I graduated in December 07 with my MLIS from an accredited institution. I have been looking for a professional job since before I graduated, and I have still not had any luck - in at least 10 months! I have had one phone interview and one in-person interview, and I did not get either job. I have applied for upwards of 30 jobs. I am beginning to think there is something wrong with me!

A little background information: I did not really have a background specialty in school. I took classes ranging from collection development to children's and YA lit to public library administration. So my educational experience is pretty broad. As to what I would like to do professionally, I would love to be a children's or YA librarian, but I am applying for pretty much everything that I can - reference, collections, cataloging. My experience: one year as a circulation clerk and more than a year as a library assistant.

I have come up with a couple of explanations as to why I'm having so much trouble finding a job:
1) I don't have enough experience, much less professional experience (the old catch-22)
2) I live in a large urban area (greater Denver), and while there are a lot of jobs opening up, DU is cranking out LIS graduates and most people probably have more experience than I do.

I just don't know what to do! It's so frustrating! I had a co-worker (a librarian) look over my resume and make some suggestions. I try to play up my customer service, knowledge of children's/YA lit, and reference skills in applications. I tried to get alternative certification for school library media, but I'm short 3 hours, and I don't have the money to go back to school right now.

Does anyone have any tips on getting more interviews? If I could at least get a few more interviews I'd feel better about myself, but with 30+ job applications and only 2 interviews out of that, my self-esteem is pretty low. What can I do? I'm even so desperate I've applied for several assistant jobs, only I never get interviews for those, because they probably think I'd leave them for a professional job (and they're right).

Help!

If your primary concern at this point is to get more interviews, and that certainly seems like the most reasonable place to start, you might want to focus on polishing your cover letters & resume. Are you customizing them to address the qualifications of each particular job you apply for? If not, that could go a long way toward landing more interviews, compared to using a more "generic" letter. I highly recommend the book "Resume Writing And Interviewing Techniques That Work!: A How-to-do-it Manual for Librarians," by Robert Newlen. It explains a systematic approach to how you can review your past accomplishments and present them in the way that makes it obvious how those skills apply to the given set of job qualifications. It can be a lot of work, but I think it's helped me each time I've applied for library jobs.

Have you been taking advantage of the time since graduation to enhance your skills and stay involved in the profession? Volunteering, attending conferences, keeping up with the literature, scheduling informational interviews with librarians -- these can help you continue to learn, but more importantly you can point to these activities in a cover letter & resume so that it is clear you are dedicated to the profession.

It took me about 6 months to find my first professional job after library school (three years ago), and I had to move across country to do it. I was near two library schools and the market was saturated with new librarians. I moved to a much more rural area, and stayed there for 2.5 years (in two separate jobs), before returning. If things have not been working out where you are now, you might want to consider casting a wider net. Others may contradict this advice, but if you decide to apply for jobs that would require you to relocate, I think it makes sense to address why you are applying & why you would be willing to move for this job. Of course, then you have to think about covering travel expenses for interviews, which is a whole different challenge....

Just a few general thoughts. Hope this might be of some help.

Find more people to look at your resume. I would never take advice from a single person as everyone looks at resumes differently. The more people that look at your resume the better it will get.

Also, by now you should have more than a single resume. Since you are applying for different jobs with varying responsibilities, you should have a resume tailored for each. Your resume should use the similar terminology that each job expects to see.

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Brian C. Gray
Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian
Kelvin Smith Library
Case Western Reserve University
http://blog.case.edu/bcg8
bcg8@case.edu

Yeah, I think I kind of knew that deep down. I was just talking to a librarian about volunteering, and she said pretty much the same thing. If I'm going to volunteer my time, I need to get more relevant experience in the package. She suggested I join some committees, or at least volunteer in an area that will really give me something to brag about on my resume (like YA programming).

I suggest volunteer work with your state library association in some capacity ... if only to meet people who might have jobs opening up later.

Some of us look a bit askance at new hires who are "too involved" at the state or national level, wondering how long they'll stay, but "some involvement" may well help you compete against those who have none.

Good luck!

Yes, I completely agree. The librarian who offered the suggestion about joining committees is also volunteering to look over my resume. She's actually writing a book on the subject, so I value her opinion greatly. I will also look into volunteering with CAL as librarybob suggested.

Thanks again to everyone!