Cafe Hitch-hike

2004-04-01

Job Fare

(And on a less serious note)

I just poured myself some tea. I've gotten into the habit of having something warm and liquid within my reach when I work on the computer or am reading. Tonight, it's green tea.

Some things just go well together. Peanut butter and jelly. Beer and cigarettes. Tea and book.

Listening to the smooth jazz station. John's working on stuff on his laptop. He does some of his work in my living room. His office is too damn messy to accomplish anything. If a feng shu person stepped into that thing, they'd die from heart failure.

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Today was an eventful day. I skipped both of my jobs to attend a job fair. I looked at the list of organizations: a grand total of 6. Six. Hooray. I knew from my connections that 4 of them were only taking resumes for the future. Future? Fongool that, I muttered. I attended in vain until I discovered a representative from a job I applied for there and was taking resumes.

I got out of bed at 8:30 a.m. Uh-oh, the job fair was to start at 9:30. I had to hustle if I want to get in there and avoid crowds. Uggh, but I first had to pry myself out of my nice, warm bed!

I managed leave home at 9:30 and got to the job fair 20 minutes later. I parked in the lot closest to the building where it was held. However, I had a reprive. The fair was to start at 10. Cool. I ran to my office to print resumes. My coworkers wooed at my appearance. I was wearing a black dress suit, with skirt and tasteful black loafers with heels. My hair was behaving, my makeup was right. So why were they wooing? Do I usually look like a slob? Hahah, no, I rarely come to work in a suit unless we're giving a major presentation.

I talked to the guy from a university where I applied for a job. He described the job to me, and then, and then--

A few weeks ago, Big Boss snapped at me because he talked to someone who interviewed me for a position. He thought I didn't do well, and thought I should've got the job because 2 of our previous graduate assistants got jobs there.

"What did you do at the interview?" he snapped. "She didn't think you were ready for the job!... Didn't you tell her anything about what you do here?"

"She liked you," he added, "and said you were poised, but what happened?"

Oh, yeah. I got a bite guard on my braces the day before, which added a lisp to my speech. The bite guard was a miniature version of mouth guards that athletes wear. I wore it during the interview because I didn't want to get nervous, bite down, and have a bracket snap from a tooth and land in the interviewer's eye or coffee.

"Oh, oh," replied Big Boss when I told him that. He paused. "Well, you've really gotta sell yourself and tell them what you've done here."

With this conversation in mind, I hustled myself like I haven't in ages.

"I instruct classes. I've conducted classes in a computer lab."

Representative: "It's a commuter campus where we want to draw more students to spend time on campus, and the position calls for working with student organizations"

Me: "I know how that goes. I began college at a community college that was a commuter campus. I was also involved with student organizations and student congress. Yes, it is a challenge to get people involved. It seems you have a core of students, then some others to participate when they have the time, and then the others just walk on by. It's a challenge to get them involved."

Rep: "The job requires academic publishing."

Me: "I've published (gives the list, and flashes pimp-like smile)

The representative was glad to hear of my accomplishments and he got a little energetic, but I wasn't sure if it was so he could keep up with my rapid-fire.

Rep: "Consider yourself a candidate,"

We shook hands and he was left with my cover letter and resume. If I didn't sell myself this time, I don't know what the hell selling myself means.

I talked to a small ethnic museum who wanted to eventually hire a librarian. They didn't seem too enthused to talk to anyone. They just wanted to distribute brochures of their organizations, take resumes, and shoo people away. Ching-ow, I thought, why did they and other organizations like them bother to show up?

I had seen a dozen people who graduated the same time I had. We all were looking for jobs. I, however, was a lucky one. I had jobs! Well, 2 part-time jobs and a funky schedule, but it was better than what everyone else had. Man, I should be grateful!

I've always liked my grad school classmates. Library science is like an art class, that is, it only attracts certain types and they just blend, like rice and beans. It was fun talking to everyone again and swapping stories of un- or underemployment. Sigh, I just wish our interactions were on better terms. We should start a support group or listserv and call it Library Science ComMISERY Group. After all, doesn't misery love company?

So, that's my first library science job fair. Did it fare well? In some ways, yeah. Is it fair that the vast majority of organizations were only taking resumes and passing out brochures? No, but life's not fair, is it? Hahaha, well, it was nice to see that my cohorts shared the spirit of laissez-faire when it came to our careers. Which ever way the wind blows, said my peers. Yeah, that's sort of right...

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