writers?)

[jonquil.livejournal.com]

Oh, hell. Hairpats.

I remember when I was applying for that sort of job. Quite honestly, "overeducated" is a bar. If you're too good for the job, they think you won't stay, that you'll leave as soon as you find something better. It's very frustrated.

Trust me, you're smart and focused and in no way a waste of carbon.

oh don't feel bad!!!

[tambyrd.livejournal.com]

Our (muneraven & my) daughter had a consuming interest in libraries, spent all her free time at the local library, volunteered at the local library, took an after school high school course in how to work at a library and it STILL took over a year from the time she applied until the time she actually came up on the list for an interview.

For a shelver position.

Maybe it works differently where you live, but those positions are tough to get. Has almost nothing to do with your experience, etc. There's just a lot of interest in them.

[cathschaffstump.livejournal.com]

Rejection always stings. Good luck with the job search.

Catherine

[ckd]

I'm sorry. Job hunting sucks badly enough when it's going well.

I wish you the best of luck. I just wish I could attach a suitable job offer to this comment, as well....

[rarelylynne.livejournal.com]

This is much more about a surfeit of starving MLS students in the area than anything else. They will get preference because their colleagues who have libray jobs feel guilty giving it to anyone else.

FWIW, I spent time selling crop insurance as a Manpower temp right outta library school. Temping in most offices is not as soul-killing as you might think...

[rarelylynne.livejournal.com]

*LIBRARY* Jobs. Not Libary jobs.

*sigh*

BAD brain. No Cookie.

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

The only other thing I would note is that if you have any experience actually doing library shelving that might have been one of the sifts.

I haven't done any of that kind of hiring for twenty five years, but the degrees don't necessarily mean you can shelve (Dewey or LC) or alphabetize. You may have learned to use LC class as a patron, but not as a shelver.

What someone said about temp jobs is good - call them every day - once you get a couple and show up in a non-impaired appropriately dressed manner, you should at least be able to get semi-steady work that way. (This is partly a class issue and you can manage that - standard English, appropriate clothing, and showing up are most of what counts in temp jobs. But they are going to call the people they know can do that first.)

[txanne.livejournal.com]

My college roomie got a PhD in anthro, then couldn't get hired, either TT or adjunct. Went back for her MLIS. Couldn't get hired. Finally got hired at a truly crap branch campus. Finally FINALLY got a decent (library) job, in spring 2008, after we finished our undergrad in 1990.

So, um. It could always be worse.