The Trouble with Best Places to Work Lists

Laura Vanderkam, appearing on BNET, writes about Best Places to Work Lists and why they aren't the best way to go about picking a place to work.

Now, though those points are true and that each of these lists vary by criteria, I would also argue that at least the HR people are making an effort to make their workplace known to candidates outside of their geographic region, which gives them a wider pool of applicants. Yes, it has the benefit of making the company look good and add a Best Places to Work logo to their job board, but these may also advertise companies in regions a job seeker may not have even considered as a possibility, and further research will broaden their horizons.

What they don't teach you in library school by Elisabeth Doucett

There are just some topics that they don't have time to teach in library school, or that were special projects or areas a library student could explore while in library school. Elisabeth Doucett looks at some of the issues a library student will have to face, from selecting a library job to dealing with a library budget and statistics.

What they don't teach you in library school is written in a plain language conversational style with short chapters--each one could be read in about 10 minutes. Topics include career management, communication skills--such as dealing with problem patrons and corporate culture--and onto topics that will help the reader learn some of the issues faced by library management, such as facilities management and budgeting.

I can easily see some of these topics becoming interview questions to see how much you know about these issues, so reading through this book prior to an interview, especially if you have not held a professional level position before, would be a good idea. The book would give you a good idea of the work environment and how to deal practically with issues, not just reporting on these issues. Each chapter also includes a bibliography/further reading, to help you learn more about the issues, so if you were looking to deepen your knowledge in a particular area, the author has suggested where to go next.

Rework by Jason Fried and David Heinemeier Hansson

Rework is a business inspiration book by the founders of 37signals. Rework examines some of the basic tenets of entrepreneurship and running a business and the authors give their own suggestions about why some of these tenets don't work or why the assumptions are false. Some of their ideas include starting a business while keeping your day job, starting a business with your own capital and not turning to the bank or outside funders, and committing to your idea, rather than building a company with the expectation that the sale of the company will allow you to retire--and someone else will profit immensely, or dismantle, your idea.

I really enjoyed the essays in the book, since they were short, punchy and not filled with data and numbers. The essays are about what they feel worked for them and their company, and what they think will help entrepreneurs (ahem, starters) in building their own business. The book is also free of jargon and about using common sense and less hierarchy and delegation to get tasks done. It also about trying new things, learning how to revise and not second guessing every possible outcome without even testing a hypothesis or new technique.

I think I will employ some of their ideas. For example, I love their idea about lists where they suggest that long lists and/or prioritization does not help a list get done. They suggest breaking down lists into much smaller digestible parts, such as a list of one hundred into a list of ten--so when you cross off one item on the list, 10% is completed. And you also get the charge out of completing a major portion which encourages you to tackle the rest. I also liked the "hire great writers" since you know that they can think and communicate clearly--though we know great thinking, like great writing, may need more than one draft or some time to reflect. Putting the back office on the front lines is also another extremely good idea since it can decrease miscommunications and help the "management" understand the clients and their concerns.

This is a good book for a person who needs the courage to start or sustain their own sideline work or for a new manager who just wants some ideas about how to run their ship, especially if they believe that less management is better.

Rework

Did you just drop out of marketing?

If you changed your class schedules around, or thought that marketing class would be a snooze, read what Meredith Farkas had to say about the importance of the sales pitch to academic librarians. Maybe it's because we don't like the word marketing, we don't like selling stuff, we don't like thinking of ourselves or knowledge as a product.

But that's the problem: the people who are buying from us do think of our services and knowledge as a product. And they understand that terminology when you begin to use it. You don't have to reinvent new words to sell something or persuade a person to understand that point. Someone has already spun that wheel.

And here is the real kicker: if it doesn't look like librarians can handle their own sales, they will hire a marketer to do it.