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A couple of recent blog posts on job hunting Options · View
Rachel
Posted: Friday, December 14, 2007 10:51:32 AM

Rank: Administration
Groups: Administration

Joined: 11/5/2007
Posts: 106
Points: -851
... might be useful! First, the Well Dressed Librarian gives tips from his own hunt at:

http://welldressedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/12/jobs-new.html

Taking off on his post, The Hedgehog Librarian gives a useful list of resources in "Where Do I go to Job Hunt?"

http://welldressedlibrarian.blogspot.com/2007/12/jobs-new.html

So, where do the rest of you go to job hunt -- and what strategies have you found to work best?

- Rachel


Rachel Singer Gordon / rachel@lisjobs.com
Find a library job: http://www.lisjobs.com
The Liminal Librarian: http://www.lisjobs.com/blog
minorlibrarian
Posted: Friday, January 11, 2008 1:28:29 PM

Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 1/11/2008
Posts: 2
Points: 6
Location: Colorado
I am new to librarianship, having earned an MLS in 2005. Location has been an important factor in my 2 job searches, so I bookmarked the library and county webpages for the area I wanted to live in and visited those sites daily to watch for openings. This approach worked well for me. Generally, library systems and counties that maintain up to date websites are well organized workplaces.
2Lizards
Posted: Saturday, January 12, 2008 9:36:32 AM
Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 1/4/2008
Posts: 7
Points: 21
Location: Knoxville, TN
Great tip, minorlibrarian! I've been trying to do the same as I start my job hunting process. I have also bookmarked the state library associations' job websites in geographic areas of interest (e.g., the North Carolina Library Association's job bank website - http://statelibrary.dcr.state.nc.us/jobs/jobs.htm).
henrietta1609
Posted: Saturday, January 12, 2008 11:02:59 AM
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Joined: 1/3/2008
Posts: 30
Points: 102
Location: Maryland
I subscribed to two state library listservs while in library school, was on the LS dept listserv until I was deleted off weeks after I graduated, and searched various library job websites including a few academic oriented ones.
I started my job hunt over the summer and was hired 4 months after my Dec. graduation.
modernhypatia
Posted: Thursday, January 24, 2008 8:34:07 AM
Rank: Newbie
Groups: Member

Joined: 1/24/2008
Posts: 2
Points: 6
Location: Minneapolis
Hi there! (new, and checking out the forums).

I make use of Firefox's tabbed browsing options: I have a set of job search tabs (various job listing sites: our statewide job list, library school job database, etc.) Somewhere between once and twice a week, I open that up and check and see what's new.

I don't do it every day, because seeing nothing new day after day is depressing to me. (I'm not totally geographically rigid, but I'm trying to keep it within a weekend's visit drive of Minneapolis, so 5 hours or so, which includes 5 states if you stretch a little) but checking 1-2 times a week lets me catch listings pretty quickly.

I also subscribe to various state discussion lists, many of which include job listings as part of the discussion.

I finished my MLIS last August, which I have to say is a lousy time to start job hunting, because you're out of sync with anywhere that hires for the academic year. Since August, I made it to the final interview round for one job, got a one-month part-time job (filling in for someone on leave: it's been fantastic experience) and have a bunch of other applications out or going out shortly.
joan
Posted: Friday, January 25, 2008 3:02:28 PM
Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Job Hunting Tips - Moderator , Member

Joined: 1/4/2008
Posts: 103
Points: 309
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Are that many academic libraries still hiring for the academic year? How surprising, really. Sorry to hear you've gotten caught up in hiring lags.
bcgray
Posted: Friday, January 25, 2008 5:42:15 PM

Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Management - Moderator , Member

Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 348
Points: 922
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
joan wrote:
Are that many academic libraries still hiring for the academic year? How surprising, really. Sorry to hear you've gotten caught up in hiring lags.

There are a lot of academic libraries hiring right now.

The only time the budget cycle comes into play is if you hiring for a brand new positions or the person leaving is still on the books.

Brian C. Gray
Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University
http://blog.case.edu/bcg8
bcg8@case.edu
joan
Posted: Saturday, January 26, 2008 8:13:22 AM
Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Job Hunting Tips - Moderator , Member

Joined: 1/4/2008
Posts: 103
Points: 309
Location: Cairo, Egypt
Brian, that's been my impression too, that most academic libraries hire whenever there's a vacancy, which may not coincide with the academic year at all. Though I suspect it'd be tough to run a search committee in the summer, and winter holidays can push fall searches into spring... so perhaps it feels like an academic year search to job seekers like modernhypatia, above.
modernhypatia
Posted: Monday, March 03, 2008 9:26:07 AM
Rank: Newbie
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Joined: 1/24/2008
Posts: 2
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Location: Minneapolis
Coming back to this, with a little more (ok, totally anecdotal) data:

I've certainly seen scattered ads throughout the year (as you say, positions often open up for various reasons) But between mid-January and now (beginning of March), I've seen a substantial increase in posted ads (maybe five to eight times as many as late last fall), and the majority of them have start dates sometime in the summer (anywhere between July and mid-August).

That suggests to me that there are positions out there where people are leaving on the academic cycle (whether that's for retirement, not getting tenure in tenure-track positions, getting a position elsewhere that starts in the summer as well, or whatever else might apply.) Maybe this is something that tends to vary more regionally for some reason?
bcgray
Posted: Monday, March 03, 2008 9:47:26 AM

Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Management - Moderator , Member

Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 348
Points: 922
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
modernhypatia wrote:
I've certainly seen scattered ads throughout the year (as you say, positions often open up for various reasons) But between mid-January and now (beginning of March), I've seen a substantial increase in posted ads (maybe five to eight times as many as late last fall), and the majority of them have start dates sometime in the summer (anywhere between July and mid-August).

That suggests to me that there are positions out there where people are leaving on the academic cycle (whether that's for retirement, not getting tenure in tenure-track positions, getting a position elsewhere that starts in the summer as well, or whatever else might apply.) Maybe this is something that tends to vary more regionally for some reason?

It is probably not when the person is leaving as it has more to do with how much time it takes to get a new candidate.

Also, many university's budget cycles go from summer to summer. If they know a person is leaving now they can expect to probably not get the new candidate in before this budget cycle ends. Rather than losing that budgeted money, it might be moved to a one time purchase like furniture or resources. Or, they may be a financial settlement with the person leaving that eats up the rest f the money. They than start the new candidate on the upcoming budget cycle.

Brian C. Gray
Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University
http://blog.case.edu/bcg8
bcg8@case.edu
goodlibrarian
Posted: Wednesday, April 30, 2008 8:08:07 AM
Rank: Member
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Joined: 4/21/2008
Posts: 15
Points: 51
and this may sound really stupid -- but men should realize that those suits you buy off the rack normally are not going to be an exact fit. No one is ever an exact 44 Long or whatever.

My suggestion: Go find your nearest Brooks Brothers outlet mall store and get one of their off the rack suits -- maybe this is $250 then have that professionally tailored to fit -- my last suit cost $260 to have done. This seems alot but when you think you're going for a $40,000 /$50,000/ $60,000 a year job your return on investment is great. (try grey, charcoal or pinstripe -- not navy -- no one looks good in navy) -- complement that with a good white French cuff shirt and a solid color tie -- yellow works with almost everyone.
You're good to go.

The point is to dress not to distract. You want people to focus on you NOT on what you're wearing other than to think "That's really professional and nice."
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