I'm on a Librarian radio... whoa-oh

Sorry, I didn't mean to leave for so long, but not much has been happening.  I think, when I last posted, I had just called a large law firm about my application.  They did call me back, and were very pleasant, but I never actually heard back about the job.  C'est la vie.  Following that, I applied to work for a small, start-up web company.  They contacted me before I could even call them, and I went for an interview.  I had a lot of concerns about taking the position (killer commute, no group insurance, possibility of company failing), so I wasn't too heartbroken when they went with someone who had more project management experience.  Other than that, I haven't really seen too many new jobs on the job boards; except at universities, and I think we all know how I fare calling them.  I applied, but the lack of phone calls gave me nothing to blog.  The reason I'm posting today is to let everyone know that I've done something to try and further my cause.  A while back, I applied to work for a new radio station for librarians.  Try as I might, I could not find a phone number with which to contact the media outlet running the station.  I did, however, come across an email address for a gentleman associated with it.  I contacted him to see what he would be willing to do for me.  After all, one of my favorite high school teachers taught me a long time ago that you don't get anything if you're too scared to ask.  He wrote back and told me that he would love to feature my story on one of his shows.  After a few edits and one major format change, I recorded a 5 minute commentary on the challenges of finding a job.  FYI, it took me almost 2 hours to get it recorded due to some very loud neighbors and a dog-friendly neighborhood.  Every time I'd get the words out smoothly, my camera would pick up a dog barking or my upstairs neighbor falling.  I am proud of my final effort, but next time I'll go to a recording studio!  Now, everyone go and listen to my podcast!  http://kiesermanmedia.podbean.com/
I'd also like to send a special thank you to Bob Kieserman for encouraging my efforts and being willing to put my piece on his network for the whole country to hear!

Four Years of Professional Experience... Was there a point???

So, if you recall, I was headed to a major university on Friday to meet with my friend's uncle.  He is the Head of Archiving and a very pleasant and helpful gentleman.  He took me on a tour of the department, showed me the equipment they use, and took me to meet the Head of Records Management (who is the sole RM employee for a school with approx. 50,000 students plus staff, memorabilia, etc.!).  This is an incredible department with serious opportunity.  So, what's my problem?  This lovely gentleman spent the morning letting me know that the only opportunities available are unpaid internships.  I don't mean to sound ungrateful, but I did not invest $37,000 dollars for a degree and four years of my life busting my hump in relevant work experience to regress to an unpaid internship.  Those are for people who are still in school and either have parents or spouses who can support them or who have nothing and can get government support.  Like the average middle class student, I fell somewhere in the middle.  My parents let me live with them, fed me, and took me to the movies on occasion, but we agreed that graduate school was my responsibility.  So, like so many others in this situation, I took a full-time job that would enable me to keep my car and buy the most necessary books.  About a week after I graduated, I got a call for a job interview in the field of records management.  I blew them away at the interview, excelled in my position, and stuck around for three years until I found a new opportunity in a different field.  I guess I got the idea that this experience canceled out the need for any internship... paid or otherwise.  To add insult to injury, the only unpaid internship this school wanted to offer me was in records management.  I'd possibly be willing to do it if it was in a new field... something I've never done before.  I also think it would be unfair to take this internship from a student or recent graduate with no experience who needs it more.  I'm going to take my chances and continue searching for a paid position.  Last night I applied for a great position at a large law firm.  I called them today, but I haven't heard back yet.  I also applied for a records management position at a technology firm, and I'm going to call them in a bit.  Until I hear from one of them, keep the baby-sitting jobs coming!

Finally, what are your opinions?  Should I be more willing to take an unpaid internship?  Would an internship even help me if I've already had professional experience in that field?

Return of the phone call: why I spent Monday worrying about my future

Of the two phone calls I made on Monday, I got one return call.  The recruiter from the multinational corporation called me back with disappointing news.  This is the kind of company that requires you to fill out an extensive and overly personal application on their website.  THEIR website... it's their program.  Bear this is mind when you hear what she told me.  "Well, we didn't call you because you have a Master's in Psychology, and we are looking for somebody with more tech experience."  So, of course I explained that I have an MLIS, and my BA is in Psych.  This is when she went on to explain that the resume comes through as a text file and can be hard to decipher.  Really?  A company that wants tech experience created their own online application that doesn't work?  On the one hand, this proves that it can be helpful to call.  The reason a company doesn't call you for an interview could be as simple as them misreading your resume!  On the other hand, what hope is there for the kinds of places that don't accept or return phone calls?  All those universities that rely on digital applications; what if their programs are misinterpreting my resume as well?
Ok, so we got that cleared up, and she started to go through my resume a little more extensively to see what else she might have gotten wrong.  This is when she stated that my undergraduate GPA wasn't acceptable to them.  "Really?" I asked.  "It was nearly a decade ago, and it's a completely unrelated degree.  I would think that my 3.7 GPA in a relevant degree would count for more.  "Oh no, we require a 3.5 or higher in all of our employees' degrees.  Ouch.  She completed the phone call by thanking me for my pro-activeness, and I somehow managed not to throw my iPhone across the room.  Goodness knows I wouldn't be able to pay for a new one.  Its a little hard to recover from that kind of phone call.  Logically, I know that I would not enjoy working for that kind of company anyway, but emotionally, I cannot fathom that they wouldn't even interview me because I had a rough time in college.  So, response time..  What do you all think?  Should we be penalized for bad grades even if we rallied and proved competence in our chosen careers?  Moreover, should I be made to feel like a loser by a company that can't even use their own application system competently?

Damn you voicemail: Phone campaign, day 1

I started my day with a $175 filling in my tooth (marked down from $225 thanks to my wonderful dentist).  Instead of allowing this setback to ruin my day, I am directing my financial anger into my phone calls.  No worries, I managed to convert the anger into self-confidence over the phone. 

My first phone call was to a law firm in Delaware.  It's an entry-level position, and working there would mean waking up at 6 AM every day, but I am not in a position to be picky.  I sent my application digitally as requested in the posting, but then I used some creative Googling to come up with the company name and phone number.  Alas... voicemail.  I left the a charming message for the HR Director and stressed how important the personal touch is even if the posting did not actively promote phone inquiries.  I'm assuming my phone call came in during lunch hour, so let us see if Ms. HR has the time and manners to call me back later today.

My second call was to a large corporation to which I had applied several weeks ago.  I noticed that they re-posted the position on a different job board this past Friday, so they clearly have not been able to fill it yet.  I called the Philadelphia office first, since that is where I would be working, and I was told that the HR office is in IL.  HR then informed that I would need to speak to the recruiters.  I repeated my story to a recruited who listened nicely... and then transferred me to the recruiter who must have rejected me in the first place.  Perhaps she was also at lunch.  I left her a wonderful message outlining why she should definitely call me this time so we can discuss how perfect I am for the job.  Hell, they're only looking for someone who got a 3.5 in school, and I got a 3.7!

That's all for today, unless I see any new postings on SimplyHired or Monster.com.  I'll keep you posted on any return calls I might get.  For now I'm off to baby-sit, which is apparently the only job someone with a Masters can get these days.

Nepotism as a form of personal contact

It's not what you know, it's who you know.  I have never believed 100% in this theory.  There are way too many unemployed and/or unsuccessful people with successful family members and friends for it to be true.  I am, however, a firm believer in getting a leg up from helpful people and then using my own skills and charm to get ahead.  After all, if the hard part is getting in to the interview and I can use a personal reference to get that far, I'll still need to do well in the interview.  Next week I have a meeting with an archivist at a major university.  I was granted this meeting because this archivist happens to be uncle to one of my good friends from high school.  I don't know that this meeting will get me anywhere, but I do know that the campus has three open positions.  I fully intend to charm my friend's uncle and as many of his colleagues as possible.  If I could turn this meeting into an interview of sorts, I could have a job within a few weeks.  Just in case though, I still intend to work on my personal contact campaign starting Monday.

My Resume

Heather Tomar 2007 Jackson Dr Voorhees, NJ 08043		Phone  E-mail htomar82@hotmail.com
Objective	To gain meaningful work experience in the area of early childhood education or library sciences.
Skills	·         Full knowledge of computers including medical systems, Microsoft Office, Excel, PowerPoint, Adobe, Oracle SQLPlus, LexisNexis, Dialog, company-specific databases, Dreamweaver, html, basic programming, and basic troubleshooting. ·         Ability to work independently as well as on teams. ·         Supervisory and administrative experience with a staff of approx. 50 instructors. ·         Strong organizational skills and ability to work under pressure and tight deadlines. ·         Proficient in library cataloging methods such as MARC and OCLC. ·         Proficient in 1st and 2nd grade Braille ·         Nearly four years worth of secretarial work that included answering phones, filing, and use of all office machinery. ·         Childcare experience dating back to 1992.  I have worked with children of all ages in personal and institutional settings.  This includes special needs children with varying degrees of ADHD, autism, physical handicaps and learning disabilities.
Work experience	April 2010 – December 2010 Thompson Institute              Philadelphia, PA Librarian/Asst. Director of Education ·         Maintained small collection of hard copy materials ·         Assisted students with research and resume-writing ·         Taught students how to use citations in academic papers ·         Helped supervise staff of approx. 50 instructors in 6 programs ·         Observed instructors and wrote detailed evaluations (5-10 per week) ·         Created and maintained faculty files ·         Set up room schedules for classes, meetings, and special programs ·         Tracked professional development for instructors ·         Coordinated the most recent graduation ·         Coordinated getting approx. 500 students to computers to take surveys each month ·         Interviewed prospective faculty members and assisted in the hiring process   January 2007 – March 2010     Deloitte and Touche          Philadelphia/New York Records Specialist ·         Kept track of thousands of files both on and offsite ·         Created, tracked, cataloged, delivered, and destroyed files as needed ·         Worked on a major destruction project that involved researching thousands of files, determing their status, and processing hundreds of files that had never been entered into the database; one year as a team member and one year as a team leader ·         Worked on research project to determine locations of over 2,000 lost files leftover from previous team ·         Spent one week in Boston helping that team process about 200 boxes worth of old files ·         Also took continuing education courses and attended daily, weekly, and monthly meetings ·         Awards – Outstanding Achievement bonus for destruction project, Applause Award for project in Boston Jan. 2006- Jan. 2007 Silver Care Center                 Cherry Hill, NJ Receptionist Supervisor ·         Answered the phones ·         Edited and typed reports for the every departent ·         Did medical data entry ·         Sorted the mail and welcomed visitors ·         Oversaw 3 other receptionists in the building and ensured each station had coverage throughout the week September 2004- December 2005    Woodcrest Elementary          Cherry Hill, NJ Educational Assistant ·         Worked one-on-one with students with mild to severe physical, social, and learning disabilities
Education	Sept. 2005- Dec. 2006       Drexel University                      Philadelphia, PA MLIS – 3.7 GPA Sept. 2000-May 2004        Rutgers University     New Brunswick/Camden, NJ Psychology Major BA in psychology with a focus on child development.

Searching For a Job in a Digital World

I have been unemployed for two months.  That’s not very long, I know.  There are people who’ve been out of work for months, years even.  I’ve read articles about executives who went from making 7 figures to mopping floors.  I haven’t even managed to burn through my severance pay yet, so why am I stressing so hard?  I’ll tell you why.  This country’s manners are getting progressively worse.  From rude movie patrons to people allowing their children to run screaming through previously fine dining establishments, it’s hard to go anywhere and find evidence that people even know what manners are anymore.  So it’s not surprising that the job-seeking process should fall prey to the same lack of decorum.

Since I launched into my search, I have had two serious job interviews.  The first interview was with a religious school that offers Hebrew High School classes, and undergraduate and graduate degrees.  I was more than qualified for the position having held a similar one for three years.  The interview went well, I gave all the right answers, and I thought the interviewers liked me.  They balked at my salary request, but I tried to make it clear that it was negotiable.  Hey, if former executives are willing to work for less, then so am I.  Anything to get a job that I might truly enjoy or that could enhance my resume!  The interviewers assured me they would be in touch with me either way but that I could feel free to call in a few days and check in.  I gave it a few days and then called.  My inquiry was met with thinly veiled annoyance and the response, “Uh, we haven’t decided yet.”  Considering they told me they needed to fill the position ASAP, I took that as a no.  Why, though?  Why would they make a point of saying they’d call either way or inviting me to call if they had no intention of hiring me?  No one likes rejection, but rejection following dishonesty only hurts more.  My second interview went much the same way.  This time it was a recruiter trying to hire for a law firm.  The interviewer gave me resume tips and told me how hard she’d fight to get me this job.  I figured it was win-win.  She’d only get paid if she got me hired, after all.  So, what happened?  I called when she told me to, and she never called me back.  I e-mailed her, and she finally responded that she had a definite meeting with the law firm and she’d call me right after.  I never heard from her again.  I can take a hint; the law firm didn’t want me. 

As bad as those experiences were though, nothing is more disheartening than applying to work for a major university.  “Don’t call us, we’ll call you.”  Most universities employ digital filters and refuse to have any human contact with applicants.  I made the mistake of calling one such university.  There was no thinly veiled annoyance here.  This was flat-out anger.  “Why would you call us?  Who told you that you could call us?  If we had any interest, we would have called you!”  Ouch.  The only blessing was that there was no gap in the conversation in which I could have left my name.  Unless they took the time to trace my cell phone number, they still have no idea who had the audacity to think that they could call human resources about a job.  So far, Temple is the only school that has treated me like a human, and I haven’t tried to prove otherwise by attempting to call them.

So, why the blog?  I am setting out to prove that humans can still relate to one another.  I am not going to stop applying to jobs online, but I am going to start calling every company.  I will let companies know that there is a person behind each digital application and e-mailed resume.  Failing that, I am going to start hitting the pavements a la the pre-digital generations.  Follow me on my quest to prove that we don’t have to let computers take over every part of our lives.  

P.S.  I’m aware of the irony of blogging my Luddite tendencies, and I’m comfortable with it.