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They Hired the Other Candidate – Now What?

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Recently I’ve had several conversations with friends, colleagues, and a couple of nieces and nephews who’ve made it to the final cut of a job candidacy, only to learn, after several rounds of interviews, that the other applicant was hired. Their reactions have understandably ranged from disappointment to frustration to resignation (okay, with a couple of double scotches mixed in).

But even though these reactions make complete sense, they’re not likely to help advance friends and family members toward their ultimate goal of landing that great job. Instead, here’s the approach I recommended they consider:

Immediately send a thank-you note to the person(s) you interviewed with, telling them that…

1. You’re sorry you won’t have this opportunity to work with them, but you’re glad you had a chance to learn more about the organization and the terrific work it’s doing;

2. You hope and expect that the person they hired will do a great job for them, but that if for any reason that person is unable to take the job, you’d still be very interested in working with them; and

3. If another opportunity opens up with the organization, you’d love to be considered and would be happy to make time to speak with the appropriate person.

Why is this a smart strategy? Because…

1. You want them to think good thoughts about you rather than feeling guilty about the fact that they didn’t hire you. If your demeanor in your note is upbeat and cheerful (as opposed to how you’re probably really feeling right now!), they’ll think you’re really cool and that they’d probably really like to work with you.

2. Lots of times the first hire doesn’t work out, but people are afraid to re-contact the second person who was considered and offer them the job, on the assumption that they’ll be ticked off that they weren’t first choice. Although this may be true, you’ll want to quickly move beyond that. This way, it makes it okay for them to call if hire #1 turns out to be a disaster (or takes a different job, which has happened a gazillion times among my colleagues).

3. If they know you still have positive feelings about the organization and they have fond memories of you despite the fact that they didn’t hire you the first time around, they really are likely to think of you if something else opens up, or recommend you to colleagues if they hear of openings. This is just part of building your professional network, and you want to turn the situation to your long-term (if not immediate) advantage to the extent possible.

It’s never fun to be rejected, but it’s most certainly a regular part of every career. So we might as well make the best of it when we can, and use our oh-so-gracious response to help position ourselves for future opportunities.


Looking for Invisible LIS Jobs – What Search Terms?

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The good news: we know anecdotally that there are LOTS of jobs out there that would be perfect for those of us who have LIS skills. The bad news: those job include titles that make it really, really hard to figure out how to search for them.

Recently I asked the members of the LinkedIn LIS Career Options group to suggest some search terms that we could use to create a LinkedIn jobs feed for the group. We quickly came face-to-face with the dilemma that faces everyone in the profession: We know what our skills are and what we can do with them, but what do other employers call them?

A Starter List of Terms
To get the ball rolling, we came up with these keywords: Archives, business information, business intelligence, business research, competitive intelligence, data curation, digital archives, digital resources, donor prospecting, donor research, executive information service, media resources, medical informatics, metadata, patent research, prospect research, records management, taxonomy, trademark research.

For job titles, we went with: cataloger, content manager, content strategist, digital resources manager, government information specialist, indexer, information architect, information professional, information researcher, information specialist, informationist, knowledge manager, legislative analyst, subject specialist, taxonomist.

What Other Terms Might Produce Good Hits?
Without doubt, this is a preliminary and incomplete list, but can at least get job research started. We’ll continue to add keywords and titles, but would appreciate any other suggestions for keywords and/or job titles that you think will be helpful for LIS professionals searching for opportunities to use their skillsets in non-LIS environments.

We’d like to make the list as encompassing as possible. For example, what are all the non-LIS terms that might relate to cataloging skills? What are all the descriptor variations for user services? And what other approaches might prove useful in sussing out these “invisible” jobs? We’re not looking for terms like “medical librarian,” which are pretty self-evident, but for those terms that don’t have “library” in them.

Please share your ideas, and any resources you’re aware of that might help us put this “job research map” together!

Finding International LIS Jobs

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The following post is an updated reprint of a column I originally wrote for Rethinking Information Careers, part of Rachel Singer Gordon’s LisJobs.com site. Although I’ve verified/corrected all of the links, my guess is that other, additional resources have come into being since I wrote this, so please add ones I’ve missed in the comments section!

If your wanderlust is right up there with your passion for, say, information literacy or tracking down answers to the toughest reference questions, then an international LIS position might be a perfect match for you.

What Are the Possibilities?
From international schools to cruise ships to non-governmental agencies (NGOs), the range of international jobs available is extensive and varied. But first you need to decide whether you’re looking for a relatively short-term engagement (think internship or job exchange), or a more permanent, longer-term commitment.

If you are interested in a short-term opportunity, your best bets are likely to be internships or international job exchanges (where you perform the job responsibilities of a colleague in another country and they usually do the same for your position for up to several months). The International Federation of Library Associations (see Information Sources, below) is an excellent source of these types of opportunities.

For more permanent or longer-term work options, generally you’ll find roles and opportunities that to some degree mirror those found in the United States. For example:

School library jobs. Primarily found among international schools and schools on U.S. military bases in international locations. Most jobs require the standard school library media specialist certification. According to The International Educator (TIE), an online clearinghouse and network for these types of jobs, hundreds of international English schools “provide an English-speaking education for children ages 3-18 in cities around the world. Many of these schools were originally started to serve the ex-patriot community; today many also serve host-country children.” TIE notes that international schools employ about 35,000 professionals, who work with nearly 350,000 students. The student body often comprises a highly diverse cultural and ethnic community.

When working for military bases, your constituency will generally be children of the American families stationed at the base. These schools may also be part of the international schools network, as the U.S. Department of Defense oversees some 220 of these schools (with the U.S. Department of State involved in another 200).

Academic library jobs. Colleges and universities throughout the world recruit reference librarians knowledgeable in specialized subjects, bibliographic instruction, collection development, and skills similarly in demand among U.S. institutions. In addition, some countries’ LIS programs (generally those taught at the undergraduate level) need faculty to teach basic LIS skill courses, providing teaching opportunities for those with MLS credentials. Explains Dallas Long (Instructor, Department of Library & Information Science, Berzsenyi Daniel College, Szombathely, Hungary) in his January 2005 LISCareer article “See the World – Be a Librarian!”

Western-educated librarians bring a variety of skills to Central and Eastern European libraries. We’re trained in the latest technologies; we design web pages and digital libraries; we’re unafraid of search engines, electronic databases, OCLC, and barcode readers; we understand the complexities of consortia. A lot of those things are new to many Central and Eastern European libraries, for which electricity and a supply of books may have been a more pressing problem in the not too distant past than accurate circulation statistics. They definitely have a need for people to help teach them how to build these skills or even help point out issues and concerns that they may not have thought about yet.

Another type of academic librarianship can be found with American higher education institutions that offer degree programs “on the ground” in other countries, for example, Virginia Commonwealth School of the Arts in Qatar.

Special library and/or corporate jobs. Although the job title may not say “corporate librarian,” both international and U.S.-based companies need (and recruit for) the research, analysis, and information management skills LIS professionals possess. Dreaming of living in London, Tokyo, or Mexico City? Then your options will include both non-U.S. companies with businesses there and U.S.-based companies with offices in your favorite city.

Another corporate alternative is to work with LIS vendors who have an international presence, and target positions such as sales that will take you to foreign shores.

NGO library positions. Non-governmental organizations include such groups as UNESCO and the United Nations, the Peace Corps, and hundreds of other organizations that seek to impact the numerous challenges playing out across the globe. NGO mission statements often include a strong information gathering, management, and dissemination component – prime territory for LIS professionals.

Other opportunities. Many American embassies in major foreign cities staff libraries. Military bases often have base libraries that are similar in mission (if somewhat smaller in scope) to U.S. public libraries. And yes, some cruise ships DO have on-staff librarians to manage the guests’ library/reading room!

But if none of these seem like the opportunity you seek, consider also offering your LIS skills to a potential employer outside the traditional library framework. Have you heard that someone is funding a women’s micro-enterprise start-up in the Yucatan, and you happen to have worked locally in your library’s community outreach program? They may not think they need a “librarian,” but they probably need a research or information specialist who can marshal a collection of key resources, can set up a process for managing the flow of government-required information and documentation, can coach women on organizing and writing a solid business plan.

Information Sources
The following resources provide information about and/or job listings for international LIS positions. In addition to the resources listed here, you should also directly contact or monitor the websites of businesses, associations, embassies, and schools in your locations of interest. And don’t hesitate to contact those cruise lines – if they don’t have an information professional on board, maybe it’s time for someone to pitch the position!

American Library Association: International Relations Round Table
The stated mission of ALA’s IRRT is to “promote interest in library issues and librarianship worldwide; to help coordinate international activities within the American Library Association, serving as a liaison between the International Relations Committee and those members of the Association interested in international relations; to develop programs and activities which further the international objectives of ALA; and to provide hospitality and information to visitors from abroad.” At the website, check out the “International Job Exchange” bibliography, join the International Discussion List, and learn more about the annual conference. Not a job source per se, but a great resource for staying abreast of – and connected to – the international LIS scene.

ALA JobLIST/
Access a clearinghouse of LIS job opportunities that includes postings from Canadian employers as well as American employers that have international opportunities. Search by keyword, location, library type, job category, position type, salary range, among other criteria.

Association of American Schools in South America
Non-profit membership association currently serving 41 American / international schools throughout South America and offshore islands. AASSA also does teacher recruiting through a process of online application then attendance at an annual recruiting fairs at several U.S. and international locations; see “Teacher Recruiting” at the website for dates and locations.

The Chronicle of Higher Education: Jobs
Country-by-country listing of jobs available in academe, including some academic library positions.

Civilian Human Resources Agency
Covers civilian job opportunities with U.S. Army and Department of Defense groups around the world. The site is undergoing some redesign/reorganization work as of April 2011, so it may be awhile before this is a viable venue for finding international job opportunities. But you may want to keep checking back.

Department of Defense Education Activity
Responsible for “managing the human capital programs and policies affecting the civilian employees of the Department of Defense Education Activity and its field elements, the Department of Defense Dependents Schools (DoDDS) and the Department of Defense Domestic Dependent Elementary and Secondary Schools (DDESS).” See the “Educators Online Application” for information about teaching overseas, application requirements, and applying for jobs. The “Current Vacancies” listings are searchable by location through a link to USAJOBS, the official job site for federal government jobs.

Employment Opportunities in the UN and Other Organizations
From the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of International Organization Affairs, this site lists job openings from the specified organizations (updated weekly), and job applicants apply directly to those organizations. Listings are archived by date of posting.

HigherEdJobs.com
Online clearinghouse of jobs at both domestic and international institutions of higher education. Select ‘International” to see jobs posted by country, sortable by date posted, institution, location, job title, and category. All posted jobs can be applied for online.

The International Educator Online
TIE is an online clearinghouse of international teaching (and librarianship) positions. The website offers resume posting, access to job listings, and useful information about teaching overseas. TIE publishes a hardcopy “newspaper” five times a year, and provides information about recruitment fairs and dates online and in its newspaper. Depending on level of service, a TIE subscription ranges from about $35 to about $75.

International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA)
With a membership of associations, institutions, and individual practitioners, IFLA’s mission is to be “the leading international body representing the interests of library and information services and their users.” At the website, see “Activities and Services” for a listing of more than 50 sections and discussion groups as well as the IFLANET mailing lists. Also, if you are interested in international vendor opportunities, check out the “Corporate Partners” listing (including contact info) under the “More About IFLA” section.

International Schools Services (ISS)
Princeton, New Jersey-based ISS “plans and manages schools throughout the world for companies, individuals, and consortiums.” Of interest to those seeking international work opportunities, however, is that ISS also provides teacher, administrative, and information services recruitment for some 300 international schools. In order to take advantage of this service, job seekers must first create a professional file with ISS, which can be done online at their website for a fee. Conducts several regional job fairs in the U.S. and abroad annually.

International Society for Knowledge Organization
Although ISKO does not offer a job posting service, its conferences, journals and other publications, and regional chapters provide useful insight into the opportunities in information and knowledge management on an international basis.

LIBJOBS: Library and Information Science Jobs Mailing List
From the International Federation of Library Associations and Institutions (IFLA), LIBJOBS is “a mailing list for librarians and information professionals seeking employment.” Subscribers receive job postings that indicate country, city, and position title, with job description and contact information. Coverage includes all types of LIS jobs, including short-term positions.

Lisjobs.com
Click on “Non-US Jobs” from the menu for an extensive listing of job exchange programs, Canadian jobs, Australian and New Zealand jobs, UK and Ireland jobs, and jobs located in other countries. Probably the best starting point for getting a good sense of the broad range of library-specific opportunities out there.

Search Associates
Works with international schools to place teachers, administrators, librarians and interns throughout the world. Search Associates hold job fairs throughout the United States and globally; check the website tab “Fair Information” for specific dates and locations. For helpful background information on teaching abroad and the SA job application process, see sections under “Candidates.”

University of Northern Iowa Overseas Placement Service for Educators
Mission is to connect “international K-12 schools with certified educators year round.” This group hosts an overseas recruiting fair every February in Waterloo, Iowa; information about the fair and registration is available at the website. For 2007, organizers anticipate that more than 150 recruiters from more than 100 international schools will be attending and actively seeking teachers (and librarians).

USAJOBS
The place to go for access to all federal job and employment information. Check out the Info Center for information about the government’s hiring process, resume-building (and posting) tips, and FAQs. Search for jobs by keyword, location [use “International Search” option], job category (can do multiple selections), and/or salary range or pay grade; sort by key word relevance or date.

In addition to these resources, consider also checking for employment information at the major NGOs such as the International Monetary Fund, NAT), the OECD, Organization of American States, World Health Organization, etc.

Further Reading
“Around the World in 100 Days,” Danianne Mizzy, C&RL News, November 2002; access at http://www.ala.org/ala/mgrps/divs/acrl/publications/crlnews/2002/nov/aroundworld100.cfm

“Branching Out by Working Abroad – Opportunities in School Libraries,” Chris Tovell, Info Career Trends, September 2003; access at http://www.lisjobs.com/career_trends/?p=234

“International Librarianship: Getting from There to Here,” Robin Kear, LISCareer, June 2004; access at www.liscareer.com/kear_international.htm. See especially Ms. Kear’s list of short-term position resources.

“See the World – Be a Librarian!” Dallas Long, LISCareer, January 2005; access at www.liscareer.com/long_world.htm

“Taking Your MLIS Overseas,” Nancy Fawley, LISCareer, October 2005; access at http://www.liscareer.com/fawley_overseas.htm

“Working Internationally: Getting There, Being There and Coming Home,” Sam Werberg, Info Career Trends, May 2001; access at http://lisjobs.com/career_trends/?p=100

Job-Hunting: Guerrilla Tactics for Landing that Job

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Online applications not working for you? LIS job postings not delivering results? To paraphrase Prussian military strategist Carl von Clausewitz, these days job-hunting is the continuation of war by other means.

In that case, it may be time to bring out the big guns, as in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap into the Hidden Job Market Using Social Media and 999 Other Tactics Today (Jay Conrad Levinson and David E. Perry, Wiley, 2011).

The third edition of this popular job-hunting guide continues to offer its familiar combination of strategies, tips, resources, war stories, and take-no-prisoners tactics for winning the job-hunt war. While occasionally a bit over the top for some more reserved job hunters, the book intends to make the process less daunting, less painful, and a lot more effective for the time spent. Although most of the ideas are much more applicable for nontraditional than for traditional LIS jobs, and introverts might not connect with some of the authors’ brasher recommendations, the sheer range of ideas and actions presented makes the book worth checking out.

The book is divided into four major sections, each with a thematic focus. Part 1, Your Guerilla Mind-Set, focuses on creative ways to approach personal branding, key elements of a successful attitude, and tools and tactics for “cracking the hidden job market.” Part 2, Weapons that Make You a Guerrilla, coaches you through your research plan, provides a resume writing and cover letter boot camp, and lays out the why-to’s and how-to’s of networking.

The chapters of Part III, Tactics That Make You a Guerilla, walk you through LinkedIn and other social media tools and tactics, then describe how to get in front of the people you want to meet with. Part IV, Your Guerrilla Job Campaign, explains how to use the “force multiplier effect,” defined by the authors as “the military discipline of using multiple tactics at the same time to create synergy – and overwhelm the target.” In addition, this section addresses how to ace the interview and then smartly negotiate the job offer.

The flow of the book lends itself to a methodical job-hunt campaign, but you can also “drop in” and sample specific topics as needed, for example, if you’ve got a job interview coming up that may involve negotiating an offering package. Also, the core narrative is enhanced with drills, scripts and worksheets, cases studies and “war stories,” and guerrilla tactics tips and tricks.

You won’t use everything here, but you’re sure to pick up a lot of really great ideas and action items. And needless to say, in this hiring environment, every new idea helps.

8 Ways Organizations Need Your Information Skills

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Where can your LIS skills add value to a consumer-goods company, a software development organization, a green-tech developer, a national online retailer, or any of the myriad other organizations that could really benefit from a smart information professional, whether they know it (yet) or not?

Actually, those skills can address multiple needs throughout each of these potential employers; the key is understanding how and where to “plug in.”

Embedded and Integrated Options
As a bit of background, one of the increasingly important roles for what used to be called special librarians is “embedded librarianship.” This term describes working as an information professional or librarian for an organization that has a centralized enterprise library or information center, and being located not within the information center but instead with one of the operational departments. As author David Shumaker notes in his classic The Embedded Librarian: Innovative Strategies for Taking Knowledge Where It’s Needed (Information Today, 2012),

Embedded librarianship…moves the librarians out of libraries and creates a new model of library and information work. It emphasizes the importance of forming a strong working relationship between the librarian and a group or team of people who need the librarian’s information expertise…. The embedded librarian becomes just as engaged in the work of the team as any other team member. As the engagement grows, the embedded librarian develops highly customized, sophisticated, and value-added contributions to the team – contributions that sometimes go far beyond the confines of traditional library reference work…. The librarian functions as a team member like any other – and shares responsibility for team and organization outcomes with all the other members of the team. (p.4)

A variation on Shumaker’s embedded librarian is what Mary Ellen Bates calls integrated information professionals – individuals functioning in similar operational roles but without the ties to or support from their now-disbanded business information center.

Or, Jumping In On Your Own
A third variation, however, which presents both a terrific opportunity and an equally terrific challenge, is those jobs created by specific operational departments savvy enough to realize they need the help of someone skilled in working with information.

The challenge? Well, actually there are two.

The first one involves what such jobs are called (so that ideally you can actually find them when you’re job-hunting). Each organization, and often each department within each of those organizations, may use completely different words and titles to describe the role they have in mind. Your best bet? Start off looking for job titles with nouns along the lines of information, knowledge, content, research, and data and adjectives like manager, coordinator, specialist, researcher, and occasionally librarian.

The second challenge, especially for LIS students and information professionals unfamiliar with non-library organizations, is figuring out who does what in a typical organization so you can understand how and where your LIS skills might be match.

Who Needs What Information (and Your Skills)
Within an organization, who needs what information, and how do they use it? Knowing this basic information is critical to being able to not only add value but also sell yourself to a potential hiring manager.

With that challenge in mind, the following is a general and very basic overview of how most enterprises organize themselves, what departments do what work, and the information they need to do it. Keep in mind that every organization is different, so this should be considered simply a guide rather than a roadmap to a specific company’s organizational layout.

Human resources (HR).  Works with:  department heads; legal department; contract trainers; benefits providers, recruiters, outside coaches (executive, diversity, performance, etc.) and vendors.  Accountable for:  aligning workforce abilities w/ company needs; recruitment and retention; on-boarding (getting new hires “settled in”); providing appropriate learning opportunities to grow workforce; creating and managing competitive benefits and compensation programs; establishing contract and outsourced/off-shored employee relationships.  Key issues:  legal issues related to personnel matters; staying current w/ HR; training and development (T&D); benefits, and compensation best practices; advances in recruiting, hiring, and compensation practices.  Information needs:  best practices, benchmarking information; vendor/provider background research, evaluations, comparisons; training and development resources; background research on potential job candidates.

Information systems (IT).  Works with:  department heads; legal department (compliance); contract programmers.  Accountable for:  aligning enterprise IT infrastructure with company needs and strategy; allocating budget to reflect often-competing strategic priorities; evaluating new technologies in terms of long-term enterprise needs; creating new product IT, managing contractors responsible for creating new product IT, or managing relationship with vendor partner responsible for creating new product IT; supporting legal requirements (records retention policies).  Key issues:  staying current on emerging technologies, bugs, and applications; understanding enterprise goals in order to support them via IT; getting other departments to understand and support IT roles and activities.  Information needs:  staying apprised of emerging information technologies; vendor/provider background research, evaluations, comparisons. IT may also be integral to an organization’s data gathering, management, and analytics efforts, depending on how the data responsibilities are assigned/located.

Sales and marketing.  Works with:  product developers; engineering and development; finance (for product pricing issues); corporate communications (press releases).  Accountable for:  performing market research, market segmentation; creating and executing marketing and sales campaigns; documenting return-on-investment (ROI) of marketing campaigns; setting and meeting sales goals.  Key issues:  understanding characteristics of market opportunity; understanding customers’ purchase drivers, segments; understanding competitive landscape; organizing and managing a high-quality customer care program.  Information needs:  market, customer, and competitor information (includes demographics, purchase drivers, product response, trends and changing patterns); sales data gathering, organization, management, and analytics; effective sales channels and approaches; statistical information; market research – characteristics of potential opportunities; call center and customer service best practices, benchmarking. Increasingly moving toward “content creation” role and consequently needs individuals who can research and write effectively for consumers, and also potentially use social media channels to “market” that content for increased brand visibility and customer loyalty.

Finance.  Works with:  department heads and key company strategists and decision-makers; legal dept (Sarbanes-Oxley, compliance issues); outside and internal auditors; investors and industry analysts; SEC (if public).  Accountable for:  integrity of company’s financial reporting; integrity of company’s financial operations; budget data; industry comparisons and ratios.  Key issues:  legal issues related to financial requirements; financial strength of organization relative to similar companies; competitive intelligence re potential joint ventures partners, acquisitions, or hostile takeovers.  Information needs:  internal financial performance data; budget data; industry comparisons and ratios; competitive intelligence of a financial nature; market trends (for financial forecasting); regulatory or market developments that may impact revenues.

Engineering and production.  Works with:  product managers; sales and marketing; suppliers.  Accountable for:  creating products within technical and budget specifications; delivering products on time; using best practices and processes to maximize product’s consumer benefit while minimizing product production costs; supply-chain management; creative and managing competitive benefits and compensation programs; establishing contract and outsourced/off-shored employee relationships.  Key issues:  maximum-efficiency, minimum-cost production processes; optimizing supply-chain management processes (vendor relations and specifications).  Information needs:  best practices, benchmarks; vendor/provider/supplier background research, evaluations, comparisons; advances in engineering and materials sciences; possibly patent research.

Legal.  Works with:  department heads, especially on contractual agreements; finance; HR; corporate communications (press releases).  Accountable for:  ensuring company compliance with all legal/regulatory restrictions; ensuring legality of hr policies; ensuring that contracts are appropriate and not damaging to the organization; working with outside counsel in the event of a lawsuit.  Key issues:  legal issues related to personnel matters; regulatory requirements and proposed regulations; keeping the company out of lawsuits.  Information needs:  ongoing updating regarding legal and regulatory changes; legal decisions and proceedings, current and background; any pending SEC issues; records digitization, preservation, and management. The records management function may be part of the legal department or it may fall within the purview of the IT group.

Corporate communications.  Works with:  department heads; legal dept; sales & marketing; “visible” executives making public statements.  Accountable for:  creating and placing external messages to “brand and position” the company, rather than the product (which is sales and marketing); communicating with the organization’s various constituencies, including investors, the media, and competitors; building and protecting the company’s reputation in the marketplace; managing public-relations crises.  Key issues:  controlling messages and communication processes; avoiding public-relations disasters; creating positive views about the company and its products; positioning the company and its leadership as capable, innovative, and expert.  Information needs:  quotable statistics, background information, competitive intelligence; media research; issues research; speech/article backgrounders. The brand content development and marketing function may be located in the corporate communications department if not owned by the marketing department, or it may be a shared responsibility. (Note: the phrase marcom refers to marketing and communications.)

Cross-departmental. Depending on which department(s) has responsibility for these areas, information architecture, taxonomy-building and implementation, and metadata/cataloging work will be important information skills wherever content or data is being gathered, organized, managed, analyzed, and archived. Keep in mind that as is often the case, organizations are unlikely to use the exact words to describe these roles that LIS professionals would. And in that case, it’s really important that you use the potential employer’s phrases rather than LIS terminology. Literally, you’re proving that you speak their language….

Be sure to keep in mind that every organization has information needs specific to its business and the products and services it delivers. Just consider this a starter overview to get you thinking about where and how your information skills could add value within your current organization or one you’d like to work for.

Informational Interviews: The Five Basics

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Thank-you noteWhen you’re trying to learn more about potential LIS jobs, employers, or careers, few options are better than going straight to the source, otherwise known as having an information interview. They’re one of the easiest and fastest ways to increase your career smarts – even when you’re not looking for a job. Why? Because these informal conversations can provide the perfect “reality check” for what you may have read or heard about a particular employer, industry, or career path  – an insider’s view of how the world really looks from those in the trenches.

To max out the benefit of any information interview, however, you want to make sure you do these five things:

Do your homework – in advance.  You don’t want to waste your contact’s time with dumb questions, so it’s up to you to research the basics in advance – know as much as you can about the organization, its competition, and trends in its industry. This will help you frame intelligent questions and also impress your interviewee with your diligence. When you can begin a question with “One of the things I found in my reading about XYZ, Inc. was…” you automatically signal the person across the desk or table that you’ve invested serious time in preparing for the discussion – a clear sign of respect and professionalism.

Prepare a list of thoughtful questions.  Here’s where you’ll assemble those intelligent questions that came out of your research. Think through what information or insights you’re trying to get to, and why. Is the goal to help you make a decision about a possible career path? Then perhaps you’ll want to include questions about where your interviewee sees this career heading. Where are areas of expansion (or contraction)? What companies does your contact think most highly of for this type of work? What additional skills might be needed? In what direction would your interviewee hope to see his or her career develop next?

Follow up diligently on any suggestions.  You’re asking someone to take the time to talk with you, so it’s critical that you follow up on any ideas, contacts, recommendations, etc. your contact makes. Again, this is your way of taking their investment of time and interest in you seriously, and letting them know that you do. Then be sure to circle back to them when you’ve followed through to thank them for their suggestions and let them know how things turned out (good outcomes here only!).

Be appreciative and positive.  There’s nothing worse from an interviewee’s perspective than having an informational interview with someone who’s negative, not really engaged, unprepared, or otherwise painful to deal with. As someone who’s given many informational interviews, trust me when I say that a positive and interested attitude on your part will bring out the best responses on your contact’s part. (Responses that may include offers to meet up in the future, mentor you, recommend you to the HR manager, introduce you to colleagues at other organizations, etc.)

And of course, send a thank-you note within 24 hours of your interview. Although people are still debating whether that note should be hand-written/snail-mail or e-mail, the consensus seems to be that hand-written is most favored by older recipients, e-mail by younger ones. But mostly you can’t go wrong if you just make sure to send any kind of thank-you note.

Max out your networking and branding opportunity.  Assuming you’ve been charming, smart, attentive, and responsive during your discussion (translation: your interviewee thinks you’re terrific), you want to make sure that you make the most of the networking and branding opportunity you’ve just created. Reach out to your contact post-interview to connect on LinkedIn. When you send that thank-you note, mention that you’d be happy to return the favor by being of any assistance useful in the future. Stay in touch on a regular (perhaps quarterly) basis by reaching out and sharing information, resources, or connections you feel might be useful for this person.

The most important thing here is to make sure that your conduct during the informational interview is professional and positive, as noted above. This will help you build the type of professional reputation or brand you want to have associated with you. But also, see if there are other ways you might be able to beef up your professional visibility and reputation by sharing several key (non-proprietary) points you learned from your interviewee that could benefit others in their careers using whatever social media tools you prefer. Consider posting a discussion topic or question in a relevant LinkedIn group that demonstrates both your knowledge and professional-level interest.

Bottom line: informational interviews are an invaluable way to continue to grow your LIS career knowledge. If you prepare in advance and then follow through diligently, however, they can also be a terrific way to help build your professional network, reputation and visibility.

Researching LIS Job Opportunities and Career Paths

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People network - blue graphicWhether you’re a student soon to graduate and getting ready to hit the job market, an employed professional seeking to make a job change, or a now-unemployed practitioner trying to identify or create new opportunities, LIS job hunting can be an adventure (feel free to substitute your preferred adjective here).

According to David E. Perry, co-author of Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap into the Hidden Job Market Using Social Media and 999 Other Tactics Today (Jay Conrad Levinson, co-author, Wiley, 2011), “Every job search is a sales and marketing campaign.”

Although, generally speaking, sales and marketing don’t come naturally to LIS students and professionals, if you approach looking for the right job as a process to move you from point A to point B (okay, and include some sales and marketing), both the job search – and your spirits – may improve.

Decide What Might Interest You
As you’ve no doubt discovered, the universe of potential jobs that align with your skills and strengths is large and diverse, so the challenge becomes how to narrow things down a bit. To frame your possibilities, starting thinking through:

What industry/library environment you might want to work in. When you consider this question, two of the issues you want to think through are 1) does this industry have very many employers in areas where I’d like to live (or currently do live), and 2) is this a growing or contracting industry?

To research industries, their prospects, and some of the major employers, consider exploring the relevant entries for the Plunkett’s publications (check your local library), Hoover’s database, annual trend and forecast issues for the major professional publications, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Industries at a Glance overviews.

What type of organization you might want to work for. Each of these types of organizations offers very different working environments, opportunities for growth, job flexibility, and compensation. Also, think about whether you’d prefer a small, medium-sized, or large organization, a start-up or a long-established company, and/or a local organization or one that has a national or international reach (and job opportunities).

To find out more about potential employers in the business world, check resources such as Hoover’s, Vault Reports, or Wetfeet for starters, then go further and explore their company websites, LinkedIn pages, Facebook pages, and articles about them online and in commercial databases available through the library. Another great company resource that continues to expand its insider insights is Glassdoor, which provides information and interviews about companies, salaries, and organizational culture.

To learn more about libraries as potential employers, consider informational interviews. One way to approach this is to search LinkedIn for individuals who either currently work with or were previously employed by your potential employer, and contact them to see how they would describe the organizational culture. This works equally well for non-LIS organizations. (For additional approaches to informational interviews, see

Which department you might work for. Within any type of organization, each department has different responsibilities, and therefore different types of information needs. For example, one department may need a skilled business researcher, another an experienced records manager, yet another someone with strong website building and managing expertise.

(If you’re unfamiliar with how most businesses and nonprofits are structured and the information needs of their departments, check out 8 Ways Organizations Need your Information Skills.)

What work you might do. As you progress through your career, you’ll probably find that the work you do changes in ways completely unanticipated when you began your career. Usually those changes are an outgrowth of your original “core” work. For the LIS skill set, this generally falls into the categories of 1) research skills and information roles; 2) information organization roles (ranging from taxonomy-building to information architecture and beyond); 3) content roles (writing, developing online content, editing, acquiring content); customer service/teaching or training/sales roles; and 4) information resources, people, or project management roles.

Needless to say, there are many exceptions to this framework, but it can provide you with a starting point for thinking about broad types of work that might appeal. (Not sure where to start? See Alternative LIS Job Titles.)

Once you’ve narrowed the field by thinking through these options, then you’ll have a better sense of both what types of jobs to look for, and where to look for them.

Research the Relevant Job Market(s)
Depending on the type of jobs you’re interested in, you’ll want to monitor several job sources to figure out what specific jobs are called, what skills they require, and how many job opportunities there are in your area of interest. Key job-research sources include:

  • general LIS job posting sites such as ALA Joblist and the LIS jobs aggregator INeedaLibraryJob (INALJ)
  • especially for nontraditional LIS jobs, more general job posting sites such as Monster, Indeed, SimplyHired, or Idealist (for non-profit jobs)
  • industry- or job-specific job boards (the easiest way to find these is to search on “[industry name or job type]” and “job boards” in your favorite search engine; for example, “green industry” and “job boards”
  • job postings from your grad school, professional associations you belong to, and/or your state library association
  • company websites
  • social media resources, in particular, LinkedIn, which aggregates job postings from (and for) members and allows you to set up alerts by keywords

Make the Most of Your Research
Naturally, these will also be useful resources when you’re ready to start applying for jobs, especially when you’re trying to dazzle a potential employer in an interview (or cover letter) with your extensive “market” knowledge.

Keep in mind, however, that according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, employers fill the majority of job openings through the unadvertised, hidden job market, i.e. the job market accessibly only through networking – which clarifies where your strongest efforts should be directed when you’re ready to go after job opportunities.

Can We Talk? How to Ask for an Informational Interview

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Information Interview w Black ManAnytime you’re asking a favor of someone, it feels a bit awkward, and information interviews are no exception.

Generally, you’re asking someone who’s both successful in their career and really busy to give you their time and attention out of the goodness of their heart. (Okay, occasionally for a cup of coffee or a quickie lunch….) Yep, that usually triggers our automatic “do not impose on people” response, but it’s time to get over your hesitation. Why? Because informational interviews for which you’ve done your homework can be one of the most effective ways to advance both your career knowledge and your career (think network building and professional visibility) ever.

Who Should You Ask?
When you’re thinking about who would be good to interview, look for someone who seems happy and successful in their work, who seems to have made wise career decisions, and who’s indicated to you or others a general interest in and willingness to speak to those still growing their careers. If you’re lucky, these individuals will also have great communications skills, wise insights to share, and a warm and supportive demeanor. But just because someone tends more toward the cranky, introverted, and somewhat distant personality style doesn’t mean that you can’t glean great information from them.

Perhaps most importantly, you want to look for someone who:

  • has experience in the areas where you have questions
  • is at least somewhat positive about making time to chat with you
  • seems sufficiently confident in his or her career to feel comfortable giving you honest answers

Your potential interviewee could be a higher-up (or colleague) in your organization, someone with whom you’ve connected on LinkedIn or in another social network, a person who someone else has referred you to, someone you’ve read about or a member of an association you belong to, or even a younger professional whose specialized knowledge is vital to your career exploration.

Essentially, your potential interviewee could be literally anyone who has knowledge that will help you gain more insight into a potential job, career path, employer, or industry.

How Should You Ask?
Assume that if people are successful at their jobs or careers, they’re probably very busy, i.e., pressed for time. In fact, time may be their most precious commodity. So your request for an interview needs to first acknowledge that fact. Then you want to briefly introduce yourself, state your request for an informational interview, and identify what information you’re hoping to gain. Finally, you want to specify how much time you’re hoping to spend interviewing your contact, and suggest alternatives for the discussion (e.g., a phone interview, meeting for coffee or lunch, or via e-mail correspondence). Your goal here is to make it clear to your potential interviewee that you’re ready to work around his or her schedule.

Here’s how that request might look (sample e-mail):

Dear [Name],

My name is Frieda Farnsbarger, and I’m just beginning my career as a data manager for a large healthcare management firm. I have followed your comments in the LinkedIn data management group, and admire your realistic approach to the profession and your insights. I know that your successful career must mean that you are quite pressed for time, so I appreciate your consideration of this request.

If possible, I would like to have an informational interview with you regarding your career path, your insights into the data management field and its possible growth path, and any advice you would have for someone just starting out in this field. I’ll prepare some questions for us to discuss, so you wouldn’t be responsible for any preparation or preliminary work. I’ll keep the interview brief, no longer than 20 or 30 minutes, and would be happy to connect in the most convenient way for you: by phone, over a cup of coffee or lunch, or via e-mail if that’s your preference.

Thank you again for considering this request for an informational interview, [name]; in the meantime, I appreciate your ongoing counsel and advice in the LinkedIn Healthcare Management group.

Best regards,

[Your name]

By being appreciative and respectful, you’ll find that if you chose your potential contact wisely, you’re most likely to get a “yes” response. Good luck!


Smart moves for stealth job hunting

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It’s time.

Perhaps it was a new (and somewhat crazy-making) library director. Or a change in management policies. Or a redefinition of your job responsibilities. Or the company’s move away from the values that had originally brought you onboard.

Or maybe you’ve just outgrown a job that you loved.

No matter the reason, it’s time to move on.

But like all smart professionals, you know it’s a lot easier to get a new job while you’re still employed. Solution: time for a stealth job search.

Stealth job search strategies
The good news is that if you’re currently employed, albeit not happily, you have the time to take a thoughtful, deliberate approach to your job search. During this time, it’s essential that you keep your job search to yourself, that no one at your current workplace be aware that you’re planning to make a change. (Yes, even your work BFF. You don’t want to put anyone in a position to either lie for you or inadvertently betray your trust.)

The preliminaries
Before you start your stealth job search, you’ll want to have covered all your “preliminary” bases. That means that you’ll have completed:

Your LinkedIn profile. Have a dynamite LinkedIn profile that showcases the great work you are doing, have done, and by extrapolation, could do for another employer. For example, make sure your headline is a good reflection of the professional strengths you’d like to be known for (in 120 characters or less) – and not just your current job title. Write a thoughtful if concise summary that describes the value you bring to organizations or projects so potential hiring managers can easily imagine how you could contribute to their group as well.

Do NOT say in any way, shape, or form that you are looking for a job; instead, in the Profile section regarding “Advice for Contacting [your name], simply indicate that you are happy to share your expertise with other professionals in your field or nonprofits in need of your area of expertise. This indicates that you’re open to being contacted, without specifically stipulating the nature of those contacts in too much detail.

And don’t forget, as you start making changes to your profile to make it more attractive to potential employers, you’ll want to go keep those changes from flagging the interest of your current employer (or colleagues). The way to do this is to go to your Profile > Edit Profile page , scroll down the right side of the page until you see the box titled “Notify your network?” and select the “no” option.

Note: depending on the social media platforms with which you’re most comfortable, you may also want to create similarly robust showcases of your professional persona on Google+ and Facebook in addition to other appropriate platforms (depending on your audience and your professional brand).

Your marketing documents. These include your resume (actually, a master resume that can be tailored to fit the specific circumstances of jobs for which you may be applying), a master cover letter (again, assume you’ll be tailoring for each job); several recommendations from key individuals to add to your LinkedIn profile; perhaps a website, blog, or e-portfolio; and other indicators of your value and skills that potential hiring managers can see if your name happens to come up in a discussion about potential job candidates.

The major benefit here is that you don’t have to be present or involved in order for many of these value indicators to be speaking on your behalf.

An initial exploration of potential jobs of interest. This is a great way to feel like you’re moving forward into a better position while still stuck in your unsatisfactory one. You need to have a basic idea of what you’re interested in pursuing if you’re going to make the most of your precious time doing a stealth job search, so now’s the time to start doing that research so when you’re ready to start your job search you’ll have a good idea of what you’re searching for.

In addition, this will make it much easier for others to help you with your job search when you’re ready to launch it. You may find you’re interested in several career paths or options (which is great!), but you just want to be able to describe them clearly to those you’ll be enlisting to help with your stealth job search. (You can identify potential employers and monitor them through Google or LI Alerts.)

Your stealth job search moves
Okay, now it’s time to very quietly start your job search. Tactics to get you going:

  • Develop your job-search strategy. Are you going to reach out to five network contacts per week? Check LIS job sites weekly? Research, identify, and contact hiring managers at three potential employers per week? Do information interviews to learn more about potential jobs and their alignment with your values and interests and aspirations? Now is the time to start actively identifying and going after jobs, and asking your trusted network to help support your efforts.
  • Start posting LinkedIn updates if you can post about something neutral or job-related that won’t flag your boss’s attention – perhaps conference reflections, key points of a cool professional book you’re reading (that might also have relevance to your current job), or a shout-out to a colleague or network connection for a recent accomplishment. Your goal is to get visible in a way that seems like a natural extension of your job, but perhaps at a bit higher level.
  • Start opening channels. As soon as you make the decision to move on, start slowly but surely enlarging your community of colleagues – connect, join associations, join LinkedIn groups, etc. Is there a conference or industry event coming up where you might be able to discreetly job hunt? If you can speak or present, even better – it’s a great way to up your visibility.
  • On that same note, find as many ways to slowly increase your visibility outside of your organization as you can – start becoming known on a topic that interests you via writing for an association newsletters; doing a blog post, guest blog post, or conference presentation or workshop; or perhaps interviewing experts on a topic then posting your findings and analysis.
  • Tell people you trust about your job search, but stress the importance of not having this information made public, except to potential hiring managers.
  • If you haven’t already, join professional organizations and become as active as your time allows in order to expand your network and raise your professional visibility outside your employer.
  • Let potential employers know that your current employer doesn’t know about your job search. They should be able to contact your references (if outside employer), but not to contact your current employer to verify employment information until an offer is in play and you know you’re going to accept it.

Meanwhile, keep in mind….
There are some basic caveats to stealth job hunting that will keep you from inadvertent missteps that may result in an early exit from your current job. For example:

  • Don’t apply to blind ads – it could be from your current employer.
  • Don’t use any office equipment or other resources to apply for jobs. Besides being an issue of basic ethics, using your own technology and off-hours time will help you avoid any embarrassing disasters like leaving your resume on the office copier. Similarly, never have a conversation regarding a potential new job in your office. Those walls are so thin….
  • Again an ethics issue, don’t call in sick to go to an interview; instead, take a personal or vacation day or try to arrange your interviews before/after work or during your lunch hour.
  • Try not to change your behavior or office routine – any changes are likely to draw curiosity and concern from your boss and coworkers (perfect example: the office slacker, whose normal attire is cargo pants and flip-flops, arrives in a suit and tie).
  • Keep your performance level as high as possible even after you’ve made a decision to move on. You owe it to your employer, but especially to your fellow staffers. Even if you feel miserable and are struggling to manage a bad attitude, present your best self at the office so that your coworkers (who are staying with the company) don’t have to deal with your toxic feelings.
  • Don’t burn bridges. With your employer, with your colleagues, with the individual who will be brought in to replace you. Create a transition based on positive actions and relationships, and take the extra step of create documentation that will help your replacement quickly get up to speed.
  • When it’s time to leave, tell your boss first. (Well, maybe you can tell your BFF at lunch that day, but then immediately tell your boss.) No matter what you think of your boss, it’s a matter of professional respect, and one that also indicates a high level of professionalism on your part. Which is, of course, the way you’d like to be remembered.

An easier way to stealth job search
With the exception of actually applying for jobs, all of the actions above could – and should – be part of your ongoing approach to keeping your professional options open. In some ways, you should always be in stealth job search mode because you never know what changes might be heading your way that will affect your employment status. Translation: you could be laid off at any moment.

So it just makes sense to have an up-to-date, terrific resume ready to go at all times. It makes sense to have your own personal business cards with your own contact information (rather than having only your corporate card). It makes sense to periodically read job postings, and to continue to invest in building your network and your professional visibility.

The ultimate approach for career resiliency is to hope for the best and plan for the worst. Not a bad approach for stealth job searching, either.

Informational interview? Don’t miss these 5 benefits

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Q and A Block LettersInformational interviews can be a terrific way to explore career paths, companies of potential interest, and specific types of work. But they’re also a great opportunity to build your network, professional reputation, and insider insights about specific employers while – if you approach them thoughtfully and with advance preparation.

How to Make the Most of Your Interview
You know that you never, ever use an informational interview as a sideways approach to landing a job interview – basically, that’s the fastest way to get bounced out the door. But that doesn’t mean that you can’t reap other cool benefits from your informational interviews.

For example, informational interviews can help you:

Build your professional reputation.  Informational interviewing gives you an opportunity to impress someone with your professional, mature demeanor. So be prepared with thoughtful questions, be on time if not a few minutes early to your meeting, dress professionally, take notes when your contact provides you with advice and counsel, listen way more than you talk, and always follow up with a thank-you note.

Build your professional network.  Every time you come into contact with someone in your profession (or the profession you’re working towards), you want to capture that connection. That’s how you start building the professional network that will sustain you over a multitude of career changes, and potentially open up a similar number of career opportunities. So after you’ve impressed your contact with how professional you are (and sent your thank-you note), follow up shortly with a request to connect on LinkedIn so you can stay in touch.

Learn how the company hires.  One of the most important questions to ask in an informational interview or job shadow is “how did you get your job?” If you’re potentially interested in working for the employer in question, this will give you an indication of how they hire (for example, through a recruiter, based on resumes submitted online, via internal referrals, etc.) for future reference.

Get a feel for the company culture.  When you ask people what they like most/least about their job, their answers may have more to do with their employer than the actual work they do. Try to distinguish between the two, so you can understand what responses indicate a positive or toxic organizational culture if you’re potentially interested in this employer. (However, keep in mind that in large companies the “corporate culture” can vary by department and boss.)

Get a competitive sense of the industry – and additional employers/job opportunities.  One of the questions you can ask during an informational interview or job shadow is who your contact sees as his or her employer’s main competition. Although you would never disclose any information about the company that your contact shared with you, that doesn’t mean that you can’t use what you’ve learned to understand what type of job or career you might want to pursue with a different company in the same industry.

Ready to start exploring your LIS career options? Now’s a great time to start lining up some informational interviews and reaping those benefits!

10 Tips for Rocking Your Resume

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Recently several students I was working with asked for resume tips – sort of a generic list of broad concepts they could use to shape their efforts. Since resumes aren’t my specific area of expertise, I turned to others I know who are resume experts for some good guidelines I could share.

The following represents a consensus of their expert advice:

  1. Use a very clean page layout so electronic scanners can easily recognize key information sections. Also, a generous amount of white space on the page makes your text easier to read for both electronic scanners and hiring managers.
  2. Unless it’s an academic CV, go for a resume length of no more than 2 pages. (If 2 pages, make sure your name is on both pages.)
  3. Use a standard, rather than customized or “jazzy,” font so scanners can easily recognize your words.
  4. Always tailor your resume to the specifics of the job for which you’re applying.
  5. If a previous employer you’re listing isn’t well-known or it’s not obvious from their name what type of organization they are, note in parentheses what type of work they do.
  6. Always lead with a Summary or Strengths statement; Objectives statements are no longer used.
  7. No need to include the phrase “References Available Upon Request” – everyone takes this for granted, and not including this will give you more space for more valuable “sales” information.
  8. Focus on key information rather than on all your information. Although you want to provide a complete chronology of your work history, where possible you’ll want to shape each job’s description so it relates to the job you seek, which means leaving out unimportant job details.
  9. If possible, try to create a narrative thread, or story, with your resume, one that shows increasing responsibility and initiative as you’ve advanced in your career.
  10. If you’re still not 100% confident that your resume is the dynamite sales piece you need it to be, consider hiring a resume-writing expert to do a quick polish for you. Your goal is to make sure that your “marketing collateral,” that is, your resume, provides just the competitive edge you need to land that job.

I’d add to the list the importance of creating a master resume that has all your key information in one place, from which you can then “mix and match,” tailoring what elements or components you include based on the specifics of the job for which you’re applying. It makes the process go much faster!

What else would you add?

 

Social proof – when others tell the world how terrific you are

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Yeah, yeah, yeah – you keep hearing that you should have at least a few recommendations from significant others (like previous bosses, not your spouse) on your LinkedIn profile page, but really – is it that important?

Actually yes, and the reason it is that important is a concept called “social proof” – which is when someone respected by others affirms your worth or value to them. In the same way you’ll try a new restaurant because your friend the foodie swears it’s terrific, social proof lets us substitute the judgment of a trusted friend, colleague, or professional for our own first-hand knowledge. Based on their (knowledgeable) judgment, we’ll give it a go.

Forms of social proof
In the online world, there are a number of ways to provide social proof. For example:

Recommendations on your LinkedIn profile. Essentially, if your previous boss (perhaps a branch director or company VP) says you were a terrific contributor, then I, a potential boss looking at your LinkedIn profile and seeing that recommendation, will make the assumptive leap that you’d be a terrific contributor for my organization as well. Result: interview scheduled. Note that these are LinkedIn recommendations rather than endorsements (see LinkedIn Profile Recommendations – the New Letter of Recommendation for tips on how to ask for recommendations).

Commendations in your e-portfolio. Including letters or statements of commendation from those who’ve supervised or otherwise benefitted from your work in your e-portfolio can be nearly as effective as LinkedIn recommendations, with the exception that recruiters and hiring managers will have to know about you before they know to check out your online presence. (With LinkedIn, you can be found via keyword searches as well as by your name.) An e-portfolio letter of commendation, however, has the benefit of allowing the writer more freedom (and length) to describe work that you did, how you did it, your amazing ability to overcome obstacles, etc. So similar to a standard letter of recommendation.

Resume “testimonials.” These would be the exact opposite of the previous long-form approach, comprising a sentence or two about an outstanding strength or attribute from a previous supervisor or employer. These brief snippets would be incorporated into your resume in the margins or perhaps at the end of the document, depending on how your resume is formatted.

Shout-outs on social media. These aren’t as easily seen or found as the three more permanent options above, but they can still be helpful. Public congratulations, notes of appreciation, and recognition of extraordinary accomplishments on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn updates, and other social media platforms can all add to a critical mass of positive statements from the universe of bosses, colleagues, and collaborators who have experienced the quality of your work.

Soft self-promotion
Although most of us, especially in the LIS profession, balk at self-promotion, social proof enables us to get the word out in ways that don’t feel quite so self-serving.

If you’ve truly done exemplary work for someone or some organization, they’ll probably be happy to share that information if it helps you succeed in your career, and especially if you offer to reciprocate (always).

Job-hunting? 5 ways to help your network help you

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Yep, asking your network for job-hunting help can sometimes feel awkward.

But did you know that experts say less than one in three jobs results from an online application? That one statistic alone should quickly vault “reaching out to my community of colleagues” to the top of your job-hunting tactics list.

In order to give your outreach efforts (and your contacts) the best chance of actually being able to help you find a job, however, it’s important to do some prep work first.

Do these three things first
Before you send that first e-mail or make that first phone call request, you need to:

Clarify for yourself exactly what type of work or job you’re looking for.  Be specific when defining your new-job goals. Be able to describe either a type of work or a job title or a set of responsibilities within a specific type of organization. Also be clear on what you aren’t interested in.

You want to be able to describe this to any colleague you reach out to for potential contacts or ideas about job openings. Nothing is more frustrating for someone who wants to be able to help, but has no idea where to start.

Identify the type of help you’re asking for.  Similar to being clear about what type of work you’re looking for, you want to be specific about what kind of help you need. This may sometimes even be a different “ask” for each person you connect with as you job hunt.

For example, you may ask for an informational interview with a former colleague to learn more about her employer. You may ask a fellow classmate to introduce you to his friend, the department manager at a company of interest. You may ask one of your connections on LinkedIn to virtually introduce you to a contact of interest in his or her network. Or you may ask a subset “community” within your network if they have any contacts within a certain segment of their industry you’re targeting.

The point is not to just ask for help, but to focus your request in ways that let people easily respond. In other words, you’re asking them to act on your behalf, rather than making them do the work of thinking about what might be useful.

Line out what you’ve already tried.  When you ask for help, you want to make every effort to avoid wasting people’s time. So in a sentence (two at most), be able to describe what efforts you’ve already made toward finding and/or landing your desired job. What research have you done, and what have your discovered? Who have you already reached out to, and with what results?

Again, the goal is to help your contact target his or her efforts as strategically and effectively as possible. If someone wants to help you, you want to make that as easy – and successful – for them as you can.

Then follow up with these two actions
Treat introductions like gold.
When you ask someone to reach out on your behalf, you’re asking them to put their professional reputations on the line for you. For better or worse, your behavior will reflect directly on them as your “champion.”

That places a tremendous responsibility on you to treat the individual you’re being introduced to with the utmost professionalism and courtesy. That means that you follow up immediately on every introduction, expressing your appreciation for the person’s willingness to share their time and insights with you. You concisely explain why you’re reaching out, including what you’ve done so far (remember, just a sentence or two). You then ask what would be the easiest way for you to discuss your question or request you’d like to pose – perhaps phone, e-mail, over coffee, etc. depending on the circumstances.

Circle back to both of your contacts with a thank-you note – and results. Of course you’ll thank both your original contact and the person you’re introduced to for their efforts on your behalf. But it’s also smart to follow up a bit later to let them know you’ve followed through on their introduction (or advice), and the results of your actions. For example, you can let your primary contact know that you’ve reached out to the person they introduced you to, and when you’ve got a call scheduled. Or you can let your new contact know that you took her advice, and the positive outcome resulting from her great suggestions.

Your goal is to let people know that you took their time and efforts seriously, you acted on their advice or introduction, and that you’re on standby to return the favor in any way you can in the coming months or years.

Invest yourself in your network before you need it
Almost all of us will be job hunting at some point in our careers, and in fact, it might be at many points. If we’re fortunate, many colleagues will reach out to us over the years to help them with informational interviews, connections, and job-hunting ideas. That’s one of the extraordinary values of a network you’ve nurtured – you can help others at least as often as you need to ask for help.

But the key word here is nurture.

There’s a huge difference between using people for your own benefit versus sharing needs and benefits with others over the course of a career lifetime. That difference is based on actually caring about the well-being of those in your community of colleagues and connections. So start investing yourself now in helping others as you can. The day will come when you’ll be job hunting, and when it does, you’ll have a caring community in your corner just waiting to help out.

Career takeaways from LJ’s 2016 Placements and Salaries report

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jobs-in-block-lettersThe recently published Library Journal annual “Placements and Salaries” report, written by the University of Tennessee-Knoxville’s Suzie Allard, once again provides fascinating insights into how new graduates are faring in the LIS job market.  (Shout-out to Library Journal for continuing to annually undertake and publicly share this information with the profession.)

The good news: to quote Dr. Allard, graduates are looking at “a healthy job market characterized by rising salary levels and work that calls for both traditional and nontraditional skills and roles.”

Key take-aways:

Salaries are increasing.  Among the nearly 700 responding graduates willing to share salary information, the average full-time salary was $48,371, an increase of 2.9% over the 2014 average salary (which also saw a 2.9% increase). It’s important to keep in mind, however, that the lowest and highest salaries ($19,000 and $165,000) reflect a number of variables (see below), including the fact that many LIS graduates were already working for their employer or were in a second career, with the potential seniority that conveys. Translation: the “average full-time salary” of $48,371 should in no way be construed as an average starting salary.

Key take-away: Salaries have started heading in a positive direction, but it’s reasonable to expect that for most LIS jobs, especially in traditional LIS fields, a roughly 3% annual increase will be the benchmark for the foreseeable future.

Where you’re located continues to impact pay.  MLIS/iSchool students already know that trying to land a job where your school is located (if it’s a great spot) is tougher because of the increased competition from all your fellow grads who also want to stay there. This competitive environment also tends to depress salaries. But geography in general is also a major factor in pay ranges. Broken down by region, here’s where the best to worst areas are for average LIS salaries, according to the report:

Pacific:                $59,145

Northeast:          $51,052

Midwest:             $50,313

South Central:   $46,125

Southeast:          $44,899

Mountain:           $42,667

Canadian/Intl:   $38,513

Key take-away: Needless to say, the cost of living in specific areas for each of these regions strongly influences whether these are subsistence or able-to-afford-a-mortgage wages. So you’ll want to check cost-of-living indexes as well as salaries before committing to a job offer.

Gender differences exist, but not with consistent results.  One of the fascinating aspects of the report is how gender effect play out. For example, the average salary for women was $47,759, a 5.3% increase from the previous year, while men’s average salary of $51,602 was a 3.2% decline. Men continue to see higher salaries in almost every category, but women’s average salaries are a bit higher than men’s in the Mountain and Southeast regions.

When considered by type of library, men’s average salaries consistently outrank women’s, by 8.45% although men make up only 11.8% of the placements. Similarly, in academic libraries men out-earn their female colleagues in the Placements report by 8.4%. School libraries reflect a similar pattern: although 93% of school librarians are women, their male peers’ average salaries are 2.7% higher. And special libraries show the greatest gender salary disparity, with men compensated at a 29.9% higher rate than women.

Key take-away: Women need to learn from the success of their male colleagues and focus on improving their starting-salary negotiating skills. Will it always make a difference? No. Will it often make a difference? Yes.

In the right role, tech skills boost salaries.  Two of the three highest average salaries (a full 20% higher than the overall average salaries) are tech related: information technology ($58,438) and data curation and management ($58,438). After teacher librarian ($58,148), the next two highest-paying jobs were also technology-focused: data analytics ($56,793) and user experience (UX)/usability analysis ($55,167).

Key take-away: With the exception of school librarian, all of these jobs can be found in both traditional and non-traditional LIS careers. Large public and academic libraries are now using these tech-based tools to support a wide range of decision-making. Consequently, students needn’t worry that strong tech skills will mandate special library or corporate-type careers for them if their hearts are set on public or academic libraries. Instead, it will be important to focus on larger, better-funded public and academic libraries.

Grads were using multiple approaches to finding, landing jobs. When asked about their job-hunting process, grads not staying with their current employer indicated that they began the search process about 5.5 before they graduated, and despite that diligence it took about 4.7 months to land a job. Notes the report, “A recurring theme for success was gaining practical experience to augment coursework and to help develop professional networks.”

Other tactics included completing practicums and internships, developing professional networks (both on the ground and through online platforms such as LinkedIn), creating e-portfolios that could demonstrate key elements of competence, and attending colloquiums.

Key take-aways for students: Do not graduate without having gotten at least a minimal amount of practical LIS experience that you can put on your resume. Also, take advantage of every opportunity to build your professional network while in grad school – this is when people are the most willing to talk to you, to offer advice and connections, and to help you in any way they can.

Additional insights

I asked Dr. Suzie Allard, the report’s author (also Professor of Information Sciences and Associate Dean of Research, University of Tennessee-Knoxville College of Communication & Information), if there were any surprises for her in this year’s survey results. She offered what I consider to be critical insights for the profession, our grad schools, and most especially our grad students:

In the two years that I have participated in the analysis, I find two things striking. First,  helping graduates prepare for their job search is important and, while many schools offer guidance in this area, this preparation needs continuous attention from the start of the academic program so that grads are armed with job seeking skills (in addition to their professional skills) as well as realistic expectations about search processes and outcomes.

The second item is aligned with this. Speaking in broad generalities across all the institutions, it is impressive how the expertise gained from the degree is applicable in both traditional and less traditional environments and how this flexibility provides grads with many options and opportunities. In my opinion, the results suggest that when grads have been prepared for the job search, it allows them to think about their expertise in terms beyond just job titles and this focus on specific information expertise and skills opens up new avenues for seeking employment. Among the grads in less traditional environments, the comments I have read suggest satisfaction in being able to use their information skills to add value at their workplace even if it wasn’t where they imagined they might end up.

I thought that Dr. Allard’s comments were not only insightful, but also an encouraging vote of confidence in how many new opportunities LIS skills continue to create.

Find – and tell – your story

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How to pull the narrative threads from your chaotic eclectic career

Recently I worked with an MLIS student whose resume prior to grad school was primarily retail, clerical, and a number of nanny jobs. She was stymied about how to weave her job experience – which ostensibly had nothing to do with LIS work – into a strong enough narrative to convince employers to take a chance on her.

Many of us have been there, done that.

In my early years, I did clerical work for a truck financing company, managed the circulation department for a city magazine, worked on a volunteer project creating a resource guide for women needing public services assistance, and did copy editing and copywriting for a publisher of LIS professional books. All of this felt like disparate, unconnected “one-offs,” and I had no clue how to create some sort of coherent description that might make sense to potential employers.

This is the issue author Pamela Slim addresses in Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together (Portfolio Penguin, 2013). Her goal is to help you identify the common threads in each of the jobs you’ve had in order to better understand the themes you tend to return to when possible, almost regardless of you working environment.

4 ways narrative threads help shape your career

Pulling out these threads enables you to do a number of things that will help your career.

First, it helps you make sense for yourself of what relevant knowledge you may have gained from each one of those positions that strengthen the core skills you want to present to the world. Examine each one of those jobs – what did you learn that you can now apply to work that’s better aligned with your LIS career goals? Almost no experience is wasted if you learned something from it, and almost no job doesn’t offer some sort of learning experience.

Your challenge will be to shape and describe that learning in a way that supports a consistent narrative thread. (More on that in a second….)

Second, it helps you identify a “path” or passion of which you may have been unaware because it was buried in a bunch of seemingly unrelated jobs. It took me about 5 different jobs to finally realize that my “body of work,” to use author Slim’s term, was consistently developing around research and information, and that I had a drive to connect people to those resources that would help them improve their lives. Once I had that aha! moment, my career path became clearer and consequently, much more purposeful.

Third, part of what you’ll want to do in your resume and even more strongly in an interview is to paint a cohesive narrative that demonstrates increasing progress toward your optimal work contribution and value-add. (Yep, your goal is to present yourself as someone who has made thoughtful, purposeful choices about your career along the way, regardless of the reality….) If you have thought about your narrative thread, you’ll be in a much better position to confidently articulate it to others.

Fourth, understanding the narrative thread that starts to emerge throughout the body of work you’ve been developing will help you know what additional threads will complement and strengthen the career tapestry you’ve been creating through your conscious and (often) unconscious choices. Will that new job take you in the direction you now know you want to go? Will volunteering for that cool new project be a distraction that doesn’t get you closer to your passions or will it, in fact, open just the doors you’ve been looking for?

People come into LIS careers through myriad paths, many of which include stints in jobs seemingly totally unrelated to LIS work (for example, retail, waitressing, customer service, etc.). Yet every job can contribute to your story, if you look for the relevant threads and present them in a way that contributes to and supports your body-of-work narrative.

 

Further Reading

Body of Work: Finding the Thread That Ties Your Story Together / Pamela Slim, Portfolio Penguin, 2013. 240p. ISBN 978-1591846192.

How to Embrace the Most Embarrassing Parts of Your Resume / Neil Pasricha, Fast Company, October 13, 2016; accessed October 31, 2016


Interview coming up? Questions to get to know them while they get to know you

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One of the best ways to distinguish yourself among other job applicants is to ask thoughtful, targeted questions during your interview, both in response to questions asked of you during the interview and at the end of the interview, when most applicants are asked if they have any questions to ask of the interviewer or interviewing panel.

Assume you may go through at least a couple of interviews, and use each one to ask questions that will give you additional insight not only into the job itself, but also into your potential boss’s management style and the company’s or department’s culture.

First interview questions – getting the lay of the land

If it’s your first interview, you’ll probably want to ask basic questions about the organization, doing so in such a way that indicates you’ve already gained a good understanding of the employer and its industry (including libraries). For example, “My research indicates that [company] is known for outstanding customer support. Are there ways in which this job supports that effort?” Other questions might include:

  • Is this a recently-created position or one that’s been part of the organization for awhile? (A recently-created position, that is, one that the candidate is going to be creating if hired, can either be a terrific opportunity to shape a new role and tailor it to your strengths to a degree, or a disaster waiting to happen. If it’s a recently-created position find out as much as you can about why the position was created, whose idea it was, and what problems it’s intended to solve. Your goal is to avoid signing on for a “set up to fail” position that lacks the internal political support to succeed.)
  • How would you describe a typical day/week in this position? Is the work flow fairly steady, or are there times of the year when things ramp up considerably? (This may impact whether or not a job is going to work with your life circumstances.)
  • Does this position collaborate with other departments, and if so which departments? What are their mutual goals? (Smart organizations have strategic goals that involve cross-departmental collaboration. This question will help surface that information.)
  • How long did the previous person in this job have the position? How long, in general, have people been in the position? (A high rate of turnover for a specific job indicates serious personnel problems, whether with a boss, subordinates, or the organizational culture in general.)
  • How long did the previous person work with the existing team? (This will give you a better understanding of the team dynamics you’ll be inheriting if you’re applying for a management job.)
  • How would you describe the organization culture at [organization]? If the interviewer’s answer to this question is too vague, you can be more specific in your question, for example, what type of individual fits in best here? What type of individual wouldn’t be a good fit? What strengths are most in demand, in this department as well as within the company overall? (This will help you determine just how well your own strengths align with the organization’s priorities.)

Depending on the size of the employer and its hiring procedures, it’s possible (if not probable) that your initial interview will be with an HR person, rather than the person who’ll eventually be your boss.

In that case, that HR person is likely to be able to answer this first round of general questions, whereas you’ll may find that your more specific questions about management style, communication preferences, and success measurements are best answered by the person who you’d be reporting to should you get the job. We’ll take a look at those “second interview” questions next!

Second interview questions to seal the deal (or avoid a train wreck)

Once you’ve made it to a second interview, both you and the potential employer have signaled a serious interest in each other. Now’s the time to come armed with a set of questions that demonstrate your seriousness, interest in the company as well as the job, and commitment to begin delivering value from day one.

The following questions, intended for your potential boss, will demonstrate both enthusiasm for the position and a realistic sense of its potential challenges.

  • What characteristics or actions do you personally feel are critical for success in this position? Every job posting lists many required skills, but what you want to get to with this question is what your potential boss values as his/her highest priority for the job. For example, if the answer is “collaboration skills,” that signals a much different working environment (and set of expectations) than if the answer were “delivers reports progress to me every day.” Neither is necessarily good or bad, but one response may be a better fit for you than another.
  •  What do you feel are the key challenges in this position? Although the actual challenges you face may turn out to be quite different than the ones a potential boss mentions, knowing his or her perspective gives you a heads-up about what they’ll be concerned about, as well as greater insight into whether these are the kinds of challenges you want or feel competent to take on.
  • What could I accomplish in my first year that would most help the department/company? You want to indicate that you are committed to successfully performing your role at the departmental level, but also want to be cognizant of the larger benefit of your work to the organization. In addition, this question makes it clear that you’re interested in – and responsive to – your potential boss’s leadership and priorities.
  • How do you most prefer to work with your staff? Bosses have (as you know) widely differing management styles, which you’ll need to understand and conform to. For example, do they like daily verbal/written status updates or prefer to just stop by your cubicle now and then for a chat? Do they prefer you exercise your professional judgment when handling tasks they’ve delegated to you, or do they want to be consulted before decisions are made? How and when do they provide feedback? Some bosses only provide feedback in an annual performance review, others prefer to “coach in the moment,” and provide feedback on an ongoing basis. Understanding a boss’s management style will help you understand if you can happily work with that person.
  • What do you most like about working here? If your potential boss can’t come up with any reasons the company is a great place to work, you may want to reconsider the job opportunity. A toxic, unhappy, or bitter boss is almost a guarantee of a miserable workplace. On the other hand, a boss with a positive outlook about the company and his/her work can help create a positive, collaborative, and effective team.
  • Are there any skills you feel I’d need to strengthen to be as successful as possible in this position? This question gives your interviewer the opportunity to mention any reservations he/she might have about your ability to do the job, and also provides you an opportunity to address those reservations. This may mean pointing out additional aspects of your professional background that address a key “gap,” or acknowledging the gap and stating that you’re excited to master that skill (and willing to put in time on your own to do so). Or, it may surface information that leads you to conclude that you simply wouldn’t be happy in the position.

In a first interview, you’re generally asking and answering questions that relate to the alignment of your professional skills with the job requirements, as well as your comfort with the organization as a potential employer. As you progress through a second interview, however, your goal is more about determining whether the person to whom you’ll be reporting is someone you can work with effectively and successfully.

Asking thoughtful questions will help position you as an engaged, smart candidate; listening thoughtfully to the answers can help you determine whether to hop on board or avoid a potential career train wreck.

What should you wear to an interview? It depends

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Do an online search on tips on dressing for an interview and you’ll get lots of help – about 11.5 million hits, in fact. Everyone has very definitive “do’s and don’ts,” but the reality is that each work environment – and job within that environment – is at least slightly different from every other one.

Not only that, you’re equally unique. You may, in fact, have an amazing sense of personal style that enables you to pull off wardrobe choices that brilliantly speak to your strengths (rather than revealing your utter lack of fashion savvy, which is the case for many of us…).

Given the wide range of variables that may play into your choice of attire, one of the best ways to approach pulling together an interview outfit is to think about:

  1. the type of organization you’re interviewing with;
  2. the role you’re hoping to play within that organization; and
  3. what outfit makes you feel both comfortable and confident.

Without wearing something that makes you feel like you’re dressing up in someone else’s clothes, your goal is to mirror the unofficial dress code of your potential employer so that an interviewer will be able to easily “see” you as part of the team. (This is especially true for any role where you’ll be publicly representing the organization (for example, on the reference desk or working with clients).

Sussing out the unofficial dress code

How do you know what the unofficial dress code is? If it’s a local organization, go hang out and see what employees are wearing. If you have a chance to do an informational interview with the organization or one similar to it, check out what people are wearing.

Another alternative is to ask people in your professional network whose judgment you respect what they would recommend for that specific type of organization (for example, the unofficial dress code in an academic library is quite different from that in a corporate law library). This is also a great question to post to a relevant LinkedIn group for recommendations from both hiring managers and successful job applicants.

The can’t-go-wrong basics

If you feel your LIS skills may outweigh your fashion smarts, there are some basic choices that will always be safe.

First, think three pieces. This might be:

  • A suit with a conservative top (shirt, blouse, etc.) Depending on how formal the organization is, a tie or modest jewelry may be in order. A suit may include either slacks or a skirt.
  • Slacks, top, and a sweater, blazer, or sports coat.
  • A simple, unfussy dress with a jacket and simple jewelry or a low-key scarf.

For women, the decision regarding whether to wear heels or flats should be based on 1) personal comfort and/or coordination and 2) the unofficial dress code. However, if the organization expects women to wear heels and this doesn’t work for you, then by all means wear flats to the interview so you make clear that this will be part of your regular work wardrobe.

Second, in general for your main pieces go with solid neutral colors that flatter you – for example, black, gray, navy, brown, plum, or taupe, with additional color as your fashion sense suggests.

When in doubt (and again, in general), dressing more conservatively is always a good choice if you’re not sure what the expectation will be when you first meet your interviewer(s).

Third, make sure that whatever you’re wearing is clean, ironed, in possession of all its buttons, and has an intact hem (no safety pins allowed).

Your goal is to give the impression of a professional who is “pulled together” not only in your physical presentation but also, by reflection, in your thinking and actions.

Four, avoid tee-shirts, low-cut tops, cargo pants, flip-flops, too-short skirts, platform heels, or anything likely to cause an interviewer to mentally say “Wow, what was he/she thinking????”

A great quote here is “never give someone a reason to doubt your judgment,” and this pretty much sums up how you want to think about your interview outfit.

When to ignore the basics advice

There are some people who have such an extraordinary, delightful sense of personal style that their gift is as much a part of their personality and professional persona as their degree and skill set. If you are one of those amazing individuals, whatever you decide to wear will be just perfect, as always.

If you’re applying for a job where your level of personal imagination and creativity will drive your success, you clothing choices can be much more creative than would e appropriate for a typical job interview.

Lastly, if you’re applying for a job where you have a sense that your personality may not quite be a fit for the organization, it might be better to “dress for your personality” when you do your interview so both parties are clear about who you are and will continue to be on the job, and will have a choice from the get-go as to whether or not that works for both of you.

 

Handling the interview stumper: what’s your biggest weakness?

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For most people, just talking about their strengths in an interview can be pretty challenging.

But talking about your weaknesses in a way that doesn’t sink your hiring prospects can feel even more challenging. Most of us can come up with plenty of weaknesses, but which one is okay to mention in an interview situation that won’t immediately doom you to the “rejects” pile?

One way to approach your response is to consider what an interviewer is trying to learn from the weaknesses question. Essentially, the goal is to not to make you feel unbelievable awkward, but rather to understand how well you know yourself (your self-awareness skills). Then, they’ll want to know how you would plan to address that weakness, or what steps you’ve taken to start working on it.

So what should you say (or not)?

First, avoid the obvious clichés

Things like “I’m a perfectionist,” “I tend to work too hard,” and “I have very high performance standards and find it difficult when others don’t have those same standards” immediately peg you as someone who is either 1) an insufferable jerk or 2) an applicant trying to say whatever he/she thinks the interviewer wants to hear.

Instead, it’s important that you be honest in your answer and that the weakness you identify be of the “real world” type. So how do you combine revealing a real weakness within a framework that allows you to still convince your interviewer that your weakness isn’t a deal-killer?

Second, identify the weakness and your solution

Everyone (including your interviewer) has professional weaknesses; those who are self-aware are able to recognize those weaknesses and then develop ways to work on them.

So, for example, you might say that one of your weaknesses is an occasional tendency to become overwhelmed when working on a task with numerous complex activities. Then you could provide an example of how this weakness played out in the past and the negative results you recognized.

The next part of the conversation would entail you explaining how, when you realized this issue, you undertook several actions to improve your performance under similar circumstances. This might have been taking project management training, learning advanced organizing skills, or working with a mentor who helped you improve your approach to managing complex projects.

Third, attitude is everything

It’s okay to indicate that you’re still working on your improvement goals and may have a ways to go. But be clear that you view improving the weakness you’ve mentioned as your personal responsibility, rather than simply a personal quirk that you don’t see any need to address. As mega-entrepreneur Richard Branson has said, “Do not be embarrassed by your failures, learn from them and try again.” Make sure your interviewers know that you may not be perfect, but you’re committed to continually learning, improving, and growing as a professional.

Making the most of your starter job

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Or, why you should consider that job in Smalltown, USA

 

Female student working in the libraryRecently I had an opportunity to work with a young woman who had just graduated from an MLIS program. She was unsure of how to proceed with her job search given the precarious job market for librarians (and everybody else).

This young woman had never worked in a library before, and, like many of us when we complete our degrees, wanted to get a job in the same town where her university was located. But the reality is that with little or no library experience and facing the stiff competition that comes in an area flooded with fellow MLIS graduates, this young woman’s job prospects would be dim at best.

In fact, probably her best opportunities lie in a direction often avoided if not dismissed by recent grads: working for a library in Smalltown, USA.

The Starter MLIS Job
A starter job is the one you take when you’ve got little or no experience, so need to build up this aspect of your professional value. It may offer few of the elements you’re might want to go after in subsequent jobs throughout your career (high salary, cutting-edge projects, flexible hours, etc.), but it provides something else of high value: the opportunity to establish for yourself and others who you are as a professional.

A starter job can be of fairly short duration, which can be one of its attractions – if you find you really don’t like the place you’ve landed, you can comfort yourself that most of us can put up with anything for two years. (On the other hand, you may be surprised to find that the job and town you thought would bore you to death turned out to be a delightful community with a wonderful library, and you’d like to build a career there.)

Regardless, when you take a starter job, consider it a terrific opportunity to identify and practice those professional behaviors and attitudes that will help you succeed in the coming years.

Put together an agenda for what you want to accomplish/learn/practice over a given period of time – say two years. Then, if you love your job, you’ll have positioned yourself to continue to grow in value to your employer – and if you don’t love your job, you’ll have prepared yourself to move on to a better position.

The Starter Job Agenda
Here are some ideas for what you might want to consider as action items:

  • Try out as many roles as you can, and then note what you enjoy and what you do not. What do you enjoy enough that it might be an area you’d like to explore further?
  • Establish your professional persona, for yourself – establish and practice positive habits, expectations of yourself, and “best practices” for how you handle your career. This is a wonderful opportunity for you to watch and learn from others, good and bad.
  • Focus on the lessons you learn about yourself and how you respond to circumstance around you – if you don’t like what you’re discovering about yourself, determine better responses and practice them.
  • Learn everything you can about management by observing the managers around you, and how their actions are or are not successful and effective. (Trust me here – you may start out your career wanting to avoid any management responsibilities, but they tend to sneak up on you when you’re least anticipating them.)
  • Start building your professional brand by writing, presenting, researching, and collaborating on topics that interest you, and for which you’d like to become known.
  • Start building your community of colleagues. Establish positive, supportive relationships with the people you work with, but also consider joining regional and national professional groups in your area of interest. When you volunteer, no one cares how much experience you have – they’re just thrilled to have you on board!
  • Become known as a great person to work with – focus on building rather than burning bridges.
  • Start bulking up your portfolio of professional capabilities and accomplishments – on the job if possible, outside the job if not.
  • Learn to work with all types of personalities, a skill that will be critical to you over a decades-long career. Anyone who’s played team sports knows that you don’t have to like a team-mate to win a game with her; it’s the same thing with work. If you’ve got a problem co-worker, disengage emotionally, stop taking it personally, and embrace it as an opportunity to practice a very important job skill.
  • Learn how to work with a boss. In general, this means (besides just generally doing a good job) 1) learning how to provide the information he or she needs in the preferred manner, and the preferred frequency; 2) making sure your boss is always up to date on any situations that may come up with his or her boss; and 3) whenever possible, making your boss look good. (Corollary here: try never to make your boss look bad….)
  • Learn self-management. Be honest with yourself regarding your professional strengths and weaknesses, and practice how to manage your weaknesses and play to your strengths. If in doubt about these, ask a trusted colleague, mentor, or boss.
  • Develop an attitude of respect for the knowledge of everyone you work with. No matter how smart you were in grad school, you’ve still got a lot to learn. People will always be much more willing to respect the new knowledge you may bring with you if you first bend over backward to make it clear that you respect their hard-won knowledge.
  • Learn how to collaborate within and across teams. Being seen as a strong and positive contributor willing to share information, experience, and credit will cause people to trust you and seek out your participation.

Bottom line: understand that paying dues is an honorable and wise activity. Your job is to learn, to establish your professional persona, to contribute to the best of your ability, and to become known as a strong, valuable contributor who employers will hate to lose.

Then when you’re ready to move on from that starter job, you will have built a solid career base from which to launch, and will have a folder-full of people eager to write letters of recommendation for you, the now-experienced information professional.

I didn’t even know that job existed!

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young woman smiling hitting her head - aha momentOne of the downsides of giving LIS students and professionals career advice is that you’ve pretty much got to follow your own advice if you want to have any credibility at all (translation from my students: “do as I say, not as I do” isn’t going to fly!).

So with that in mind, I’m following one of my key career mantras, which is to never stop learning new stuff. I decided to teach myself how to create e-books so I could share more of the webinar information I provide for students at LIS grad schools.

This is my first attempt, and trying to be fearless, not perfect, I’m just going to put it online and share it with anyone for whom the information might be useful. As I do so, however, I’ll point out that I have the design sense of a turnip! (Yep, we all have strengths and weaknesses, and design smarts ended up in the latter category for me….)

Dority – I didnt even know that job existed

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