Emily Stephens …In Six

My interview with success story Emily

Naomi: How did you find your current job?
Emily: I found my job as a Gensler Knowledge Support Specialist by setting up an email feed from Indeed.com that sent me any job post in my area that included the word “library.” The Gensler job description mentioned that a Library Science degree would be beneficial. I applied on a Friday and by Wednesday the following week I received the job offer. Fastest hiring process of my life!

Naomi: Favorite library you have been to?
Emily: This is a tough one. For sentimental reasons it would have to be the Herman B. Wells library at my undergrad alma mater, Indiana University at Bloomington. More currently, it would be the Kristine Mann Library within the Carl G. Jung Center in New York City. The library is completely dedicated to Jung’s works and interests. I did an internship there during the Fall of 2011 and so enjoyed the old fashioned atmosphere and subject matter of the collection. It is housed on the top floor of a brownstone and has lots of comfy chairs and couches, lamp light and classical music playing on the radio. It is a very special place and anyone who lives in NYC or is visiting should stop and check it out!

Naomi: Favorite book?
Emily: I recently re-read the Anne of Green Gables series which I adored as a “tween” and was so happy to know that as an adult they still hold my fascination and appreciation. I re-read these while completing my MLS thesis as a break for my brain. Prince Edward Island is such a happy place to transport yourself.

Naomi: Favorite thing about libraries/ library technology?
Emily: The people. People in the library profession are hands down some of the most interesting, compassionate and kind people I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and getting to know.

Naomi: Any websites or feeds or blogs we should be following?
Emily: Honestly, I don’t really follow many library websites or blogs even though I know I should. I do read the weekly news round-up from ALA which keeps me fairly informed of what’s happening in the industry.

Naomi: Best piece of job hunting advice?
Emily: Once you’ve found a job you want to apply to, I think it’s really important to find the name and email of the person you who would be your boss, and send your resume and cover letter directly to them. At least that is what helped me get my current job. I’d been applying to so many jobs through their online application process which I fear just puts your resume in a black hole, never to be read. For my current job, the instructions were to apply through their system, but I bypassed that and tracked down the email of the person who would be my boss. I really think that is what made the difference.

Emily Stephens graduated from Queens College Gradutate School of Library and Information Science (CUNY) in February 2012. She began working at Gensler, a global architecture and design firm in March, as a Knowledge Support Specialist. This is a new role within the firm’s Knowledge Management group. Based out of the small satellite office in Pittsburgh, PA, Emily assists Gensler employees located around the world by helping them create knowledge sharing intranet posts and keeping the digital library up-to-date.

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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