{"id":10090,"date":"2013-03-12T13:00:53","date_gmt":"2013-03-12T17:00:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=10090"},"modified":"2013-05-27T13:18:37","modified_gmt":"2013-05-27T17:18:37","slug":"keep-your-head-up","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=10090","title":{"rendered":"Keep your head up"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Keep your head up<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Nena<\/a>Easier said than done, right? This job market is terrible. I know I went to library school at a time when a local library was holding open recruitment for librarians and you needed only three-quarters of your Master\u2019s done to apply. Now those postings are rare and competition is steep. It\u2019s so easy to despair.
\nWhen I graduated from library school in 2011, I\u2019d already been seriously applying for jobs for a year or so. I was working full-time outside the field. I was beginning to see that my initial answer to \u201cHow many people with library science degrees can there be here?\u201d was \u201cmore than you think.\u201d<\/p>\n

Six months or so later, I found a job on INALJ<\/a> and applied<\/strong>. It was a shot in the dark, but I got it. I was working in a library, but I still wasn\u2019t a librarian. It was hard to explain to my soon-to-be former coworkers, but I was used to that.<\/p>\n

So how do I cope?<\/strong><\/p>\n

    \n
  1. Hobbies<\/strong>. I took up running consistently after school was over. It gives me an outlet to feel accomplished that is separate from my job. This keeps me from focusing my identity solely on my job title.<\/li>\n
  2. Developing skills<\/strong>. On the other hand, focusing all my energy on things outside of work doesn\u2019t develop my skills. I sought out projects, looked for classes, and took on volunteering opportunities that help me be a better librarian.<\/li>\n
  3. Reflecting on what I actually want to do<\/strong>. While my future is still wide open, I have a good chance to reflect and find things that I am good at, things I can improve, and things I like. This has helped me better define jobs that are a good fit for my skills and interests, instead of applying for any job that may use my degree.<\/li>\n
  4. Taking the bad with the good<\/strong>. I understand that I am partly where I am because of decisions I\u2019m making about where I want to work and what kind of library service I want to provide. This means that sometimes, there are really not many jobs out there. I won\u2019t get every job I apply for, and that\u2019s okay! I\u2019ve noticed my optimism comes and goes, but I try to stay positive most of the time. That said, it\u2019s okay to feel sad sometimes. What you do about it is important! It\u2019s okay to need to recharge and think about something else for a while, but also take time to take care of yourself and be the best future librarian you can be.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n

    Good luck!<\/strong><\/p>\n

     <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    by Nena Schvaneveldt, Head Editor, INALJ Utah Keep your head up Easier said than done, right? This job market is terrible. I know I went to library school at a time when a local library was holding open recruitment for librarians and you needed only three-quarters of your Master\u2019s done to apply. Now those postings…<\/p>\n

    Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[69,3592,3651],"class_list":["post-10090","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-articles","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-utah"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-2CK","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=10090"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/10090\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=10090"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=10090"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=10090"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}