A moment of peace.

*Disclaimer: It’s been many years since I served on a search committee, but, like most people who’ve managed I know what I like, what I would look for, and I have my own pet peeves.  With the exception of the first link the advice below will apply to pretty much any discipline.

It’s stressful looking for a job and, for me, more information = more relaxed and confident.  (My friends can stop snickering now, yes I tend to over prepare whenever I’m not sure about what I’m doing, it makes me feel better, deal with it

I’m pleased to present a curated list of links containing advice and resources for job seekers.  If what’s here doesn’t whet you appetite, check out my other posts for phone and in-person interview advice, as well as general job search advice and resources (Tips From the Experts: Interviewees & New Workers, Tales from the Tenure Track: Cost of Living, Tales from the Tenure Track: Negotiating Your Hire Package, Job Resources for Library School Students & Librarians, Keeping Up Professionally: For Library School Students).

You want to work in libraries? Essential Careers Advice for New Professionals by Ned Porter
http://thewikiman.org/blog/?p=1029
Ned gives a lot of good advice in this post which includes detailed explanations of why you should take his advice. I highly encourage all library school students to read it, highlights include:
1.   Work *really* hard.
5.   Proactively anticipate your career needs.
6.   Join a professional body.
7.   Acclimatise to the fact that this is a people profession.
13. Diversify. There is no career ladder in this industry; think of it as a career climbing wall.

Why You Didn’t Get An Interview by K. G. Schneider
http://freerangelibrarian.com/2011/08/07/why-you-didnt-get-an-interview/
Ranging from reasons that have nothing to do with you, to things you can improve on this post is full of honesty, humor, and excellent advice.  My favorite piece of advice is “TJMS” otherwise known as “The Job Market Sucks”.  With so many people applying for so few jobs it’s important to remember that there are a lot of reasons why you may not be getting the interview, or the offer, and many of them have nothing to do with you or anything that you did.

2011 Most Overused Buzzwords in the US on Linked In via Market Watch
http://www.marketwatch.com/story/photo-release-linkedin-says-the-2011-most-overused-professional-buzzwords-in-the-united-states-are-creative-organizational-and-effective-2011-12-13
Overused buzzwords change on an annual basis, one person uses a word or a phrase, other people think it sounds good and the next thing you know everyone’s resume starts to look the same.  I’m not sure that I agree that you can never use these words, but it’s definitely a good idea to minimize as many of them as possible so that your resume or C.V. stands out as much as possible.

10 unusual interview mistakes, and 6 that are all too common via the Chicago Tribune
http://articles.chicagotribune.com/2012-02-23/classified/chi-job-interview-mistakes-20120223_1_job-interview-mistakes-candidate
This post starts with a bunch of uncommon interview mistakes and then goes straight for the jugular.  Of the six most common job interview mistakes I think that appearing disinterested in the position is the worst mistake you can make.  If you don’t seem interested in the position I can’t imagine anyone offering you the job.  You don’t have to be bouncing off the walls with joy at the thought of the job but it’s really important to convey interest in the job during the interview, you can do this in several ways, you can mention a program that you’d like to work with, or suggest a new service to explore.  Other common mistakes can be difficult to combat, it’s hard to know what people will consider “appearing arrogant”, and it can be difficult to explain why you are leaving your previous employer without “talking negatively”.  Thinking out and practicing your explanations if you have left, or are trying to leave, a bad work situation is key to not blowing the interview.

Interview Red Flags by Joe Hardenbrook
http://letterstoayounglibrarian.blogspot.com/2011/12/interview-red-flags-by-joe-hardenbrook.html
An interview isn’t just about you making a good impression, it’s the chance for the organization to put their best foot forward and convince you that they are a good place to work.  This post provides a wealth of questions to ask and clues to watch for so that if you do get the job offer you can accurately assess whether you’ll be able to make a go of it.  Joe sums it up nicely with the phrase, “Small Things Matter”.  Think about people that you’ve lived with, it isn’t usually the big things that drive you crazy, it’s the little things like where they leave their jacket, how they load the dishwasher.  Make sure your potential new job won’t drive you crazy, especially if you have to move for the job!  Moving is way too expensive to do for a job you know you’re going to want to quit as soon as possible!

Ace Your Skype Job Interview by Amy Levin-Epstein
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505125_162-47541444/ace-your-skype-job-interview-14-smart-tips/?tag=mwuser
It’s important to realize that Skype is a completely different medium to interview in than meeting with people in person or just talking over the phone.  This article has a lot of great tips ranging from what not to do to video interview essentials.  The one piece of advice that I was really glad to see was don’t wear stripes, next time you’re watching TV try and look at someone who’s wearing stripes, they tend to look a little wavy because of how our eyes interpret the digital image, you don’t want to distract people by looking wavy on camera.  And, as always, test the technology before hand.  That won’t guarantee that no one has a technical problem the day of the interview but at least you’ll know you’ve done your best to be prepared for any eventuality.

Negotiating Tactics for Women from the Chronicle of Higher Education
http://chronicle.com/blogs/onhiring/negotiating-tactics-for-women/29883
Although this advice is targeted at women it is also good advice for people who are shy, introverted, or just plain nice people who don’t want to be a bother and believe the world should be a fair place.  Negotiating is always uncomfortable but if you don’t negotiate chances are you’ll never be paid what you’re worth, not because people aren’t willing to pay but because their job is to get the best people possible for the least amount of money.  Make sure you know what the constraints are, for example if you’re in higher ed there is no way you’re going to get paid at the associate professor level if you’re a assistant professor, and then give it a try in a respectful and non-confrontational manner.

JIBE: Find Jobs Based On Your Social Connections
http://www.jibe.com/
This is a new website that you may want to try out, here’s the blurb from the site:

“Reverse the model and let candidates ask for referrals as part of the application process on your career site. Get Referred integrates seamlessly with your existing applicant tracking system (ATS) or employee referral platform. By leveraging Facebook and Linkedin in the application flow, candidates can see who they know at your company and request a referral directly from your career site.”

It’s a bit early to see if this service will take off but any referral is better than no referral.  If you do decide to go for it be sure and scrutinize their terms of use and think very carefully about connecting Facebook before signing up, we all have different comfort levels of sharing and a service like this won’t be for everyone.

Hot to Get the Most Out of Studying by Dr. Stephen L. Chew, Samford University
http://www.samford.edu/how-to-study/
Consider this my version of an Easter Egg hidden in this post.  I really wish I’d had the benefit of this advice as an undergraduate, over time I learned some of these techniques through trail and error.  Rather than reinvent the wheel I highly recommend that you take a look at this series of short videos, see if there’s anything of value to you, and if there is share them with your classmates or students.  Sometimes the hardest part of learning is figuring how to study effectively.

Please share your favorite job search advice or resource(s)  in the comments

SCIO12 Legos

A recurring theme in the sessions I attended at #scio12, and some after hours discussions, was technological infrastructure, and the need to remember that there is a huge digital divide between the haves and the have nots.  It’s a problem you expect in developing nations (who we should be communicating with too, not ignoring), but you don’t expect that sort of problem in a country like the United States.

Sadly technological inequality is a huge problem in the United States.  In Philadelphia, one of our major metropolitan areas, 40% of the households do not have internet access, in some neighborhoods only about 10% of households have Internet access.  That’s at least 230,000 households in without access to the Internet in one city.

As we create activities and resources we need to remember that not all of our students have cell phones, not all students or researchers have Internet access depending on where they are in the US and the world.

A hot button for me is when people assume that all students have laptops and smartphones.  Just because some or even most students have something doesn’t mean that they all do, next time you want to assume something about technology that students have before asking, just don’t.  Better yet provide the technology and access if it’s required for a course and not provided more broadly by your educational institution.

The other problem is Infrastructure, while modern cities have tons of infrastructure compared to rural areas in reality our infrastructure is substandard.  Don’t believe me?  Check out the Report Card for America’s Infrastructure and be prepared to be scared silly by how badly maintained our vital infrastructure has been maintained.  Look at those grades, almost all D’s with a few C’s, the nation’s overall grade was a D, let’s think about that, just a little higher than an F for failed infrastructure.   If we can’t even prioritize our water, energy and road safety and maintain them it’s no wonder that we are failing so many people in creating and maintaining our cyberinfrastructure.  The biggest barriers I am seeing to science communication, education, and innovation are a lack of infrastructure and technological inequality.

If you don’t have internet access and electricity it doesn’t matter if someone gives you a computer.

If you don’t have internet access it can be difficult, if not impossible, to apply for a job, to college, for government benefits, file your taxes for free.

Without the tech support, programers, and cutting edge computers many researchers will be limited to what they can do with what they have instead of innovating the future.

Without the ability to easily download, compare, and analyze multiple compounds from the large government databases our ability to find new relationships between these compounds is limited.

I can’t help wondering if our tendency to ignore of basic infrastructure needs is part of why we tend to treat cyberinfrastructure as something we can do later, when things get better, when we have more money, etc.

Disclaimer: I’m biased towards Japan being born there and part Japanese.

I was really impressed by this story about how quickly they repaired a road that was completely destroyed by the tsunami and earthquakes that struck Japan last year. They repaired the road in six days.  Road repairs in Lincoln go pretty quickly, especially compared to California but I have to say, I don’t think we have the infrastructure anywhere in the USA to do that much work so quickly after such a huge emergency situation.

So how can we start to address these issues?

The first thing we need to do is admit that they exist and educate ourselves and everyone else that we can about these issues.  Infrastructure isn’t just for librarians and scientists and tech geeks, it affects our ability to call for help in an emergency, the safety of our drinking water, and whether the bridges we drive over will bear our weight or collapse.

Once we admit openly and consistently that these problems exist we need to put our money and efforts towards these projects, infrastructure (traditional and cyber) is needed for safety, education, and a connected participatory society.  If we don’t fund infrastructure that says that it’s not a necessity it’s a luxury, and that my friends is faulty thinking.  Ignoring our infrastructure needs is almost as bad as cutting education funding (I will stay off that soap box for now, no raising the blood pressure before bed).

I don’t have any easy answers but I do know this:

We don’t all need to be on the cutting edge of technology but there is a certain minimal level of access without which it is difficult to fully participate in society.  There is a level of IT support & infrastructure without which we will not reach our maximum research potential.

It’s a bit Pollyanna I suppose, but I’d really like to see all of us reach our full potential and we can’t do that without a strong base to stand on.

I met many more people in the online community than I did at #scio11,  the fact that there is a constant community presence online means that you are never without your science family.  If you’re interested in joining in the current hashtags in use are #scio12 and #scio13 (the tag for next year’s conference).  In many ways we are kinda like the science version of the Island of Misfit Toys, if you read the #IAmScience stories (started by Kevin Zelnio) curated on the I Am Science Tumbler (both on twitter and long form on blogs) you’ll see that over 140+ stories have been shared and very few if any of us fill the science stereotypes.  I suspect in part that people who are drawn to Science Online are the misfits, the risk takers, the innovators, the people who never stopped asking why.  If we were square pegs in square holes we’d never be interested in attending a conference built by a community, ran by a community, and based on discussion instead of presentation.   If you have a chance to attend next year I highly encourage you to try and grab a spot, but even if you can’t you can join the online family of science communicators that is Science Online.

To give you a taste of how diverse the participants on this conference are in every way please check out this fun and quirky music video put together by the smart, talented, and oh so witty @DrBondar

Notice the large number of people in the video, I know about half of them, what other conference video can you say that about?

People don’t usually understand why a science librarian would go to such a conference, here’s why I attend:

It’s the only conference I attend where I get to meet top people in every discipline I work with.  This is incredibly valuable to me, it gives me friends who I can trade advice with, insight into how researchers and students view specific resources, and increases my knowledge of their subject areas so that I can better serve the faculty and students at my school.

There is a huge science librarian contingent. Being part of the Science Online Science Librarians subfamily is a fantastic experience, these are the peers who do what I do, who solve the same problems, deal with the same challenges and many of them are not only subject specialists but also library directors and managers.  We always try and have a group lunch one of the days so that everyone knows what each other look like and then we seek each other out as time permits.  We dish the dirt on our pet projects, we ask for advice, we encourage, and we plot world domination through information dissemination

There is a huge Open Access Open Data contingent, I get to find out what just came out, and what’s in the works from the people who are working on these great projects.  I learn so much in just a few days about which projects are hot, what people think is really great that I’ve never heard of.  There’s so much great stuff out there that you can’t find it all on your own.

Networking.  Everyone who attends is amazing and with this group you never know when a request will come for career advise, peer-review, a speaking engagement, an invited paper or article, or for collaboration.  You may even get to help advise or become part of a new science non-profit or educational group.  But beyond the career benefits it’s simply wonderful to make friends with a group just as obsessed about science and diverse in their interests as you are.

I’ll write more another day on some of the things I learned at Science Online, but for today I’ll leave you with a question.  Who are your communities?  Where do you go for unconditional professional support, guidance, and friendship?

I’m very fortunate to have additional support communities through ALA, ACRL, and ARL.  That might seem like overkill but if we were honest we’d admit, people are rarely truly successful without support.

My Typical Academic Desktop

As some of you may know I am currently on the American Library Association’s New Member Round Table’s Mentoring Committee.  Every year this committee tries to expand and improve mentoring services for new librarians.

Maybe you’re looking for some good advice, or perhaps you want to give back because of the people who supported you as a new librarian. Please at take a look at the call’s for participation below and consider being a mentor or a mentee.

Call for Mentors

Dear Colleagues,

Have you been a librarian for 5 years or more?

Do you like to help others and want to give back to your profession?

The New Members Round Table (NMRT) Career Mentoring Program offers you the chance to meet a new librarian and guide them as they learn the ins and outs of librarianship!

The Career Mentoring Program focuses on long term mentoring. We will pair up “newbie librarians” with “seasoned vets” as part of a year-long mentoring program that will last from  February 2012 to July 2012. Conference attendance is not required. Membership in ALA is required, and NMRT membership is encouraged.

Applications are due January 27, 2012 with the goal of notifying the matching pairs by the middle of February.

For more information and to apply, visit:

http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/mentoringcommittee

Application: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/careerMentorApp

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions after visiting the site.

Sincerely,

The New Member Round Table Mentoring Committee

Call for Mentees

Dear Colleagues,

Have you been a librarian for 5 years or less?

Do you sometimes feel that you have professional questions to ask and no one to direct them to?

Through the New Members Round Table’s Mentoring Committee, help has arrived! Here’s your chance to meet an experienced librarian who can offer you valuable professional guidance.

The NMRT Mentoring Committee will pair up “newbie librarians” with “seasoned vets” as part of our Career Mentoring program. The program will last from February 2012 to July 2012. Conference attendance is not required. Membership in ALA is required, and NMRT membership is encouraged.

Applications are due January 27,2012 with the goal of notifying the matching pairs by the middle middle of February.

For further information and to apply, visit: 

http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/mentoringcommittee

Application: http://www.ala.org/nmrt/oversightgroups/comm/mentor/careerMentorApp

Please feel free to contact us if you have any further questions after visiting the site.

Sincerely,

The New Member Round Table Mentoring Committee