Articles

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler, Everyday! (ie: #mih)

by Naomi House, MLIS

Laissez Les Bon Temps Rouler, Everyday!  (ie: #mih)

CAM01424It is cold and rainy in New Orleans this Mardi Gras 2014 but that has not dampened participation or spirits all that much.  Revelers walked by our house near Bayou St John warmly dressed, masks on and umbrellas held high prepared for the day that it is, as well as the day they want it to be.  And this inspired me from a job hunting perspective.  JP Porcaro has a website and saying that really captures my own attitude and the one I see today- Make It Happen!  (ie: #mih ) which combined with New Orleans own laissez les bon temps rouler (let the good times roll) has inspired me in a few ways.

  1. Rain or shine or snow storms you always take the weather with you:  One of my Rutgers professors is a huge fan of snowy winter weather, while I bask easier in early and late summer temps.  But his infectious attitude about all the east coast winter storms this year got me thinking from a job hunter’s perspective.  It isn’t that snow and rain are bad weather but it is what you make of your time during such weather that counts.  Meaning, you can’t always change the circumstances of your job hunt (location, the hiring committee’s attitude, etc) but you do always have to deal with it so look at the bright sides more often.
  2. Making it Happen starts with You but works better with a Team: One tip from my interview earlier this year with JP was that finding teammates for your job search can help make the hunt better and more fun as well. Teams make us stronger and help us go farther.  This was also the theme at the Spotlight on South African Libraries Lightning Talks competition at the OCLC EMEA conference I spoke at a few weeks ago in Cape Town, South Africa.  Alone we go fast but together we go far, to paraphrase.  You can #mih but with the added energy/information/positivity/constructive-criticism of others you can #mih it faster!
  3. Let the good times roll, no really, you have to let them roll: Have I ever wallowed, oh yes, oh yes, oh yes.  I also needed time while struggling in my job hunt to just have a down moment and I think that is healthy and quite necessary for many of us.  I will tell you though that if with every setback I did this it would be unhealthy for my job hunt or spirit.  You need to be prepared for the day that it is, as well as the day that you want it to be.  So if you are facing a rejection, for example, seek out either from the committee or from library-world friends, advice for next time. Then treat yourself to something and spend part of the day appreciating the opportunities as well as the successes.  Without the opportunities there would be no potential for success.

Which leads to the photo attached to this article and clearly not taken today in New Orleans.  It was taken February 23rd on the ferry from Cape Town, South Africa to Robben Island .  Table Mountain and Cape Town are the view.  It is just a reminder to me of better days for me and all my opportunities. Rain or shine it is on us to see the potential in ourselves, once we do it will be easier to sell it to others. So this photo, to me, is the potential for warmer, sunnier days and the potential for me to reach wider, international audiences.

How do you see your potential?

 

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. 

Tags: