Tales from the Trenches

24Jun09

Finding a job is a scary, overwhelming process in the best of times.  But if you find yourself looking for a library job in 2009, you know it is far from the best of times.  With cities  facing huge budget shortfalls and colleges feeling the loss from decimated endowments, layoffs and freezes are commonplace and both experienced and newly minted librarians are feeling some anxiety.  Case in point, just yesterday, Harvard laid off 275 employees– all administrative, professional, technical, or clerical, and I bet many of them worked in the libraries.

I was on the job market way back in the fall– just when we were beginning to realize that we had no idea how bad things were going to get.   I am thankful to have a job.  I feel lucky to have found a job that I truly enjoy.  But my job search took 7 months and it did not always go as planned.  Here are some of my most embarrassing, silly, or uncomfortable interviewing moments.  No person can be on all of the time and sometimes I just don’t mesh with a person or institution.  If you find yourself in an interview that starts going south or getting weird, just remember, you will get a job, although it probably will not be this one.  And, who knows, maybe your interviewer has a sense of humor.

• After giving my prepared teaching presentation,  I asked the library director if she would be comfortable with me teaching students, she paused and said, “well . . .  you could use some pointers, but I think I could be ok with it.”  OUCH.  [I didn't get this one!]

• A library director at a very prestigious institution said the following to me while we were alone for a private interview: “I’m not asking you anything illegal.  I just want to know your background, your situation.  I’ll start.  I’m married and have two children.”  I was so taken aback because I don’t believe in talking about my family on interviews  (I’m married, no children), that I basically stammered something about where I went to college and all the places I had lived/worked/gone to school.  [No dice either!]

• One interview had a portion conducted by students.  Near the end of the interview, one of the students asked me a legal research question.  After I realized that she was actually going to put me to the test, I broke into a cold sweat and became paralyzed with fear.  What if she asked me something I could not answer?  Although I knew the answer to her question, I lacked confidence so I blurted out the answer and followed it up with a “I think.”  I must have looked like such a newbie.  [Did not get the job.]

• This was my most awkward dining out moment:  The library director picked me up at the airport and took me to a national chain restaurant.  We sit down and she asks me what I will be ordering.  I say, “I think I’m going to order the tortilla wrap.”  She says why don’t you order something from this special where we can get two entrees and an appetizer for $20.  Then she proceeds to lay out the merits of this special . . . “we could get an appetizer from this list, the whole thing will only cost $20, I already want something from the list anyway . . . and on and on . . .  Although I wanted the tortilla wrap, I felt like I was being pressured by the person who invited me here for the interview and who would decide if I get the job so I say, ok,  I’ll have the chicken fingers.  As soon as I agreed to go along with the special, she scowls at me and says, you didn’t have to get that if you didn’t want to!  Oh boy! [Wasn't meant to be.]

• Out for lunch with two younger employees, I tell them that I would like to write a novel.  Then I describe a novel I had started writing (at that point, I had probably written 2 pages and I never wrote another word) which was about my cat who slowly learned to talk in human speech and then led me on a race against time to solve a cold murder case in a small Pennsylvanian town.  [Although many would think I was crazy, I got the job!!!!]

I realize that none of these interviewing stories are that terrible.  I mean, nobody threw-up or got arrested, etc.  Nevertheless, they weren’t picture perfect and sometimes all of the rejections made me feel like I would never find a job.  I guess its true that you have to kiss a few frogs before you find a prince.

Filed under: A Day in the Life, By: Madame Lawbrarian, MLIS   |  2 Comments
Tags: Harvard layoffs, job interviewing, MLIS