I wrote previously in my blog about the unfortunate necessity for some people to don a mask during interviews. How we obviously should be able to be ourselves for the best interest of both ourselves and the employer, but the reality is shy people would never have a fighting chance if we could be ourselves, so we have to fake it. No matter who we are, we all go into interviews as outgoing, smiley, pleasant people who fucking love work more than we love food.
That was one example of how (without lying, of course) we do have to make believe things in interviews that we know aren't true. However, there's another example of make believe that goes on in interviews, only in this case, BOTH parties know it's a lie. This is the part where we ask the employer questions because "we're interviewing them as much as they're interviewing us."
Ask anyone for interviewing advice, and that's on the short list. "Remember, you're interviewing them, too." We are-- supposedly-- sizing them up, getting a feel for the environment, and deciding if that place is good enough for us. The employers expect it too-- after all, if we're worth hiring, we can't be some desperate shlub, we need to be the cream of the crop. They should be wooing us.
Look, I understand we should ask questions just because we should have some curiosities of a place we may potentially work, but when I have to make believe that I'm an indispensable talent who is taking my expertise only to the very best place of business, I feel like I'm insulting their intelligence and my own.
Maybe there are people in even the library world like that. People with 20 years of experience who have run organizations, written books, given world famous (or, library famous) lectures around the country, and slain mimes with their adamantium claws. And if any of that were true of me, it would be on my fucking resume. Especially the claw thing.
No, I am most definitely and hilariously NOT in any position to "interview them as much as they're interviewing me," and it's laughable that I have to go through that charade. I know it and they know it, but there we sit, both politely pretending otherwise for no reason other than blind tradition, or perhaps to give them something to snicker about later. We in the library world-- all of us, you, me, and them-- know exactly how royally fucked our job market is. I am in absolutely no position to turn down a full time job, no matter how terrible the place is, and I'd venture to say few librarians and NO new or new-ish librarians are. If participation in their annual cactus hugging contest were a mandatory condition of hire, I would hug the crap out of some cacti and tearfully thank them for showing me more love than this career ever has.
I'm expected to work 50 hours a week for no extra pay? I have to work mornings the days after working nights every single week? Second shift? You have a little asbestos problem? I need to be on call 24/7? Turning my grimace into a smile, I say sign me up.
That's life. We're in an employer's market, and this is especially true of the library world. They have the work force by the short hairs, if you can forgive an expression that makes me cringe as well, and most of us are in absolutely no position to "interview" them and say "ehhhh, sorry but I'm looking for something on a tenure track," or "oooh, sorry but I was kind of hoping for a liberal arts college that offers a few Master's degrees as well." Yeah, right.
On one hand, it's not as unfortunate as having to pretend we're not the people we really are, and that instead we're outgoing, upbeat folks with a smile permanently on our lips. But on the other hand, it is a bit more insulting, since both sides of the table know better this time. These are desperate times and aspiring librarians are desperate people. Can we just drop the act? I'll still ask questions for curiosity's sake, but must I-- must I-- insult your intelligence by acting like I have any remote power of negotiation here?
I am your willing bitch.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Saturday, May 3, 2014
On the road again
I didn't realize it had been so long since my last update. Work has been busier than usual somehow, but hopefully I can get back to my goal of updating this at least once a month. No promises, though.
Since you last heard of me I had yet another on-site job interview. Yes, really. I think at this point I can say I have confirmed that crossing the 5-year experience mark is making a huge difference. Within the past year I have now had 4 interviews, which comes after about 4 years in a row of having exactly zero interviews.
This time I only had to travel 3 hours to get there (and another 3 back, of course), so unlike This interview I didn't have to stay the night. No bill for an inn, no bill for a dinner out, just the cost of the gas for six hours of travel. And here's the crazy part: they reimbursed me. The place where I shelled out all that additional money made no offer to do so, but this one where I spent almost nothing in comparison? They're willing to pick up the check. I actually could have spent the night and had a meal on them, but I didn't know they'd reimburse me. And that's ok, because I didn't have the time anyway. I had time to drive there, do the interview, and drive back, getting it all out of the way in one shot.
So the good news to you aspiring librarians is that not every out of state interview will be on your own dime. Just some of them.
Oh, I didn't get the job, by the way. I probably should have lead with that, but I figured that was the least shocking part of the news. On the shock scale, me not getting a job rates somewhere between "the sun came up" and "bacon is still delicious," while me being reimbursed for my interview expenses rates somewhere between "I got through a day without wishing for death" and "Jesus came back, and it turns out he was Japanese the whole time."
This time I feel less bad about missing out on the job, since it wasn't the millions-to-one job I missed last time. But I realized something distressing in that bit of seemingly good news: I'm never going to want a job that badly again. From now on, every single interview will be entered into half-heartedly.
Maybe that's a good thing. In some ways, interviewing might be like dating; if you're desperate, it shows, and it's a major turn-off. And like dating, the more you need the job, the longer you've gone without one, the more desperate you are. It's a cruel catch 22. The only way out, it seems, it to reach the point where you're so demoralized that you've given up deep down. Only when you stop actually giving a fuck about whether or not you get the thing do you have a chance to get it.
I don't know yet where exactly the interview went wrong. It didn't seem to go badly. I thought I gave good answers, and they didn't seem to show any facial expressions or body language to indicate that they thought I was a train wreck (and I have a good natural ability to read these things). But I also did get the impression that they wrote me off during the interview. For one thing (among a few others), they said the next step was to call references, but they never called mine. So maybe I said or did something wrong. Or, maybe they simply had their heart set on someone else who came in before me (I was the last to interview). I will try to work up the courage to contact them soon and ask if there was a misstep I made that I can correct in the future, but I still haven't heard official word of my rejection, and I think it would be good form to do so.
In the meantime, I am now days away from the new semester starting in my current job, the one I hoped to Japanese Jesus I wouldn't have to go back to.
Save me.
Since you last heard of me I had yet another on-site job interview. Yes, really. I think at this point I can say I have confirmed that crossing the 5-year experience mark is making a huge difference. Within the past year I have now had 4 interviews, which comes after about 4 years in a row of having exactly zero interviews.
This time I only had to travel 3 hours to get there (and another 3 back, of course), so unlike This interview I didn't have to stay the night. No bill for an inn, no bill for a dinner out, just the cost of the gas for six hours of travel. And here's the crazy part: they reimbursed me. The place where I shelled out all that additional money made no offer to do so, but this one where I spent almost nothing in comparison? They're willing to pick up the check. I actually could have spent the night and had a meal on them, but I didn't know they'd reimburse me. And that's ok, because I didn't have the time anyway. I had time to drive there, do the interview, and drive back, getting it all out of the way in one shot.
So the good news to you aspiring librarians is that not every out of state interview will be on your own dime. Just some of them.
Oh, I didn't get the job, by the way. I probably should have lead with that, but I figured that was the least shocking part of the news. On the shock scale, me not getting a job rates somewhere between "the sun came up" and "bacon is still delicious," while me being reimbursed for my interview expenses rates somewhere between "I got through a day without wishing for death" and "Jesus came back, and it turns out he was Japanese the whole time."
This time I feel less bad about missing out on the job, since it wasn't the millions-to-one job I missed last time. But I realized something distressing in that bit of seemingly good news: I'm never going to want a job that badly again. From now on, every single interview will be entered into half-heartedly.
Maybe that's a good thing. In some ways, interviewing might be like dating; if you're desperate, it shows, and it's a major turn-off. And like dating, the more you need the job, the longer you've gone without one, the more desperate you are. It's a cruel catch 22. The only way out, it seems, it to reach the point where you're so demoralized that you've given up deep down. Only when you stop actually giving a fuck about whether or not you get the thing do you have a chance to get it.
I don't know yet where exactly the interview went wrong. It didn't seem to go badly. I thought I gave good answers, and they didn't seem to show any facial expressions or body language to indicate that they thought I was a train wreck (and I have a good natural ability to read these things). But I also did get the impression that they wrote me off during the interview. For one thing (among a few others), they said the next step was to call references, but they never called mine. So maybe I said or did something wrong. Or, maybe they simply had their heart set on someone else who came in before me (I was the last to interview). I will try to work up the courage to contact them soon and ask if there was a misstep I made that I can correct in the future, but I still haven't heard official word of my rejection, and I think it would be good form to do so.
In the meantime, I am now days away from the new semester starting in my current job, the one I hoped to Japanese Jesus I wouldn't have to go back to.
Save me.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)