by Ruth Lincoln, Head Editor, INALJ Washington, DC previously published 8/6/13 How to Stand Out: Be Who YOU Are; Not Who You THINK the Employer Wants You to Be Everyone wants to stand out in the job-application process, and we’re often told personalization is the best course: Tailor your resume and cover letter for…
by Emily Guier, Head Editor, INALJ Wyoming Interview Basics for First Time Job Hunters As the school year winds up, I’ve been thinking a lot about teenagers job hunting for a summer job or internship and approaching the dreaded interview for the first time. A lot of advice I would give a first-time job hunter are…
by Grey Maixner, Head Editor, INALJ Vermont Slide into Your New Job: How to Ace the Presentation One of the most challenging aspects for someone interviewing for an academic librarianship position is the presentation. I have yet to come across someone who hasn’t had to give one, and nearly all of my colleagues, coming straight out…
by Suzanne Schultz Pick, Head Editor, INALJ UK Applying for public library jobs in the U.K. – What to expect There are lots of fellow librarians on social networks such as Twitter, and Facebook. Plenty of librarians can give you insight on what hiring libraries may be looking for in a new employee. I asked public librarians on…
by Brad McNally, former Head Editor, INALJ Ohio You Are More Than Your Job This post may seem a bit out of place on a job-seeking website, but it is just as important as any interview advice that may come up in my mind. Beyond that, this understanding can help you become a better candidate…
by Fallon Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas Why You Should Apply for the ALA Emerging Leader Program Last year, I was luckily chosen to participate in the ALA Emerging Leader program. It was a great experience and has really supercharged my career both within and outside of ALA. The following is a list of the…
by Veda Darby Soberman, Head Editor, INALJ Hawaii previously published 7/9/13 How to Break Out of the Library Field & Feel Good About It I am sure some INALJ followers have noticed that INALJ posts more than just what are considered traditional library jobs. If you look at the page I edit, INALJ Hawaii, you…
by Sarah Roark Schott, Head Editor, INALJ Arizona previously published 10/1/2013 My Experience Leaving the MLS off My Resume Last month I wrote about leaving the MLS off your resume when applying for entry level library jobs and non-library positions. Many of you shared your stories and commented on that article, so I thought I…
by Courtney Baron, former Head Editor, INALJ Georgia formerly published 7/26/13 I Found my Dream Job but I’m Not Qualified Sound familiar? As Head Editor of the INALJ Georgia page, I post jobs in the LIS field on a daily basis. Of course, many catch my eye. It can be difficult to see these amazing…
by Clare Sobotka, Head Editor, INALJ Idaho Dealing with Imposter Syndrome and Feeling Like You Belong I’d like to introduce something that I have struggled with in starting out in the field of librarianship. For my first library-related job after graduation with my MLS, I struggled with the feeling that once I had been working for a short…
Angela J.A. Kent, Head Editor, INALJ-Virtual Work Talking It Out: Thoughts On Professional Writing The dreaded blank screen and blinking cursor. Whether it’s preparing a cover letter, writing a paper for class, creating a work presentation, or drafting a report for your boss, professional writing can be tough. Sometimes the link between your thoughts in your…
by Sheryl L. Christensen, Head Editor, INALJ California Technology-Related Career Trajectory: What’s Your Plan? Many insiders in the field of web-based projects, both library-focused as well as business-related, are no longer quite as enamored as they once were of programming certifications, or even, in some instances, IT degrees. There are still fields that absolutely require specialty certification…
by Kasia Piasecka reposting from 1/26/12 and 3/28/12 Networking on LinkedIn: Informational Interviews vs. Librarianesque Stalking Personally, I enjoy meeting new people online in the interest of making new friends, business associates, tennis partners, pals to toss hackey sack, and yes, you guessed it, for the purpose of gaining knowledge from an informational interview. I…
by Heidi Greathouse, Head Editor, INALJ Utah The Learning Curve Since my last post, I accepted a job as a Cataloging Librarian at an academic library. I’ve had to make many adjustments such as moving to a different state, making new friends, and being in a new environment. One major adjustment is of course the job I am…
by John Jay Miller, librarian Zen and the Art of Unemployment-or-Catcher in the Wry February 3, 2014 Dear reader: “I am a sick man… I am a spiteful man. I am an unattractive man”. It is 2:00AM on a Tuesday and I am unemployed. I have applied for over 70 jobs and remain unemployed after…
by Julie Watson, former Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania Soft Skills = Success: Self-Awareness This is the second in a series of articles on soft skills. Employers are looking for soft skills in their in prospective employees and having these skills often makes the difference between who can do a job and who gets a job. Since…
by Emma Pinault, Head Editor, INALJ Delaware Introverts Can Network, Too! Networking and making connections in your field is vital to career success, whether you’re just starting out and looking for a job or looking to move up into a more challenging position. We all know this. But not everyone is a people person, and the field of…
by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah (previously published 7/31/13) How I recovered from being fired My last blog post brought a lot of feedback. Most of it told me what I suspected: I wasn’t alone in having been fired. I know the questions I had were similar to the ones others had, so I…
by Sheryl L. Christensen, Head Editor, INALJ California Who ARE You (choosing to be)? Many of you have probably seen this TedTalk by Shawn Achor. In this video, he very entertainingly tells stories and offers information about how our happiness and positive, self-affirming outlook oftentimes precedes or even brings about what we distinguish as success. …
by Rossy Mendez, Head Editor, INALJ Puerto Rico Networking: From Dirty Word to Mantra Networking is often treated as a dirty word, it is the thing we have to do to get ahead but don’t want to acknowledge as the reason we got our jobs. If you are anything like me you stress over things…
by Heidi Greathouse, Head Editor, INALJ Utah Having A Positive Perspective Have you ever felt like life is going against you and things do not go as planned? I am sure many of us have felt this in the job search world such as when we get rejection after rejection, not getting the promotion we…
by Claire Schmieder, Head Editor, INALJ New Jersey Second Time Around: Staying Positive during My Job Search, or I’m a Recovering Debbie Downer Last month, a lively thread began on the INALJ LinkedIn group’s discussion board. It started when our intrepid leader Naomi House shared an article and some insights about job seekers who are…
by Sarah Roark Schott, Head Editor, INALJ Arizona An Ideas List (in 6) for your New Year For many of us the thought of beginning a new year looking for a new library job is daunting. Instead of a list of tips to get healthy, I thought I would come up with a list of…
by Fallon Zschiegner-Bleich, Head Editor, INALJ Arkansas Go Ahead, Be a Little Bossy If you had told me a year ago that I would not only be doing metadata in my non-library job but that I would WANT to do metadata…well, I would have laughed in your face. Yet, in the three months since I’ve…
by Kristen Jaques, Head Editor, INALJ Maine A Customer Service Cheat Sheet If you’ve been browsing job postings lately, you’ve probably observed that for many library positions, excellent customer service skills are expected, if not required. The ability to work well with the public can be developed with experience, but for some of us, it…
by Courtney Butler, Head Editor, INALJ Idaho The Many Sides of Reference: Special Collections versus Academic Libraries I recently accepted two different part-time positions that both require that I man the reference desk for a significant portion of each shift I work. One position is in a special collections department within a public library and…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House’s interview with success story Matt. Naomi: How did you find your current job? Matt: I contacted my local library to see if there was a need for help. It turned out they were…
by Courtney Butler, Head Editor, INALJ Idaho Networking Nerves I know there have been a huge number of articles on the web (including on INALJ) that contain testimonials as to why it is, in fact, worthwhile to go to conferences and other continuing education type events. Spoiler alert: this is another one of those articles.…
by Julie Watson, Head Editor, INALJ Pennsylvania Stop Focusing on your Career! (Soft Skills = Success) This is the fifth in a series of articles on soft skills. Ladies (especially), listen up: Are you anxious for that big breakthrough promotion or that dream job offer? Do you worry that you don’t know what you’re doing…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions by Sandra Hoyer, Head Editor, INALJ Washington When Archiving and Comics Collide: Tess McCarthy on Incorporating Creativity in Librarianship Tess McCarthy is the archivist at the Center for Sex and Culture in San Francisco, California. She…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House’s interview with success story and INALJ Arkansas Head Editor, Fallon. Naomi: How did you find your current job? Fallon: I actually just happened to use my networking and bragging on myself skills to…
by Elinor Crosby, Head Editor, INALJ Nova Scotia Overcoming Procrastination Hello, my name is Elinor and I am a procrastinator. I’ve been getting better as I get older, but I’ve always been an at-the-last-possible-minute kinda gal. As a child I found my schoolwork easy, so I spent my time reading instead, and then did my work…
by Chelsea Jordan-Makely . . . . .Informational Interview These past few months, I’ve been practicing off-road job searching, pursuing a library job through unconventional means. I live in Oregon, a slow library job market, and days would pass when no new jobs were posted. So, I took it upon myself to “knock on some…
by Ashley Crace, Head Editor, INALJ West Virginia What are your Weaknesses? When I practiced for job interviews, I used notecards with common interview questions, gathered from varied sources. I started doing this on recommendation from a friend and it worked well for me. I felt more prepared and articulate in the actual interview. One…
by Diana La Femina, Head Editor, INALJ South Carolina Keeping Track of Your Accomplishments I’m learning a lot in my current administrative position, and not necessarily what I thought I’d be learning. It’s exhausting (I’m either traveling to or at work 14 hours out of the day) and I find the position really uncomfortable, but…
by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah Believe (that you will get a library job) I had a rough start to my professional life. I was quickly laid off my first job out of college and was fired from my first librarian job. In hindsight, I can see that I wasn’t quite ready to handle…
Ruth Lincoln, Head Editor, INALJ Washington, DC 6 Tips for a Great Phone Interview Phone interviews are often a first stop on the road to your next library job. They’re a chance for the organization to screen applicants and narrow its choices. As much as we text and email, it’s easy to forget once-simple tasks…
by Rebecca Crago, Head Editor, INALJ Virginia How to Negotiate a Raise Employed job seekers may be looking for the next best thing not because they don’t like their job, but because it doesn’t pay enough. While it can take months to complete the hiring process and even years to find that next job, if…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions Naomi House’s interview with success story Lia. Naomi: How did you find your current job? Lia: Right out of library school I found a part-time job working for my organization’s online publishing initiative. A few…
This interview is over 1 year old and may no longer be up to date or reflect the interviewee/interviewees’ positions by Leigh Milligan, Head Editor, INALJ Wisconsin Jennifer Snoek-Brown…Reel Librarians Blog Jennifer was previously interviewed as a success story on INALJ. Film and librarians, my two loves! So glad I had the opportunity to interview…