11.27.2006

Librarian: Quest for the Job Part II

Yes! You have made it to the sequel. Aren't you excited? I dare hope so.

The last time we left our heroine (read: me) I had just discovered my calling to be a librarian. Upon waking the next morning my inkling had coagulated into a more discernable plan. I had decided that I would not just be any librarian - I'd be a young adult librarian. Mostly, I had fears that if I were to be an adult librarian I would be expected to read literature. I didn't want to do that. I like fantasy, mostly, and I'd heard that YA librarians played video games and planned Harry Potter parties. This sounded like the perfect job.

I returned to the career counselor's office and handed her back the books, telling her I'd found my perfect profession. She smiled, politely, probably assuming I was off to make my mark on the world as a grant writer.

Fast forward two years.

I had my plan. Unlike many of my friends and peers I knew what I wanted to do when I grew up. How, then, could I have graduated from college and spent almost nine months searching for a job. At first, I'd been picky. I would only work in libraries or something that helped my credentials for librarianeering. Then, I relaxed it a little. If it made enough money, I reasoned, I could get through library school faster and get to do real librarian stuff. A month later I was listening to someone tell me how I, too, could be a successful financial advisor.

I had already started library school. I wanted to get on it as quickly as possible so I began classes only a month or so after college graduation. I had been working at Giant Eagle, my fallback job for the last two years, and looking for college-educated employment since January. I did everything right. I had a great resume - I'd done study abroad, internships and took leadership in student organizations in my undergraduate studies. I was a regular at career fairs and I always always followed up with employers. I must have had hundreds of applications in and I was so sick of sitting through tests at Cuyahoga Public Library that I wanted to scream and give up librarianeering forever.

I had about given up on ever rising above my station as a deli clerk when my YA professor announced a job at her husband's library. There was an opening for a YA associate. I didn't think I'd get it. I had suddenly realized I had no experience with teens other than working with cashiers at Giant Eagle and being a big sister. I decided I should start volunteering - anything to get the experience. When I got the interview for the YA associate position for the first time in my job hunt I was not confident - which translated into not being nervous. I left the library thinking that it was very nice and I'd like to work there, but that would probably be the last time I saw it.

Fast forward another week.

I was leaving for work at Giant Eagle. I worked 37 hours a week, just under what they could give me before I would get stuff like benefits. The phone rang and I yelled at my brother to get it. I was running late. He handed me the phone and I was not surprised to hear the voice of one of my interviewers. Oh, that's nice, I thought, usually they don't call to tell you they chose someone else. But, as you've guessed, she offered me the position. I luckily did not jump all over the room and scream like I'd won Publisher's Clearing House. I instead thanked her nicely and agreed to show up two weeks from the date.

So that's how I became a YA associate. I still work at Giant Eagle, though, because librarians do not make as much money as financial advisors. Or, probably, grant writers.