{"id":78526,"date":"2014-08-05T13:45:16","date_gmt":"2014-08-05T18:45:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=78526"},"modified":"2014-08-04T20:13:38","modified_gmt":"2014-08-05T01:13:38","slug":"supporting-your-friends-through-their-library-job-search","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=78526","title":{"rendered":"Supporting Your Friends Through Their Library Job Search"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Amy Steinbauer, Senior Assistant, INALJ California<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Supporting Your Friends Through Their Library Job Search<\/span><\/span><\/h3>\n

\"AmySteinbauer\"<\/a>Congrats- you have a job! Bonus points if you are actually\u00a0working in the field that you wanted to! I am one of those lucky\u00a0ones. I have a library job, which (mostly) I love. I get to feel that\u00a0bittersweet glee when I go to pay my student loans every month,\u00a0bitter to see the money go, but happy that I am actually working\u00a0for what I am paying for!<\/p>\n

But my fellow librarians— we are not done with our work!\u00a0We have graduate school friends to support, and co-workers hitting\u00a0the job market again! They need our help and encouragement.<\/p>\n

This task is a bit more delicate… you need to walk the line\u00a0between inspiring and motivating your friends and not sounding\u00a0like Pollyanna when they are frustrated and feeling lost. I struggle\u00a0with the latter part the most. I can be a bit pushy, but with the best\u00a0intentions! I remember when I was the one searching, and how\u00a0annoying others’ attitudes could be. I know my friends and peers\u00a0want the jobs, and are great librarians! However, they can’t control\u00a0the job market, and some have location boundaries that can’t be\u00a0surpassed.<\/p>\n

You want to be a resource for people and not a parental voice\u00a0telling them what to do. I tell everyone I know that no matter the\u00a0field, job searching is a soul sucking process. You can easily feel\u00a0like the job search is a Dementor taking all the joy from your\u00a0life. I remember many many nights feeling like I was completely\u00a0unhireable, and I had the rejection letters to prove it! However,\u00a0there is a light at the end of the tunnel, but it is a long, dark tunnel,\u00a0and the light that they often need the most is what comes from\u00a0you!<\/p>\n

Some tips or things to consider:<\/p>\n

Don’t be afraid to push… a little.<\/strong><\/p>\n

The job search is overwhelming and depressing, and many\u00a0people get a bit stuck in the process. Also, life can get in the way\u00a0when you are job searching. Usually you have other work to do,\u00a0and may have kids and or family that gets a lot of your attention.\u00a0Having a friend to gently persuade you to keep going can be just\u00a0what is needed to get back to it. Job searching is a commitment\u00a0that takes both time and effort, and those are what you don’t want\u00a0to do when you are stuck.<\/p>\n

Your pushing can be an asset to them when you help review\u00a0resumes and cover letters or even thank you notes. We want to tell\u00a0our friends that we see how amazing everything is about them, but\u00a0we also need to critically look at their documents if they ask for a\u00a0look over of a resume or cover letter. Sometimes hiring\u00a0committees are nit picky, and if you see something, say something.\u00a0They would much rather hear it from you!<\/p>\n

Read the room. (Or the person).<\/strong><\/p>\n

Sometimes my efforts to help don’t work out. My friends can\u00a0be frustrated and\/ or feeling lost, professionally, they don’t want or\u00a0need me to remind them that they aren’t working librarians. It can\u00a0be tricky to know when you have crossed the line. If I have sent\u00a0them some messages checking in on their search and they haven’t\u00a0replied or if they haven’t spoken about looking in awhile; I usually\u00a0take a break from my job search support and switch to friend\u00a0support.<\/p>\n

Sometimes they just want to vent and wallow, and they are\u00a0allowed to take that time. Be a friend. Listen to their troubles. Let\u00a0them take a minute to go back to their lives and actually enjoy\u00a0them. Getting rejected over and over does hurt! I remember that\u00a0feeling as one of the first jobs that I applied for seemed like it was\u00a0made for me.<\/p>\n

It was a middle school librarian at the school that I had done\u00a0my school practicum at. Middle school wasn’t exactly the age\u00a0range that I wanted to work with, but I had already worked at the\u00a0school and the library was going to be completely revamped. It\u00a0seemed like a great opportunity to try something new! I got an\u00a0interview, and I thought that I had aced it. However, the school\u00a0went with someone else, and not just any someone, someone from\u00a0my graduate program with less teaching experience than I had had.\u00a0I was heartbroken. My friends rallied to support me, telling me\u00a0that something better would come my way (they were right- more\u00a0on that later), but it annoyed me so much! I didn’t want better-\u00a0– I wanted this! And I didn’t get it. I wanted to just wallow in my\u00a0feelings, and when my friends pushed for more, I pushed away.<\/p>\n

What can you do to help?<\/strong><\/p>\n

When I have some extra time at the reference desk or am\u00a0bored at home, I occasionally scan and search job boards. Just\u00a0because I have a great job doesn’t mean I can’t look! I use this time\u00a0to see what the market is like. I keep in mind my friends fields or\u00a0location needs and send them things that look interesting. This is\u00a0pretty well received. Sometimes my friends have already seen and\u00a0applied for the jobs, but they now know that someone else is with\u00a0them in the process. Or if they haven’t seen it or thought of that\u00a0type, this can help cut down on their searching. Or you may be\u00a0introducing them to different resources. Just don’t go crazy and\u00a0overwhelm them! As I write this, I had just been searching for\u00a0cataloging jobs– they are hard to find– for a good friend of mine,\u00a0in either Texas or California. Let me know if you find something!<\/p>\n

Cheerleading<\/strong><\/p>\n

Most of the people that I am encouraging to keep going are\u00a0friends from graduate school. Although if you were unfortunate\u00a0enough to get stuck next to me the recent ALA conference then I\u00a0most likely lectured you, too! The friends or peers from graduate\u00a0school are easy to support– you worked on projects with them,\u00a0you studied for exams together, you served on student offices with\u00a0them. You know their strengths and weaknesses, and can rally for\u00a0them! You already know that they are good librarians! You can\u00a0advocate for them when you hear about jobs or serve as a\u00a0reference if you have worked together. They can trust your support\u00a0because they struggled and succeeded with you.<\/p>\n

No matter how great you are at being a job searcher\u00a0supporter, don\u2019t forget that you are first and foremost a friend!\u00a0When I forwarded a draft of this to one of my job-seeking friends\u00a0she asked me to include the need for support twice! Life is hard\u00a0and job searching is hard. Your friend needs a friend in both\u00a0corners. It can be just as simple as sending a text or tweet to say\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m here for you\u201d, and then be there for them at any step of their\u00a0process.<\/p>\n

You are right (but, don’t gloat!)<\/strong><\/p>\n

As many times as you tell your friends that they will get a\u00a0job, they may not really ever believe you. (I never believed mine).\u00a0But they will! You will be right. Try not to gloat too much, when\u00a0eventually their hard work and perseverance pays off! Instead,\u00a0enjoy the success with them!<\/p>\n

Best of luck to the job searchers! It takes time! You can do it! And\u00a0to our librarian workers- let\u2019s get our educated, qualified librarian\u00a0friends jobs! We can do it!<\/p>\n

Amy Steinbauer is the Early Childhood Outreach Librarian\u00a0at Beaumont Library District in Beaumont, CA. It took her six\u00a0months to find a job. She drives a Bookmobile, which is one of\u00a0her favorite things! Amy has a B.A. in English from Muhlenberg\u00a0College in Allentown, PA and an MLISc from the University of\u00a0Hawaii. She loves mermaids, and advocating for libraries; and will\u00a0one day combine them both to take over the world! Until then,\u00a0follow her on twitter @merbrarian.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Amy Steinbauer, Senior Assistant, INALJ California Supporting Your Friends Through Their Library Job Search Congrats- you have a job! Bonus points if you are actually\u00a0working in the field that you wanted to! I am one of those lucky\u00a0ones. I have a library job, which (mostly) I love. I get to feel that\u00a0bittersweet glee when…<\/p>\n

Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":78533,"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":[6438,69,3592,5043,3629,266,5277,6439,111],"class_list":["post-78526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-amy-steinbauer","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-friends","tag-inalj-california","tag-job-search","tag-support","tag-supporting-friends-through-the-job-search","tag-tips"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/08\/AmySteinbauer.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-kqy","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78526","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\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=78526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/78526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/78533"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=78526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=78526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=78526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}