The Corporate Librarian

Job-seekers (who hit my blog with gay abandon) might want to check out the first brief post I did on how I got my job, mainly for the comments to the entry.

To recap and expand:

• If possible, get an internship while still a student. This will make you stand out from less-experienced library school graduates.
• Library placement agencies are your friend - but don’t rely just on them, and keep in mind they get paid for placing you, so they might put pressure on you to take the first job that comes along.
• Network like mad. One thing my boss explained to me after the recent news was the concept of an informational interview. You’re not clasping your acquaintance’s knees in supplication and begging for a job, you’re talking with a friend (over lunch, say) about what their job is like. This gives you an idea of whether you might want a similar job. Make sure to get one other contact from informational interviews.

Be aware that the job search will take time, and don’t get discouraged if you get rejected by one outfit. A friend looking for an academic position tried to send out 1-2 resumes a day - it was a manageable volume and got him practice with his cover letter-writing skills. The Corporate Librarian’s first job took him months and months to get, after multiple interviews, applying with multiple library placement firms. It was a temp job, and when the firm moved operations to another state they realized the Corporate Librarian was already a good candidate for a permanent position, since I’d been doing the work for months already.

Right now, the Corporate Librarian has an Excel sheet set up, with columns for date, action taken, position applied for (if any), company (ditto), contact, result, and next action. I expect one could whip up something prettier in a database program - when the Corporate Librarian was laid off from his first job (not for performance, he hastens to reassure potential future employers), he custom-built a database in FileMaker. Which was free. Yes, this dates the Corporate Librarian.

Anyway, there are several purposes in doing this:

• It allows you to see you’re making daily progress.
• You have a set of contacts which will stand you in good stead for professional networking even after you have your job.

Any further suggestions the Corporate Librarian’s readers have for getting that first job out of school? Tips on networking? How to decide what sort of job to apply for? Post away!