Articles

Applying for jobs isn’t fun

by R.C. Miessler, Head Editor, INALJ Indiana

previously published 3/5/13

Applying for jobs isn’t fun

rcmiesslerApplying for jobs isn’t fun. Everyone has advice to give that supersedes what everyone else has to say about finding a job. And there’s the stress of filling out applications and waiting. And then, even worse than the “We’re Sorry” form email, there ‘s the silent abyss that job applications seem to go into and never return, with no updates or rejection to provide some closure on the hours you spent crafting that cover letter and resume for that position.

That being said, hiring kind of sucks too. Sure, you get to meet new people, hopefully finding that one diamond in the rough who’s going to bring a ton of energy and new ideas. But a lot of it is slogging through a pile of resumes and cover letters (that is, if you even get one), and wondering if anyone bothered to read the job description. Interviews take a lot of time, and then you find out the one perfect person for the job was just using this as leverage for more money elsewhere.

I’ve been on both sides of the desk when it comes to hiring and applying for jobs, and it’s not any easier when sending out applications this go around. However, one thing I’ve learned throughout both my hiring and applying experiences is that there is no “right” way to do a resume or CV, although there are plenty of ways to do it very poorly. Every hiring manager has a preference, and there are some good practices to follow, but in the end, your resume/CV is a reflection of who YOU are professionally. I’ve asked many people to review my resumes, and there’s usually something that one person loves and another person hates. I’ve taken some of the advice and ignored some of it. In the end, I created a document that represents me, my experience and my qualifications. If someone refuses to read my resume because it is two pages or because I put my education before my work experience, then I probably didn’t want to work for them anyway. I never refused to consider someone for a position because of a spelling or grammar error, or because they were probably a bit too “creative” with their resume design (although using Comic Sans as your font might change my mind). Perhaps that put me in the minority of hiring managers, but I always felt that if someone took the time and interest in the job, then I at least owed them a read through of what they submitted to me.

On a final note regarding resumes, there needs to be a special circle of Hell (or pick your own favorite place of eternal punishment) for the developers of job application sites. There are a few good ones, I’ll admit, but the ones that require you to paste a plain text resume in addition to uploading a PDF or Word document drive me nuts. It’s always a good idea to maintain a plain text resume in .txt format that can be easily pasted into a 1 inch by 1 inch square just to satisfy the whims of some sadistic programmer.

Naomi House

Naomi House, MLIS, is the founder and publisher of the popular webzine and jobs list INALJ.com (formerly I Need a Library Job) and former CMO (Chief Marketing Officer) of T160K.org, a crowdfunding platform focused on African patrimony, heritage and cultural projects. INALJ was founded in October 2010 with the assistance of her fellow Rutgers classmate, Elizabeth Leonard. Its social media presence has grown to include Facebook (retired in 2016), Twitter and a LinkedIn group, in addition to the interviews, articles and jobs found on INALJ. INALJ has had over 21 Million page hits and helped many, many thousands of librarians find employment! Through grassroots marketing, word of mouth and a real focus on exploring unconventional resources for job leads, INALJ grew from a subscription base of 20 friends to a website with over 500,000 visits in one month. Naomi believes that well-sourced quantity is quality in this narrow job market and INALJ reflects this with many new jobs published daily. She has also written for the 2011, 2012 and 2013 LexisNexis Government Info Pro and many other publications in the past decade. She presents whenever she can, including serving on three panels at the American Library Association's Annual Conference in Las Vegas; as breakout presenter at OCLC EMEA in Cape Town, South Africa; as a keynote speaker at the Virginia Library Association annual meeting; at the National Press Club in Washington DC; McGill University in Montreal, Canada; the University of the Emirates, Dubai, MLIS program and the University of Hawaii at Manoa. Naomi was a Reference, Marketing and Acquisitions Librarian for a contractor at a federal library outside Washington, DC, and has been living and working in Budapest, Hungary and Western New York State. She spent years running her husband’s moving labor website, fixed and sold old houses and assisted her husband cooking delicious Pakistani food. She is preparing to re-enter the workforce and is job hunting. Her husband is now the co-editor of INALJ, a true support!  She has heard of spare time but hasn’t encountered it lately. She pronounces INALJ as eye-na-elle-jay. 

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