Make a prediction

If you have no time left to tie up lose ends, or feel you're all in knots, try something else: make a prediction for the new year.

• Take a piece of paper and write down one prediction. It can be personal or professional--or a prognostication, whatever. But you should care about it, it will mean something to you if it came true. You can write a sentence or a paragraph, but it can't be written in past tense--this is about something that will happen in 2009.
• Put your prediction in an envelope, seal it up and put it away. 
• Open it up and read your prediction on December 31, 2009. 

I was going to post something about wrapping up the old year, maybe referencing NPR about how bad 2008 was, but I want people to articulate their hopes about the new year.

Gimme a verb!

For your highlights of qualifications and your list of job duties that explain what you did in each position, you need to write in a telegraphic style with verb-led phrases. You can use a telegraphic style because you are not using passive sentence construction--nor, using the royal we--so the subject of the sentence, you, is clearly acting on specific objects.

Now all of the griping and moaning that I hear from educated people about how they don't like this style, that it sounds artificial, I have one phrase for you: get over yourself. Go read an academic paper and tell me, with a straight face, that it sounds like unprepossessing, plain English prose. Go on: I need a good laugh.

All writing, from academic papers to writing in a diary, has its own conventions. The ability to fluidly recognize and utilize conventions can help you grow as a writer and communicator. The resume is another chance to show off as a writer, and you do that by properly displaying the conventions of that writing style.

The verb-led telegraphic style is a convention within business writing. This style manifests itself more often on resumes, but you'll find it in other places, such as abstracts or executive summaries, and because it is a plain style, no subject but not passive, all action, it is pretty easy for the reader to discern what you did.

So spare the reader and get some verbs to make into telegraphic points for your resume. You can find some verb lists on QuintCareers, this list from Complete Idiot's Guide to the Perfect Resume, or search in Chimby, the career advice search engine, for action verbs.

Irresolute

I know some people may be making resolutions--lose weight, quit smoking, get a job, amongst others--but I know of other people, like me, who don't make resolutions. I actually gave up on resolutions not because I didn't keep them but because I discovered something better that makes me happier: tying up loose ends. And the end of the year, or before a new period begins, is a good time to do it.

Here are some examples of things you can take care of:

• Respond to an email. If someone has sent you an email that you have not responded to, or that you just remembered after reading these words, take a few minutes to send them a happy new year message, and maybe arrange to meet up with them in the new year.
• Get your calendar in order. A few days ago, I put all three of my calendars, my work, my home and my PDA in order with basic dates like mortgage payments, deadlines, classes that I have to teach and upcoming conferences. I know that they aren't complete, but I won't have to scramble to find the basic dates each month.
• Is there a book on the shelf that you haven't finished? Finish it before you go out tonight or while you wait for the apple to drop. (Once I finish here, I have about 3 hours on 2 separate audio books that I am going to take care of).
• Take care of a reasonable goal that you are just about there on. I had a goal to put 200 posts on my blog before the end of the year. Six more to go. What could you finish before midnight tonight, or sometime tomorrow, if you put your mind to it?
  

Unlike dropping a dress size, most of these tasks can be done in a few hours, and completing these tasks  enhances our mental well-being. Entering the year with a feeling of accomplishment is just one way to fill yourself with relief and hope.

Happy New Year.

Heads up

Here are the following typical headings on a librarian's resume:

• Contact information: which includes your full name, sans nicknames or slogans, your geographical address (one where you will receive your mail for the next six weeks after applying for a position), your phone number, your email address, and a relevant professional website that you maintain. Required, and double check it because so many people are so used to glossing over this area that they don't realize that they have made typos, or that information is out of date. (If you have some name confusion, please review this earlier post about changing names, nicknames and English names.)
  
• Highlights of qualifications: A list of 3 to 5 verb-led phrases that provide important information for the resume reviewer, and are relevant to the position they are preparing their interview list for. At your discretion, but if you have some important skills, such as managing a significant budget for collections, or that you have conducted professional work in a bilingual setting, amongst other potential "preferences" that you want the reviewer to know about, place them here. 
• Education: Typically placed before professional experience on a student or new professional's resume. This helps the resume reviewer establish that you have the required education, such as a graduate degree in library studies from an accredited institution. If you are not finished, you can include the month/year that you expect to receive your degree. Include relevant post-secondary education that led to a degree. Required no matter how far along you are in your career. 
• Professional experience: What libraries have you worked in? What did you do? What types of positions have you held? You can include unpaid professional experience in this section if you have no other relevant paid experience. Required.
• Work experience. You can use this section to talk about other work experience that you have had--waiting on tables, working as a personal trainer--where you did not work as a librarian. Try to limit it to the experiences you had to pay for school, and don't go back to the first job you had stocking shelves in junior high. Limit to the last 5-7 years (accounts for grad school and undergrad). This section is useful if there were some periods that you didn't work as a librarian or in libraries, but still worked, and can help you account for gaps. At your discretion, but some of these experiences can help you as a librarian--not all of us have trust funds to put us through school, and some libraries are smart enough to appreciate people with diverse backgrounds. 
• Public Service: typically where you place your volunteer or unpaid experience. Select relevant and/or long-term volunteer commitments, not the list of 5K fun runs where you gave directions at intersections for an hour. At your discretion, but if you have relevant volunteer experience that will appeal to the reviewer, or have volunteered successfully at the place you are applying to work at, leaving your volunteer experience off is silly.
• Publications: If you have any relevant professional publications, include a brief bibliography. Don't catalog every blog post you have ever written or every book review. Instead, mention a best representation of your relevant professional writing. At your discretion, but required for academic positions.
• You may also want to create a section for conference presentations, or combine it with conference presentations and publications.
  
• Certification: Here is where you put any other relevant certification or education that you have pursued that will enhance your work in libraries, such as computers, languages, or additional training that did not lead to an undergraduate or graduate degree. At your discretion, but how do you know when to include it or not? Well, if you are SCUBA certified, an academic library may not care, but an museum of marine studies or a special library position with an underwater archeology collection or emergency services unit might be interested in this special knowledge that you possess.
• References: most library positions don't let you get away with references available upon request. You need three professional references, attached on a new page. Your current supervisor, your previous supervisor and a professor (if you don't have three former work supervisors as references) will work fine. Required.

Now of course you can have additional sections, such as your work on committees on campus, or a career objective, but I think that these are the best basic ones that should be on a librarian's resume.

Resume Resolution

The break between terms is the perfect time to work on your resume. Take time each day for the next five days to work on your resume (sans martini glass in hand).

There are two basic types of resume: chronological and functional.

• The chronological format tells the story of your career and education over time, starting with the present day and working backwards. This is the most popular format of the resume and the CV, the one employers expect and the easiest to organize, so use this format.
• The functional format arranges your experience and education by skills, type and theme. It is the lesser of the two formats and you should avoid it like anthrax. I'm not going to kid or hedge: you need to be a mind-reader to decide how to lay out your skills in the best way to draw the eye of the resume reviewer, so stick with time as your outline.

Your lesson today is to find good samples of chronological resumes to base your own resume on. You'll need a book--like Proven Resumes or Resume Magic--because I've looked online and most of the sample resumes for librarians just plain suck. I also suggest that you read Tiffany Eastman Allen's article, Crafting a Winning Resume, but ignore the advice on functional resumes.

The Ethics Grinch

According to this article on NOLA.com, library patrons have been advised to not give gifts to librarians, nor should the public servants that staff the library accept gifts. This is based on a decision by the state board of ethics.

The librarians appear to be taking the decision with good grace, though there are some questions about what kinds of benefits you could get for bribing a librarian (first in line for the new Oprah book? preferred seating for an author reading?), but the patrons seem to be more upset. As a comfort to the patrons and in a spirit of holiday giving here are my suggestions if you are grateful for what your local library does for you:

• Tell people why you love your library. Now is the time. Libraries are losing money from their budgets, laying off staff and libraries are closing. Only you can stop it, especially if it hasn't happened in your community-- yet.
  If you really want to say thanks to your library, write a letter and send it to your library to thank them for their help and write your local government official to tell them how much you love your library and that you think it is important to keep the library fully-funded. Write your state/provincial and municipal government and cc the library on your letter. (You can also tell Obama directly at Change.gov.) Cost: 3 stamps and an hour of your time.
  
• Give money. Not a lot and not all at once, but you can probably donate your spare change every time you leave the library, if they have a system for accepting donations. You can, of course, give a donation that is big enough to claim on your income tax, and we say, thanks.
• Pay your fines before the end of the year. Go into the new year with your accounts reconciled.
  
• Donate gently used materials. Take a look at the books you bought throughout this year. Are you going to re-read them? Do you think it's likely that you will read them at all? Pass them on to the library. Don't give your old college textbooks from the 60s: give them materials that patrons can use into the new year.
• If you want to give plants or furniture, look at your library and see where the seating area is, where could furniture or plants be of use? Call your library and ask. They may have some suggestions for you.
• Next year, take part in library events and help get the word out amongst your friends. Bringing patrons to the library can help them with securing funds, getting grant money to support a program, and can also bring needed media attention to library events. If people see the library in the news, they think about the library and how useful it is to have a clean and safe place to visit.

Even the Grinch was struck by a spirit of giving and peace at the end of the book: you too can have that feeling.

Happy Holidays everyone.

Maybe you should go to Texas... or Wyoming

Wow, according to the numbers on this post from Career Hub, Texas generated 71% of the new jobs in the last 12 month  period (ending in November 2008). For more information you can check the Employment Situation Summary, updated monthly, on the BLS website (and yes, it is grim right now, but it can improve.) If you're interested in Texas, try the Texas State Library Job Line.

CNN also has a list of unemployment rates by state and currently Wyoming has the lowest unemployment rate at 3.2%. (Check out Wyoming Library Jobs, more posting sites at the bottom of the page, if you're curious.)

You can also try these searches in the Career Jet widget in the right hand menu on this blog. Use the keyword librarian or archivist, or combine with a more specific term like academic, and add your preferred state (not deranged, Christmas is almost over, get ahold of yourself) as a geographic keyword.

Jobacle's Sick Day Calendar

Jobacle has released their 2009 Sick Day Calendar complete with the reasons to plan your illnesses ahead. In case you aren't sure how to call in sick, the How-to Wiki explains the process. Always, double check your sick day alibi for flimsiness.

Would you wear a sandwich board to get a job?

For six months, Joshua Persky wore a sandwich board in New York and pounded the pavement looking for work. He has landed a new job, though it took 6 months of perseverance--and he took a lot of crap, including a not very flattering shout-out on Wallstrip--when someone saw his sign and the hiring representative read his blog.

What to do if you get laid off

Diane Garnick with Invesco gives some good advice about negotiating your exit package, if you are offered one, and just good advice in general about how to network when looking for work. Watch the video from Tech Ticker.

If you aren't sure about who to invite to dinner, take a look at the earlier post on weak ties. Your friends can really give you some good comfort and support, and though all of their ideas may not be great, they can think about you and make some good suggestions that you may not have considered.

Can Obama Keep Those Jobs at Home?

Staying on top of the coverage of the meltdown, Business Week offers some analysis on the job creation program of president-elect Barack Obama and asks what the government should do--make Buy American legislation more stringent for example--to keep those jobs at home.

Couple this with the article on the "intangible" job market to determine where some of the new jobs may be created.

I do have a suggestion for you to help out your local economy: if you buy presents at Christmas, select items that were made locally or purchase gift cards that can be spent at local shops and businesses. Keep capital in your own local market and helps local small business owners, who are the major employers in every center.

Tis the season

to run panic-stricken and screaming through the halls, under the weight of all of the extra programming, gearing up for the January term, finishing all of your overdue projects and, yes, for our friends in school, exams. This is also when we come to term with some of our new assignments, projects and events. Could Santa spare a few elves?

This is also the time for end of the year mixers, where local professional groups to check-in with their members. If you have time, this is your opportunity to start scoping out the local people and talking about how much you would like to work at library X and asking when the new postings will go up. Yes, seriously. Now is the time to find out about hiring plans and try to get introduced to HR people at mixers--too bad they sometimes mix at their own mixers, but you can work with what you've got. Mixers can be vital when you plan to work local, but they can also offer good leads on upcoming conferences and projects.

So, go out and have a beer with your friends and alumni, but keep some rules in mind:

• One beer is enough beer. It may look cheerful and taste like you're standing on your back porch in summer, but drink with caution.
• Don't eat so much. I'm not saying, don't eat anything, but don't eat fifteen curried pickles or five devilled eggs and find yourself chipmunk-cheeked in front of the director of the library who's hiring. Martini olives are not considered sustenance, and flicking your toothpick is as distracting as a five-year old twirling her hair.
  
• Dress with care and leave the funny hat behind. Friday casual, including jeans and a toasty sweater is fine, but the heaving cleavage of your New Years dress is not.
• Don't bring your resume. You are looking for intel, while trying to look intelligent, so it is ok to give out a business card--especially if they want your help on a project or if you would like to get in touch with them in the new year--but your resume is just going to get sprinkled with curry pickle juice. Accept their business cards, but you may just have an opportunity to make notes on a napkin--which you should not lose, so carry a notebook. Follow-up after the holidays since in-boxes get overfull in December.
  
• Make a good impression. The best you can, not as the person who drunkenly giggled and gorged on amuse bouche.

If you think, pshaw, I will never do these things, you haven't been to too many holiday mixers, since they are filled with gorgers, bingers and sweatily-palmed paperwork. And stop using pshaw.

Are you a good listener?

Are you a good listener? Some of us think that we are, but never analyze our behaviors or ask people if they think that we are paying attention. But listening is an important skill for librarians. Of course, the obvious is the reference interview, making sure that you have the best information for the client's problem--but we need our listening skills when our managers or colleagues give us directions, when we attend committee meetings--especially when we are learning about a new topics, such as student awards--and we need our listening skills in the interview.

Listening is an active process: you need to know how to select information that people say to you and repeat it, so they know that you get it. Therefore, it is not enough to just listen, but to listen and repeat or listen and respond.

For managers--or anyone who hopes to be a manager--Leila's House of Corrections has a video on how to listen.



You can also practice listening:

• When you take phone messages, are you an uh-huh-er, just grunting your responses and saying, yeah, I'll make sure she gets that? Start reading back the message you have recorded and ask if this is the correct message. Ask if they have anything to add, and make sure that you have a courteous sign-off that mirrors theirs, not just a thunk down of the phone.
  
• Instead of reading a recipe and creating a meal, listen to a recipe on a podcast and make while listening. Obviously, you will need to listen more than once, especially when assembling the ingredients, but because this is an active exercise of input, the recipe, and output, dinner that tastes good, you are practicing active listening. 
• Many librarians love books and reread or write down favorite lines. But do you love audiobooks as much, and, if so, can you repeat back the lovely line that you just heard? Here's a test: use the bookmarking feature (or archaic rewind), say the line out loud and check to see if you are right.
• Raise your standards. Are you really hearing what people say, or are you content with the gist of it? Recently, I have noticed that I don't always hear all of the lines that are spoken on TV--age probably, but probably a result of years of headphone abuse--and I used to content myself with the gist of it. But if you watch Pushing Daisies or a frenetic episode of the West Wing, you're lost. Don't be satisfied with the gist of it anymore.

Listening is more than just pouring words in your ear, it includes some output and a cogent response. Test your listening skills to see if you really are as proficient as you believe.

You may already be a listening "expert": what tips or exercises do you have for people to improve their listening skills?

Idealist.org

If you're looking for work in a non-profit--any kind of work--you should be visiting Idealist.org. Idealist.org is a clearinghouse of information on non-profit work, local and global, with career advice (including two downloadable career guides) and information on volunteering, both in-person and virtual. They have also made really good use of YouTube for advertising their job posting board to employers, creating a commercial for their career guides and advertising their career fairs.

External opinion on the US Recession

Knowledge @ Wharton offers a summary of a speech delivered by Pedro Aspe, a former Mexican Secretary of Finance, about the causes of the recession and a brief analysis of the bailout and its fallout. I liked the perspective since it came from outside of the US and offers a slightly different--though no less critical--perspective.

Picking Plums

Every four years, in time for the arrival of a new administration, a copy of the Plum Book, "or list of the best Executive Branch jobs", becomes available. Many of the positions are filled by appointment, but some are open if you apply through USAJobs. Since civil service is one of the areas that is predicted to increase their hiring, this might be the time to explore some options in government employment.

And, yes, the Library of Congress does have positions listed on the Plum Book. But you can also search on USAJobs for current opportunities.

For more on the Plum Book, the AP has a brief article with links to related plummy write-ups.

Spark, Episode 55, Work 2.0

CBC's Spark Episode 55 is all about Work 2.0 with interviews with the CEO of Zappos and how to use 2.0 tech to be "transparent", Dan Tapscott on the Net Generation at work and who is using 2.0 in business.

Turn to your friends

Drawing inspiration from Tropic Thunder, Career Diva has a post on turning to your friends in a workplace crisis. Her thoughts are pop-y and timely, but this is a really old career idea: the strength of weak ties.

In 1973, Marc Granovetter wrote an article, The Strength of Weak Ties, where he explored how a group of people found work in Boston. Based on his research, which he later turned into a book called Getting a Job, he suggested that people can use their social ties for different results when finding a new job. First, the type of tie you use is important:

• A strong tie, like a family member or person who has a deep connection to you, can help you find work, but sometimes in a different industry (mainly because they are in a different industry, and hear about different opportunities and because they might not know what librarians, for example, do for a living) and they are highly motivated, because of their close connection to you, to help you find work. 
• Weak ties, on the other hand, are your acquaintances, people who you have a looser connection to, maybe even friends of friends, who are usually in the same industry, and who hear about more relevant job opportunities, but who have less incentive to help you because they are more distant to you personally.

So close=more love, but less relevance, and weak=less interest, but more relevance.

Now other people have explored the weak tie theory--especially when examining social networks--and they have drawn some conclusions, such as college students aren't so good at activating weak ties because they don't have a broad network of industry contacts, and they tend to turn to family and friends for assistance. Others suggest that activating a weak tie can keep you within your industry, whereas relying on a strong tie can help you transition into a new industry.

But the one thing research agrees on is that no matter how weak or strong the tie, you have be vocal. You must say: I'm looking for a job, do you know of any openings?

Here is how you can start activating your ties:

• We are not all in competition with one another. You may be surrounded by library students who are all going into the job market at the same time, but you are not all competing for the same positions. Some of you want to be children's librarians, archivists, media specialists, corporate librarians, so you are all part of the industry of knowledge work, but not all competing in the same sectors. But you need to start an exchange of postings and job information. To do that you...
• Need to speak up. This is time to talk about careers and how to find them. It is also the time to get in touch with former co-workers and supervisors and go to coffee. The holidays can offer great opportunities to mix and mingle, but you have to talk.
• It's time to bring in the experts with exposure to industry, and a variety of sectors. If there was ever a time to form a job club in your library school, get in guest speakers who can talk about resume writing, interview skills and finding internships, it's now. Panelists, speakers and librarians invited to parties should represent all types of library work, and should also include a generous helping of self-employed librarians. These guests should include new and established librarians, since new librarians can talk about how they recently found their jobs and established librarians can open the channels of communication to their library contacts.

 If this sounds suspiciously like networking, you're right. But what do you do if you aren't good at networking?

Retail holiday jobs

Though libraries are not retail establishments, some librarians and library students supplement their living expenses by working in retail. NPR's Business Podcast of the Day explores the downturn in available retail jobs.

Many libraries are located in malls, which also means library traffic visits could be down--unless people are using the library to look for work.

Applying to graduate school

One of my co-workers was quoted in an article about applying to graduate school. Since applying to a graduate program is a necessary step in becoming a librarian, I thought I would give a good link and a bit of Google juice to my co-worker.

Where has the money gone and what will you get in return?

Yahoo! TechTicker is wondering where the bailout money is going and what taxpayers are getting in return: Bail-Outrage: Misuse of Funds, Lack of Transparency a National Disgrace

After all, if you don't know what you traded the cash for, how can you reclaim the value, when, as people are arguing, the markets "surge" and repay the taxpayers?

As librarians, who should rightly be concerned with freedom of information, Bloomberg has filed a federal lawsuit to find out who got what and what for.

Finding a master resume writer

A friend of mine passed this article along, Finding a Master Resume Writer, and since I had linked to Jobacle's quest to test resume writers, I thought I would also post this item.

I don't think that anyone really needs to hire someone to write their resume, but if you are pressed for time, and convinced that you really can't explain your career on paper (and not many people can) you may consider hiring a professional resume writer.

Professional development for librarians

Once you've left library school, where do you go for additional professional development, especially courses for library skills development? If you're already in library work but are getting that creepy, uh-oh, was I supposed to know this? feeling, this is a Sign that you need some PD.

Professional development can help with transitions: if you are an academic librarian who wants to leave the academy but not the library, you can take professional development to help you transition to public or special libraries, or into self-employment. It's harder to get your employer to pay for that type of development though, so you need to look for reasonable-cost options, or know that the investment you are making is the right one for your career. This post explores PD options for people who have their Masters, though there are many great programs for skills-development for people who work in libraries who don't have their graduate degree.

You can start with Web Junction, which has a wide variety of professional development options, from technical skills, like XML, to customer service skills. You can also try Simmons School of Library and Information Science. I mention these two because I have personally taken classes from them that I have liked, they were affordable and I was able to take them at a distance.

Your state or provincial professional library association may also be of assistance, but I have not found many online courses, or courses that include a certificate for completion, from my local library association. This is an area that I think requires further exploration by regional library associations. The ALA does offer a professional development centre that you can use to begin exploring options and rounds up some of the professional development options offered by different ALA divisions.

I could mention conferences, but the problem with conferences is that you can say you went and talk about what you learned, but you didn't get certification (as far as I am aware) for attendance at sessions. Sometimes skills-building professional development requires a certificate. Some employers won't pay for training unless a certificate is involved, or at least a demonstration that these skills are necessary for your work at their library.

We all could use a refresher, or exposure to new ideas, since libraries are just one of the many industries that are subject to dynamic change, whether technical change, or the librarians need to acquire new soft skills to deal with their day to day work.

Gladwell on meaningful work

WowJobs Canada Salary Search

WowJobs is a vertical search engine for the Canadian marketplace. It has already done cool stuff like search for results in Craigslist, but now, based on the information in the job postings that it skims, the search engine can provide a salary search.

 

As shown above, you can also compare salaries between types of jobs or by location. I went Canada-wide to get an idea of the basic salaries, but you can--and should, if you are asked to provide a quote--search geographic-specific.

Where do they get the numbers? From job postings that supply salary information. It is not clear, when a range is used, if they use the bottom of the range or the top of the range to create their calculation. Not every job provides salary information, so it isn't taking data from all of the postings that the engine has scraped. To ameliorate this issue, WowJobs is supplying a confidence level: how sure are they that the numbers are accurate? and including this with the results that you receive for your search.

This service is currently in beta, so we can expect more improvements as they get more sophisticated with the enormous amount of raw data supplied in a posting. Maybe they'll run a map mash-up that will let us see where particular jobs are concentrated, based on their historical data? For example, more postings in Toronto in June or October?

You can use this search engine to supplement the salary information that you find from other professional library sources.

GlobeCampus

Many newspapers are moving their University ranking special reports online: GlobeCampus, from the Globe and Mail, is another runner in the rankings race. If you want to know a bit more about a campus--but not a whole lot more--you can take a look at one of these ranking and reviewing services.

Tomorrow, GlobeCampus is sponsoring an Online Universities Fair, complete with webinars and advertisers. It is one way to explore campuses without leaving your desktop.

ReadWriteWeb launches jobwire

ReadWriteWeb has launched a new service called jobwire which asks people with new jobs to send in a message about their new job, a kind of tech Movers and Shakers. These services are a great way to stay on top of the industry, find out where some of your contacts have gone, or do some brush-up research on a person's career prior to an interview with them. If you work in the tech field and have just scored employment, this might be one way to boost your personal google juice, and get some free exposure for your employer.

ReadWriteWeb, if you aren't interested in writing in tech, is a blog about web technology news and reviews, a very accessible site for people who are looking for information and how-to in using technology in knowledge work. If you have ever considered a career in information services, IT, wired journalism, subscribe to ReadWriteWeb.

There is nothing private about going online

In September of 2008, Christine Stoddard, the Privacy Commissioner of Canada gave a speech about the use of social networking sites and their implications in regards to personal privacy and employee rights. If you work in Canada and have a social networking profile, you should read her speech.

Though I agree with many points in the speech and found some of the stories enlightening, I have long believed that if you have used a password to enter a site--as opposed to a Google search which leads you to information--you have violated a person's privacy. I also feel that people who use the sites to troll for information about people in this manner should be suspended from the site. I feel that more openness, as the commissioner describes is best:

If you do monitor the sites employees are looking at and how much time they spend there, you should tell them.

The simple work-around for my suggestion is when your friends hi-jack your personal information from the site and post it on a freely available site on the Internet. Good luck getting the ISP that hosted the site to give you the information to take the poster to court. There are protections for stealing people's personal property, or attempting to extort from people by taking their personal information, but we don't seem to have figured out yet how this will work online--possibly because we don't recognize it as personal space.

I do feel that it violates my charter rights to demand that I stop associating with certain (adult) people on a social networking site, or to track any information about my religious or political affiliations, or deny me a place online to "hang out" with friends. In case you aren't sure what those are--or you're not a Canadian--lo,

• freedom of conscience and religion;
• freedom of thought, belief, opinion and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication;
• freedom of peaceful assembly; and
• freedom of association. 

I think we need to start thinking of the Internet in terms of a space, a forum, for assembly, as opposed to an amorphous "out there" that seems to have nothing to do with our lives or freedoms.

Oh, and don't be a jackass. At least not where people can see you.

I found a flaw

Keeping up with the bailout/meltdown coverage, Alan Greenspan testified at a congressional hearing about the practices at the Federal Reserve--which he presided over for 18 years--that could have contributed to the meltdown. Essentially, Greenspan says that by trusting banks to regulate themselves, he believed that they would show more astute self-interest than living from quarter to quarter. They did not and the system melted like a candle burnt at both ends.

Yahoo's Tech Ticker is a bit kindlier to Greenspan than the NYTimes article. Bill Moyer's Journal also carefully dissected Greenspan's testimony in light of Greenspan's intellectual allegiance to Ayn Rand. Yes, what you read can make a difference--not only to you, but many, many others.

Jobacle Professional Resume Writing Challenge

If you have ever considered hiring a professional resume writer to craft a resume for you, you may want to check out Jobacle's Professional Resume Writing Challenge. Andrew, the [evil??] mastermind of Jobacle has offered up his resume to 12 professional resume writers and is posting their makeovers, including his own draft, over the next few days. As of Friday, he was into day seven, so you can see 7 different versions of his resume and check out the new arrivals.

I think he has a lot of experience with recognized companies on his resume already, as well as some great experiences, so his resume is a standout (unless it arrived coated with Dijon, or he was in a slush pile of Rhode Scholars, he would probably get an interview,) but his tips are good and the challenge will answer the question: is it worth my money and time to hire a resume writer?

I'm your boss

There are a few library school students who have gone to library school with the intention of snagging a promotion. When they get it, if it is at the same the library they have worked at throughout school, they will become the boss of their former friends. Leila's House of Corrections has some suggestions on how to manage this new situation.


Also check out the House of Corrections video on eye contact. It gives me a chuckle but it is so helpful for interviews and customer service.

Leaving the door unlocked

Do you check your personal or school email at work? I bet that you do. Many workplaces will certainly allow you to do so, especially if you are on your break, but if you are checking your email at work, do you remember to close it afterward?

There are several terminals in my workplace that are shared terminals, meaning that they are not open to the public, but that many workers use the same terminal. And some of these workers leave their email open, including actual messages that they were replying to, or they have chat windows open. In fact, a little feud started a few years ago amongst a person who had left their email open, and the person who sent out email, pretending to be the owner, from their opened email account. Just fun messages, nothing mean. Now, I'm not condoning the emailing masquerade, but I think that the account owner should have been more careful and guarded their privacy by shutting down the account. Not to mention the fact that the person rather callously assumed that their business was so important that it deserved to remain, as is, on the terminal, as if no one else could possibly need that computer.

It doesn't matter if you will be right back--someone is going to read what is on your screen. They are going to find about your marks, how unhappy you are with a professor or your boss, and your pet names for your hunk o'burning love.

During a job search, it is better to act with greater discretion, so either avoid emailing from shared terminals or make darn sure that you never walk away--for a coffee or to the bathroom--with your email, Facebook or LinkedIn accounts open for all and sundry. Protect your business a little better, and remember that your workplace is letting you use that terminal, it's not yours.

That's enthusiasm

If people ask if you are enthusiastic about libraries, your career and the mission of your workplace, you should look like this.



With a little less panting and jumping, but no less sincerity.

It's the economy, baby

Since the economy is on everybody's mind and lips, it may not hurt to do some tracking about what is being said about the economy in these turbulent times. During my daily work, I have to read labour market information and stay on top of economic indicators in general. Sometimes, I come across items that I think that everybody should take a look at, or they offer a summary of what is happening.

Again, without historical perspective it is difficult to determine WTF is happening--and even then, experts won't always agree. But it can help you feel better if you know just a bit about what is going on.

And you might get a question on these in an employment interview--reference librarians, if you don't read or follow at least one newspaper you're going to blow these questions. You might save yourself on pop culture--Daft Punk for 200, Alex?--but reading the newspaper is a requirement.

So, for today, watch Yahoo Tech Ticker explain the 5 signs of a recession.

LinkedIn Maintenance

Jason Alba of JibberJobber has a good post about some basic LinkedIn maintenance that you should perform on your profile: make sure the main email address for your LinkedIn profile belongs to you. It shouldn't be your employer-supplied email and it shouldn't be your college email, since those aren't yours and have a limited lifespan. Hypothetically, you will want to keep your LinkedIn profile for the remainder of your professional life.

The same goes for your LibGig profile, or really, any social networking profile you maintain. The address you use should not be the most convenient, but the one that you personally "own",

Layoff creepers

Bob Sutton, the author of the No Asshole Rule, has a thought-provoking post on his blog about the quality of the workers who will lose their jobs if layoffs occur. Do the innovators get the pink slip--and the slackers, possibly by virtue of tenure, get to stay?

This is not to say that new workers are the brightest apples in the bushel, but that sometimes layoffs mean that organizations lose quality workers--and probably the people that they could least afford to lose in a crisis. Sutton makes a good argument for the timing of layoffs and how, if you must layoff, to give workers enough of a lead to know what will happen, so they can resort to plan B. In addition, he also mentions companies, like Toyota, that invest in training and skills development during a downturn. Remember, he advises, recruiting and training replacement staff, on the upswing, is as significant a cost as keeping workers through the downswing.

But it probably earns more goodwill to retain than to let them funnel down the layoff drain.

And how will you be paying for this?

According to this article from American Libraries, the stock market collapse will have consequences for many libraries that rely on endowments for funding, which means cuts to library hours, as well as, library staff. This could mean layoffs--but it could also mean decreased hiring in the coming year. It could also mean keep the people but fewer books and licenses, so don't despair about job offers yet.

One thing you can do is some research to figure out how your prospective employers are funded. The American Library Association has a section on their site dedicated to library funding, and Library Journal also offers a roll of articles about library funding from their pages. The state or provincial library site should have information about how the libraries within that area are funded (state name + library in Google should get you these websites).

So don't lose your nuggets over the news, but do a dig into the money sources of your prospects. This should also be part of your basic employer research that you take to an interview.

Tech Therapy compares librarians to IT staff on campuses

According to this Tech Therapy podcast, librarians and IT staff on academic campuses have lots of commonalities, but they can't seem to get together to help one another. Forced collaborations, rather than voluntary project sharing, appears to be the big difference between these two groups.

They are looking for people from both departments to comment on their premise that librarians and IT can't seem to get along, and so far, not many comments (yes, some libraries call their patrons "users", some call them "clients" or "customers", others use "students"; it depends on the library), which I hope doesn't mean that librarians and IT personnel believe there is no way we can get along.

The meltdown and the bailout

The meltdown and the bailout are examples of how macroeconomics--large scale economics--can affect a person's microeconomics, your own little-big life and budget. But what the heck is going on?

What a good question, and since I am not an economist--generally skeptical and willing to wait for a little historical perspective--I have a few resources that will help you make up your own mind:

• NPR's This American Life is looking at the meltdown and explaining what is happening on Wall Street and Main Street, by looking at the housing crisis, as well as what is happening on Wall Street.
• ProPublica items tagged Wall Street Bailout, will help you keep on top of the stories.
• Business Week Behind the Cover Special Feature on the Bailout. In general, Business Week will have good up-to-date reporting on the bailout, so you might want to add it to your news reader.
• Silobreaker's Freetext Search Map on the "meltdown" will allow you to explore news stories and their connections.
  
• The Trillion Dollar Meltdown, published in January of this year, is looking awfully prescient. 
  
• If you want a historical view of past financial fiascos, the Wall Street Journal published a round-up on the five best books about past financial crises. 

Job searches away from big cities

Another reason for people looking for work in academia to look beyond the larger centers and "big name" colleges: Searching and hiring away from the spotlight.

If you aren't sure how to look for work outside of the big centers, and can work anywhere, check out the post about working in a smaller city and my article on LISCareer about relocating to find work.

Tax perks for students

This is for Canadians: there may be some tax benefits that you can claim, as a student, that you are unaware of--though, as graduate students, you may be experts at these. If you went out of town for a summer job, save your receipts for the move.

Think like a "pig", make more money?

This 60 Second Science podcast refers to a study that suggests that men who hold more traditional beliefs about male and female roles make more money. Since the snippet doesn't reveal what industry these men worked in, or what city they worked in--which also affects how much cash they make--you can guess that some of them are supporting Real Housewives.

But the women who were surveyed who tend to hold more traditional views, make $1,500 less than women with less traditional beliefs--again, without stating were they lived, worked and did their nails.

However, it does reinforce my belief that if you don't know how much you are worth, you don't know how much to ask for.

Women hate working for other women?

According to this article from Women.Co, women find it harder to work for other women than they do for men. I can only go by my own experience, so I think it is utter baloney. I think this part of the article actually hits the nail on the head:

‘It may be that something about the nature of the work itself is influencing these health differences,’ Dr Schieman told the Journal of Health and Social Behavior.

‘For example, women working with a woman supervisor might tend to be found mostly in the caring sector or in jobs that tend to be under-resourced, under-funded and under-valued, such as social work or education, creating stress both for the workers themselves and stress for the boss that might trickle down to her subordinates.

‘These are speculative points that need to be investigated further.’

Less pay, less job security, working in "caring" professions--hmmm, sounds soul-sucking. Add a diva boss or colleague--male or female--and I think I would be putting Maalox in my coffee as creamer, too.

College reviewing service to find the academic library of your dreams

If you're a footloose job seeker looking for work in an academic library, you could really go to any community that you want--provided that they are hiring. And you can use a college reviewing service to do it.

There are the mainstays: the Best Colleges from the US News and World Report, the Princeton Review Best Colleges, the Peterson's Undergraduate College Search--which is one of the few that has information on community colleges--or the new college reviewing site, Unigo.com, that solicits comments from real students about what campus life is like. You can also try Epinions to find "customer reviews" of colleges and universities. You can combine your search with a scan through the Chronicle of Higher Education's Almanac (not all free), and check out the job postings at the same time--and you should be reading the Chronicle if you see yourself working at an academic institution in the US.

Once you have selected some of the colleges or universities that you are interested in, see if they have an RSS feed for employment--make sure this feed covers library positions, as well as any other administrative positions that you are interested in--and make your own Yahoo! Pipe or Rollyo search engine so you can get an updated listing. You can also pull the feeds into your RSS reader, but I thought making your own search engine just makes you seem so savvy.

Now keep in mind that these services and sites are talking about student life, but you can still get valuable information about the work environment, where the college is situated and what it looks like. If the entry really blows your mind, you can put in the name of the city--or local suburbs or towns located nearby--and start contacting the local Chamber of Commerce or Visitor Center, to get any publications or resources that they have about their city. The more you know about a community, the more you will have to say at the interview when they try to find out how much research you have done in regards to the campus community. You won't sound like a local, but you won't sound like you're clueless either. You can also nix communities from your list if you find out the cost of living is too high, or if there isn't any work for your partner or if you find out a library is closing.

A little bit more research than throwing a dart at the map, but if you don't like to look for stuff, aren't you in the wrong career?

On the bias

Jobacle had a post yesterday that encouraged people to explore their biases when it comes to careers--stereotyping by career, an outgrowth of Krumboltz's occupationism. The post linked to Project Implicit, a project that explores biases and I urge you to take some of the tests on the site to explore your biases.

Biases affect us in hiring and working with others, whether they are colleagues or clients, and a greater awareness--and an attempt to neutralize your biases--can only help make the workplace more fair.

In case you think I am chiding interviewers, no, job seekers have the same biases: a fat interviewer won't like me because I am so thin and beautiful, old people are afraid that young people will take their jobs, and they won't hire me because I am too old and a white male. I could go on with all of the nervous, half-beliefs that we all possess, which we believe are gospel in times of stress. Analyzing your biases can help you recognize them when they prey on you and help you mitigate or remove their effects.

Interviews are like blind dates?

Well, this analogy might work for you--how interviews are like blind dates--but this analogy could convince me that a nunnery is a good idea. If I found an order that also needed secular workers, I would be set. I also wouldn't have to worry about the dress code anymore...hey, wait a minute: does this mean that offices are the new monasteries?

Just stick with their metaphor.

Do you want to work in a smaller city?

This isn't a proper review of Job Searches Beyond the Big Cities: Finding Employment in Medium to Small-sized Markets, which is a scaled down version of the Guide to Internet Job Searching. Job Searches Beyond the Big Cities is an ok starter resource, but it shouldn't be the last place that you search, especially if you are looking for work in a "smaller center".

There are basically two different types of "smaller center": a small city or town, or a town or city that is the satellite of a much larger city. If you are fine with commuting, you have more options if you live in a satellite--but the cost of gas and the cost of living outside of the satellite may negate the benefits.

There are also three types of job seeker who look for work in a smaller city:

1. Footloose. Can go anywhere, but want to live in a smaller city. These job seekers have the freedom to choose any city or town--provided that there is a job at the end of the rainbow. These job seekers sometimes forget about smaller cities in their rush to court a big city. For a footloose job seeker try looking with vertical search engines, such as indeed or simplyhired, or my favorite widget on the right. Read Cities Ranked and Rated and Who's Your City? to find communities that match with the lifestyle that you would like to have.
   
2. Trailing. Partners of academics used to be called the trailing spouse--just some extra baggage that you brought along to your tenured position. I use the term trailing here to invoke that image of the person who puts love first, who followed someone home for love...a person who has an aging parent or sick family member. You may be heading back to a community that you know, or a place where your partner will have ties and some clout. You need to make use of the network that your partner or family has created.
   Try searches on the Inside Higher Ed Dual Career Search. Make like Lysistrata until your partner contacts someone with human resources who can tell you about hiring policies for the partners of academics, or if there is a service that will help the "trailing" partner of an academic. For a trailer, you need to make the most of your network, or the connections that your spouse or family has built. Look at the Chamber of Commerce, every directory you can lay your hands on, and make a Yahoo! Pipe that will keep you up-to-date on job matches. Military spouses can also take advantage of any career services, networks or job boards that are available to them--and they should.
   
3. Trapped. This is not a judgment on smaller cities, so don't send me any hate e-mail. Sometimes, people get trapped in a city: they own a house, the kids are happy, your partner still has a good job, you finally found a good veterinarian...but your well seems to have dried up. First step: are you going to stay with the type of library that you have always worked at? Can you transfer from academic to public to school to special? If not, what are you going to do that is similar to library work and still in your community? Is there a library type job that you can do as a telecommuter? Finally, will you stay in libraries? Is this the time to explore another alternative? You are looking for information on a career transition, so your local labor market information office--state, provincial or municipal--can get you started. In that case, you will need Job Searches Beyond the Big Cities: Finding Employment in Medium to Small-sized Markets, since it has all of the links to labor pages in all of the states. If you live in Canada, try Service Canada, Looking for a Job, or select your region for local labour market information.

People begin or find themselves in a smaller center for a variety of reasons, but they have to tailor their job search to match their region, as well as their professional needs.

10 tips to keep down the cost of recruiting

The whole job recruitment process is very expensive: the cost to post the jobs, the cost to contact candidates, the cost to fly them in (or the warm fuzzy feeling that it gives your candidates when you tell them you can't/won't pay), and then the cost to close the recruitment. And the cost we sometimes avoid: when we have to repost the position and go through the same thing all over again.

Here are some tips to keep down the cost of recruiting:

1. Post the job on your website and make your job page into an RSS feed. Obviously, people who want to work for your library can subscribe to that feed, but you can also submit the feed to vertical search engines like simplyhired or indeed.com. If they include your feed in their database, you can get greater exposure on the aggregator.
2. Distribute via listserve and newsletters. Most people are doing this, but sometimes they forget, or they just blindly send the information to the library school recruitment office. Yes, you should send it to them, but don't put something like, please post. Please post where? Get it on the student listserve, and ask if they can distribute it to the local professional listserve. If they have a newsletter, including the alumni newsletter, ask if your vacancy can be advertised there as well. Always include a closing date: if you don't, it's your own damn fault that they keep calling.
   
3. Stop printing the resumes that come in. Do you really need a paper copy of all of the resumes that arrive? You're just being hidebound if you said yes. Now is the time to start reading on a screen and making your comments with the comments feature, or making your notes in a separate document. Take your laptops into the room when you interview. No, really, it isn't intimidating. We know what computers look like, and we want you to save some trees.
4. Interview with Skype or MSN messenger and a webcamera. Do not incur any additional long distance fees. Yeah, yeah, you've already paid for the long distance charges. Are you getting the most out of the long distance fees, or do you only rarely make long distance calls--except during recruiting season? 
5. Have you thought about interviewing in Second Life? How about having a recruitment event, including virtual interview rooms, in SL? I think results have been mixed when using SL to recruit, but it is a way to have an information night outside of the conference season. You can also make a machinima of your talk and post it on YouTube--and with an avatar, you don't have to worry that you look splotchy, only too furry.
6. Do they need to come in for a presentation? Can they post the presentation on YouTube--or can they mail in a disc with the presentation? There's still a grey area around the appropriateness of using internet video in recruiting, but if you have already seen the candidate over the web cam, you know what they look like. Ask them to post their talk on YouTube and allow them to take it down within ten days. Personally, I like the disc option better, but you also have to destroy the discs--no uploading without permission, no matter how hilarious they are--when the recruitment period is over.
   
7. How many rounds of interviews do you really need? Three or more? C'mon. This is just prolonging the agony of the candidates--meaning they could get snatched up while you shilly-shally--and taking people away from other library work. Librarians need jobs, not a thousand interviews.
8. Do proactive hunting. You could post a job and wait for candidates to come--and you could make a list of librarians in your area, who you found via Google and invite them in for an interview. Even better, start handing out your business card at local library meetups and make sure they write down your job feed on the back of the card. They will still have to follow the rules to apply, but why not make use of the pool who is currently available? Also known as networking, which both employers and job seekers could make better use of.
9. Repost, but ask your second and third choices back. You put them on the list for a reason, and they are still pretty high on your list. In some cases, number 2 just missed being number 1 because they had less experience in one area than you thought you wanted.
10. Ask the successful candidate about how he/she found out about the position.Why was this campaign successful? Do you really know which strategies worked in the past, or are you just doing the same thing over and over because this is how you have always done it? Take a poll right now amongst the people who have worked for you for less than 3 years and find out how they heard about the job. Put your money and effort where you found the majority of your successful candidates.
    

If the cost of recruitment can go down, you can use the money for other aspects of HR, like training or extending contracts.You can also streamline the recruitment function by keeping notes on what worked, also known as "best practices". Bring some evidence-based tactics to your recruitment process.

How do referral programs work?

There is a post on ERE.net today about getting more bang for your buck out of referral programs on college campuses. If you aren't sure what a referral program is, here is how it works:

• Your friend or family member works for a company that regularly disseminates job postings throughout the company--or they make a habit of checking an internal job board with offerings.
• There is a notice that the employee will get a referral bonus if a candidate that they recommended for the position applies, interviews, receives an offer and accepts a job. The referral bonus is usually cash and can range from $50 to $2000, depending on the position and how hard it is to staff. (If you know anyone in nursing, they are bombarded with offers).

Just to be clear, the referrer gets the bonus, not the person that was hired--but once the new hire is on staff, they can start sending out postings to their friends and family.

If you are looking for work in special corporate library, or an information position with a corporation, you need to talk to your friends about where they are working and ask them to include you in the postings they send out to friends and family. If they don't know what you do, or what you want to do, explain what you are looking for. Take a look at their company's website and get an idea about the types of positions that they post by what you can definitely do and what you could kinda do.

There are a few reasons to be wary of these referrals: if you blow off the offer, will your friend be mad? Maybe. It could also take time for the bonus to pay out--up to six months in some cases, and usually not before your probationary period ends. But this is a good way to get job postings delivered to your in-box, and if it all works out, your friend might be very very happy. And you'll be employed.

Check out the H3 network to get an idea about how this service might work on the web. I received a recommendation to use this service from someone on LinkedIn, and though I haven't found anyone for a position, I am still hoping it might work for people in my network.

I also feel like I am referring people (I'm your really weak tie) to postings when I put up the Yahoo! Pipe for library jobs and the Career Jet widjet, though I don't expect any back scratching for it.

Pecha Kucha Night

I'm off to my first Pecha Kucha Night. I'm really curious to see how this would work and if it could be effective for portfolios or for finding freelance work.

Pecha Kucha Night is special event for designers (or other freelancers with portfolios) where each presenter is allowed 20 images and 20 seconds to make their point about each image. These events are international and you need only check on the website to see if a Pecha Kucha Night is coming up in your area.

How to decline a job

If you have to say "no" to a job offer, you should say it to a person's face, or if you live outside of the city, by phone. But it should be in your own voice and not on paper or email.

When you say no, you should say, I'm grateful for your offer, but I cannot accept it at this time. You can supply a reason, such as, I have received another offer in this city, or my partner is not able to move with me to accommodate this new job. You don't have to say anything about the offer, if it was full-time, where their offer was part-time, or if the career just fit you better, you can just say, I have accepted another offer--but don't turn around and reapply in less than six months to the same organization.

If you just don't want to accept the offer--there was something weird about the interviewers, or they were rude or inhospitable, and you are afraid to put your career future in their hands, just stop with, I must decline the offer. Don't elaborate with, if you had only brushed your teeth, or your assistant wouldn't validate my parking, or your no flip-flops dress code is too restrictive, just save it. Tirades are for your friends.

You can follow up with a thank you letter, but if you tell them on the phone or face-to-face, politely and with real regret, you will have declined in a way that still leaves the door open for another application at a later date.

Need a tutorial?

If you need a quick fix or a skills brush-up, use Tutsearch to find a tutorial online. It worked for resume writing, job interviews and php (just in case you need a technical skill polishing). Good example of a vertical search engine that you can harness for your professional development. You might also consider submitting your tutorial(s) if you have one.

Keep the light shining

Keep The Light Shining: 3 Unemployment Survival Lessons From Your Canadian English Teacher

I liked the optimism in this piece, but I can also understand the hesitation of the students. Having encountered the same attitude as an ESL instructor (I can't change, I had more before) I can also understand the writer's frustrations. If you suffer from these obstacles (usually called "barriers to employment") realize that everyone has to climb over them.

Complete an inventory to prep for an interview

I have slowly been adding interview questions that might appear in a library interview, but you could take a personal inventory to prep for an interview (and not wait for my sluggish self to post 1001 questions). How do you take an inventory? Anita Bruzzese posted an inventory, 20 Questions You Need to Ask Yourself if You Want to Smarten Up About Your Career, which, if you look carefully at them, can easily be rewritten as interview questions. For example, no.5, Who is the most difficult person for me to get along with at work? can be transformed into How do you deal with difficult patrons/co-workers? or Who is the worst boss you ever had, and why?. Using the questions in her inventory, you could easily prepare a sheet that will help you with most interview questions that are meant to assess "fit", collegiality or career plans.

The best part about an inventory like this is that your notes should help you prepare for several types of interview questions and that you can do it yourself, again and again, prior to a new job search cycle with a round of interviews. The questions on this inventory are so open that you could take them in any direction, and your answers will probably change the next time you do them--and with more self-knowledge as you grow as a professional.

September might not be a bad time to look for a job

Is there a good time to look for a job?

Now, Job Bait is looking for "executive" jobs, classed by salary, but their analysis of monthly hiring trends (from 2004-2006 data) does show that there are certain months were more upper-level jobs are posted. It also means that Fall is still a good time to look for a job. This data may also be helpful if you are looking for special library job, so you have to follow the hiring cycle of that industry, not the "academic" hiring cycle (i.e. if you want to work for an engineering firm, they will post according to their hiring cycle, which is right now.)

First spotted on Career Hub.

I'm new here

How do you become accustomed to a new workplace? What are the steps you take to become familiar with the work environment?

An interviewer will ask this question for two reasons:

1. Time is short to get you up to speed, such as a contract position or a summer job, and he wants to make sure that you can organize your time effectively to get accustomed to the new environment, and complete the project you have been hired for, and
   
2. Because he wants to know about your work habits, how you learn new things, and where getting to know your co-workers will fit on your list of priorities.

Obviously, responding to this question effectively requires a bit of self-awareness, and the ability to recognize, not only your habits, but also the knowledge that you already possess that you could apply to the new workplace. They will also like to hire someone who not only gives a self-aware answer, but someone who learns in a similar style to the other people in the workplace. Since you can't know what learning style is preferred--unless you have already worked there--you can only answer this question by stating what you have done in the past, how you will apply it on the first day on the job, and how you will look for direction from your new supervisor and coworkers.

What kind of manager do you have?: Jung or Nardelli?

Cut Costs like Avon--Not Home Depot is from the Harvard Business Publishing blog. The post describes the difference between the admired CEO of Avon, Andrea Jung, and the non-so-esteemed former-CEO of Home Depot, (though he has moved on to Chrysler) Bob Nardelli. And in a time of cutbacks--though not a reduced need for library services--it might be a good idea to find out who you are working for: Nardelli or Jung?

Oddly, these companies do have something in common with libraries: they have similar customer base (women), they depend on knowledge networks to spread the word, and their customers use their products to improve their lives. But look at what happened when Nardelli cut back:

"The original Home Depot strategy depended on extremely knowledgeable service staff who would go that extra mile for customers and who could really help them understand how to accomplish their own goals. In the name of efficiency, Nardelli cut coverage, replaced quite a number of the experienced old-timers with part-timers, and put the whole organization on a tight, numbers-driven, almost military program. Again, many of his changes were for the better - yet the cultural, network, and experience losses eventually caught up with the company and Nardelli was replaced."

Libraries, like Home Depot, depend on their community connections (we call them "patrons" not "contractors") and undermining the core service, such as reducing the number of workers that have "know-how" is just bad for business.

So who do you work for? Nardelli or Jung?

Looking for a place to stay in NY

If you have an interview in NY and need to breeze in and breeze out, check out Roomorama which has listings for short term rentals. You can use it to look for an actual room, or if you are comfortable with this option, a couch surf. You can also pay online via PayPal and not worry about bringing lots of cash to a strange place. Listings are currently limited to NY, but the site does promise listings for Boston and Toronto.

You can combine this "cheaper" (really depends on listing and what you can afford) with a discount bus line, for true job seek economy travel.

I need to be able to walk to work

I can walk to my workplace, but it takes about an hour and fifteen minutes one way. I have done it a few times in the summer, on weekends, since I like sleeping more and because the train is so accessible from my home. I do not drive my car to work, but I also live in the outer-inner city in my town.

But is the ability to walk to work on your shopping list for an employer? Is that just being too picky?

Some people are going to great lengths to avoid traffic or to save money on gas, according to this article from the WSJ. Have you thought about becoming one of them?

Day in the life of an academic librarian

Day in the life of an academic librarian. More teaching, interacting with students face to face. Maintenance, currency, collection development and customer service.

Everything you ever wanted to know about applying to the Public Service Commission

If you have wanted to apply to the Public Service Commission of Canada (and work for the Feds), the Canada Public Service Agency has a page that details the entire process from initial application to selection.

In addition, you should also take a look at:

• Canadians applying to the Public Service Commission
• Graduate Recruitment (time to get your application into the general pool; exams start in late-September)
• Jobs Open to the Public (yes, they hire librarians)
• The infamous PSC tests
  

No, bilingualism is not always a requirement (check the posting) but something to strive for with the programs the Feds have in place to achieve a bilingual work force.

There are lots of wonderful cities to work in in Canada (OHMIGOD Ottawa...except in January, even I'm not that tough), and with the Feds, you might be able to work in several while contributing to work of the government, as well as assisting all Canadians.

Lies told on resumes

Ten tall tales told on resumes.

Some of these are caught because they are proofreading errors (in the military before conception), but what makes me really curious is the checks that employers have in place to discover if someone is lying. For example, how many employers still call references? Do you Google search a candidate to see if they have a digital footprint? Do you verify degrees? The survey doesn't say, do you regularly check to verify the accuracy of claims and if yes, how?

Day in the life of a public health librarian

Day in the life of a public health librarian. Techie, lots of SL. If you like technology, consider focusing your job search energy on the health care industry.

Job Diary 2008

Use this template to keep track of the effectiveness of the methods that you used in your job search. Why would you do this? Because people forget about the methods that they used to find work—and they don’t know how to look again the next time. This doesn’t mean that methods will stay the same, but that if it worked once, try it again. I would bet good money that you don’t remember where you heard about your current job if you have had the same job for more than 2 years.

Check the box if yes. Nothing if not used. Do not “maybe” or other waffling: did it work or not?

You should also close the job. When did you give up? Would you apply again? This helps you keep track of dead ends: if nothing is happening—no matter how much you want to work for them—do you keep trying? Define success: did you get an interview? Is success a job offer? Make your own definition.

 Job Diary 2008

Day in the life of a libary wiki

Day in the life of a library wiki...you can add what you or your library does to this wiki. Day in the life postings are really useful if you are interviewing for a position that has some gaps in the posting or if you are transitioning (i.e. academic to public) within the library profession. A more in-depth resource is an information interview, but you might not have enough time to line one up before your employment interview. Or you're just exploring the options, feeling the temperature of the water in the pool but not ready to jump in.

Employee takes bath, 2

If you are new to the whole, is it MySpace or everybody's space when it comes to looking up people online, this video from Career TV, from MySpace TV, will give you a bit of a primer.

Myspace Profile Career TV


In regards to the bathing beauty, he may have had his profile closed, but a friend could swipe his video, post it online, or just make it go viral in some way. The posting on this blog increases the viral spread of the video. An example of what might look like a harmless prank, giving and giving and giving.

This is why, since the advent of cell phones, you should not flash for trinkets at Mardi Gras. Double for you wild girls. Your image is gone, far beyond your control.

Trouble at the office

Business Week does a special edition, with reader comments and suggestions accumulated online, on Trouble at the Office.

The areas they identified as "troublesome": generational conflict (X, Y and Boomers at it again), "toxic" bosses, work/life balance--especially shutting off the crackberry--and time management.