i'm so hip, i have difficulty seeing over my pelvis*

I've been thinking about this Annoyed Librarian column on young, "hip" (not a fan of this word) librarians and hiring practices. And as usual with the AL, I see her point but I don't quite agree.

(I do agree with her initial assertion that the idea that young librarians are taking over anything right at this particular economic moment is laughable. Several of us on this blog have eked out good library jobs, after a LOT of blood, sweat and tears, but I think we have a while before we're really in position for the true world domination we deserve.)

But I think it's naive to think that youthfulness and "hipness" (not a fan of that word) aren't factors in hiring decisions.

EVERYthing is a factor in hiring decisions.

Let's take this:

But my advice to her and all the other young hip librarians is to tone it down a bit if you want to get jobs and succeed as librarians. Really, no one cares if you’re young or hip, as should be obvious by the sorts of people libraries hire. Nobody even cares how you look...

Just being young and hip in itself means nothing. People respect you if you’re smart and do your job well. If you’re dumb or suck at your job, don’t blame tattoo-less, oldster librarians for disliking or firing you.

When you walk into the door of an interview room, being young (let's leave "hip" aside for the moment) means a lot. As an interviewee, you probably don't know what it means. In a library with lots of other young people, or one looking for fresh blood and new ideas, or one that wants to improve its social media profile -- being young could be in your favor. But it could work against you, seriously against you, in a place that is skeptical of our generation of librarians for any number of perceptions. Not knowing traditional skills like cataloging, not having a lot of experience, not understanding the way the library world works, "coming on too strong" with too many new and crazy ideas about changing the way things work... all of that could turn someone against young candidates before they even open their mouths.

Here's another one:

Self-proclaimed hipsters are concerned with style, but most librarians are concerned with substance. Pretty much any style is fine as long as the substance is there, and if the substance isn’t there, no amount of style will help.

Sure, everyone is concerned with substance, but it's really hard to convey and/or truly perceive substance during a first interview. I've been on both sides of the hiring process, and they both suck, and you have to really think hard about your own conceptions and biases. Hiring managers DO care how you look, because how you look gives clues to how you'd behave in the job. (And sometimes people in charge of creating a diverse workplace are specifically supposed to care about the color of your skin or your gender or your age, too.)

Also, self-proclaimed hipsters like the one quoted in the article? They want jobs too. They're thinking about how to market themselves and how to get themselves hired in the best place they can. I can be as annoyed at hipsters as anyone, but it makes no sense to argue that youth -- and maybe hipsterness, and maybe being tall or having glasses, and maybe having tattoos or not having tattoos -- has no impact at all on whether you get hired. Everything has an impact.

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*Zaphod Beeblebrox, Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. Yes.

Thoughts?

Library Journal recently published an editorial about the false "graying" of the library profession and how hard it is for new graduates to find jobs.

We here at Klub Katalog are relatively lucky because most of us have jobs. However, we have many friends and classmates who are still struggling to find permanent placement in a library.

This issue is multi-faceted and we've all spent hours dissecting each and every factor of the current state of libraries. In brief moments of darkness I think we all feel lied to and I personally have tried to decide if I think it is actually unethical for library schools to keep bringing students in, especially when there are problems with the perceived time on campus and online for classes.

All this to say that I don't think anything is going to change soon. Yes, we all have those ancient staff members who appear to be at death's door, but they really don't show any signs of stopping in the near future. Jobs are going to continue to require at least three years of experience and they are possibly going to become more specialized AND expect a more robust skill set from applicants.

I hope I can keep a positive attitude to my fellow librarians, to library students and to my grad school (who undoubtedly expects us to contribute money and PR). I really do love this profession and I do think it will get better, it just takes time.

To all of you still looking, don't give up! Your day will come, though you will be exhausted at the end of your journey. Here are some things I found out during my job search:

1. You have to decide which is more important: geography or having a job. According to the lists I subscribe to, there are actually jobs out there, they're just in seemingly random places. It may not be your dream to live in Utah, but if you're serious about being employed, you should apply. Having to choose between being near family/lovers/pets or taking a job is sort of a nice problem, because it means you have people in your life that you love and who love you back and want you to stay. Making the decision to stay in a specific area will not kill your job opportunities, but it probably will make your job search an even longer process.
2. Get library experience any way you can. We are competing with out of work librarians with years of experience. Maximize your resume and your skill set by volunteering in a library on a regular basis during your job search. Though academic, public and special libraries differ in a lot of ways, they all share many of the same elements: circulation, tech services and programming. Shelving books and/or helping with storytime at your local library still looks good on a resume and will probably help you in the future, even if you don't stay with public libraries. Being familiar with circulation, program execution and patron relations is always a good idea. I've seen lots of great people wonder why they're not getting calls back when their only experience is an internship; you have to get experience any way and anywhere you can.
3. Sell yourself. Sell yourself hard. Applying for jobs is just like cold calling; it can be awkward and horrible, but it can also yield big results. Have a few friends or colleagues look over your resume to look for content or style errors. Maybe your font is too small; maybe you have too much content. Your friends love you, so sometimes their gentle correction is easier to take than that of career services. Ask friends or family to help you with interviewing and/or approaching potential employers. You need to be able to tell people why you are best for the job and provide convincing answers and arguments for yourself when they ask questions. Practice in the mirror if you have to: "Hi, I'm Yogurt Moon and I'd love to talk to you about the position you have available. I think your library and I are a great fit and I'd like to discuss this opportunity with you!" It gets easier with time and practice. 
4. Only use social media if it will truly help you. For a while I thought I'd only get a job if I had a Twitter, a LinkedIn, an uber-professional and sterile Facebook page and a professional blog. Then I realized that wasn't me, relaxed and realized that it's still your personality, personal skills and experience that make or break you. Sure if you're applying to work at Twitter, it would probably help to have an account, but the foundation of libraries are still the classical elements we learned about in school. Fluency in social media is most likely just going to be icing on the cake. Unless you are trying to work at a super-progressive organization or a place that is known for it's Web presence, relax and only use the Web tools that actually help you.
5. Keep grinding it out. Is there anything more awful than the ups and downs of a job hunt? It's possibly worse than dating because you have to have a job but you don't have to date! Any nibble from an employer makes you want to stop your search immediately and throw any other current applications in the trash. But you have to keep grinding it out until you actually have a job. Things fall through, employers flake and positions get filled in-house and all you get on the other side is maybe an email or a phone call to let you know. 
6. Decide if you are willing to take a job you don't love to make ends meet. Then decide if you are content with that for now and need to take a break from the hunt. If not, keep filling out applications in the meantime. Just remember not to do it on your work computer using their resources; that's bad form.

Keep your head up. Something will come through and it will be the perfect thing when it finally does. If you can afford it, use this time of unemployment to travel, indulge in hobbies like knitting or writing and savor sleeping in. We all believe in you and we all believe in each other. The profession isn't graying, but all hope isn't lost.

Picture from Library Journal

News Bulletin

So I'm in the second week of the new job and I just found out today that my supervisor gave notice. The good part is she's leaving to join her husband wherever it is that he's going to school so its not like she dislikes the library or some twisty internal politicky(I know, it's not a real word) thingy.

I don't know if this will be a good thing or a bad thing or even a non-issue. Either way it will change the group dynamic at the reference desk. Also, this is something that has never happened to me at a job before and I'll just have to go with it.

At the heart of it all is one of the most important things I've learned at all my various jobs. The people you work with can make dull work fun and hard work easier. When the right combination of personalities and attitudes mix there's a lot to look forward to on your way to work. So I guess this blurb is part: hey guess what happened today and advice for the job searchers...