Followers of this blog (i.e., me) know that there has been a recent improvement in the number of interviews I've managed to get. Those of you just tuning in, let me get you up to speed:
My MLIS was earned in May 2008. I had one interview for a full time position that year. There was, luckily, that less than halftime position that took me on, which is how I've been lucky enough to have been getting experience since then (although, not gainful employment).
In 2009 I had no interviews. That's right, an entire year went by of applying to positions all over the country, and not one single person interviewed me. For an entire year.
Then that happened again in 2010. Then in 2011. Then most of 2012.
Yes, seriously. Four straight years SOLID of applying to jobs and not one single place would even grant me an interview. That was one hell of a streak.
Then something happened. After five years of paying my dues at my less than halftime job, I managed to get an interview in October 2012. By the same time a year later I had had two more. And one of them went all the way to round three before I was obliterated. Then another one in May of this year, and finally, one I have yet to mention, another web interview for a position in Arkansas last month (which I obviously didn't get).
So all together that's:
08=1
09=0
10=0
11=0
12=1
13=2
14=2 (so far, just past half in).
Let's put aside the fact that seven sets of numbers doesn't reveal a pattern. If these numbers were completely random, this would mean nothing. But they're not completely random. My increased experience is a factor, and what these numbers reflect is that opportunity is increasing for me.
...Or is it?
You see, I have a fear that I touched on before, but it especially bears repeating now. The fear is that my experience is actually worthless. True, the number of years I have on my resume is opening some doors as far as getting to the interview is concerned. But what happens when I'm in the interview and they start asking me about what I've done so far?
Here's what they'll discover: 100% of that experience is just instruction. that's it. Sure I can say that helping students one on one in the classroom counts as reference, but no one seems to buy that. I put it out there every single time, and every single time I can tell the interviewers consider it a stretch, even if they don't say it. And if I want to say I've done collection development I have to go all the way back to my fieldwork and volunteer experience about 4 years ago. If they want to know about my experience marketing the library, or cataloging, or programming, I've got nothin'.
I've been working in this field for 5 years, and aside from a short time doing fieldwork and volunteering, none of it has been in the library. And this is what is being discovered about me when I interview. So while I'm getting more interviews, I'm not sure if my current amount of experience is actually valuable at all in terms of actually landing a job.
As it is I'm limited to applying for academic instruction positions. That's where my experience is, and I've now been typecast in that role. I have never gotten an interview for a public library, even an "entry level" position (although, I don't really believe there is such a thing as a true "entry level" position anymore, since you need experience for any job you apply to). I haven't even been interviewed for the position of page or shelver in a public library, and oh yes, I have sunk low enough to apply to those. As far as academic libraries go, it has been all instruction. And that's fine, I like instruction. But there's still that matter of actually landing the job.
The bad news, again, is that my experience may be like that woman who only looks good from far away. Once the employers get my resume up close, they may be shuddering upon seeing its acne, lazy eye, and 5 o' clock shadow. At this point I have no idea if what I've been doing is "good enough" to get me a real job. Ever.
At this point an optimist would say that the interview increase is still good news, because even without great experience I can now go in and sell myself. For people with natural salesmanship, this would indeed be good news. For someone who is a salesmanship black hole, on the other hand, this is not good news. And guess which one I am.
