One-woman career retreating

Recently I have seen a couple of instances in my professional life and thought, I really need to devote some time to think about my career. More than a couple, actually: where do I want my career to go, and to do? What opportunities am I going to grab and which ones am I going to let float on by? Because I’m one archivist with a full life, so I am not here to do everything.

Recreation of my retreat because apparently I didn’t take any photos! Important take-away: notebooks for days.

At the end of the summer, I set aside a half-day to do a personal retreat and consider some big questions about myself and my career and also answer some specific questions about upcoming opportunities. It was great, and I highly recommend treating yourself! Here are some resources that helped me determine what I wanted to consider in my four-hour window:

• How to Conduct a Career-Planning Retreat. I condensed the three parts into around 30-minute pieces each, though I didn’t time myself; that’s just what came naturally. Being honest with myself what my current strengths and areas for development are, and then using that information to plot my future conceptually and into discreet steps makes sense for me.
• How to Plan a Personal Day-Long Mindfulness and Meditation Retreat. My day was a less meditation and more writing, but coming back to these big questions was good. Summary always helps illuminate the way and provide a clear goal for me to focus on. While I didn’t do a full day this time, I would like to in the future! My pal Jennie recently took, I believe, at least 36 hours for a personal retreat on the coast and … yes. In the future, I’d like to add a walk along a body of water.

In keeping with the first link, I wanted to have a day where big thoughts were distilled into action items. “Where do I want to go?” is important, but so is actually getting there. To this end, some questions that I considered were:

• What do I value?
• How do I view myself? And how much of that is true?
• What clear direction or calling has emerged for how I want to guide my career?
• What is lacking in my job currently?
• What interim steps do I need to take to get from here to there?
• What training do I need to get there?

I anticipate that as I begin to check things off my list, the questions will evolve, so each retreat will require a little bit of advanced planning and question-seeking on my part. I am aiming to retreat twice a year – a short, half-day check-in and an annual longer (whole day even!?!?) retreat. In theory, the whole day will take place in advance of my annual goal setting in January. So I’m blocking a day off in my calendar and brainstorming where to get my shoreline walk fix now!

Job Hunting (in Academia): One Archivist’s Tales

Sung to the tune of The Brady Bunch theme song: Here’s a story, of a girl mired in grad student loans, who struck out to make a living with recorrrrrds.

(sorry/not sorry)

This isn’t my advice – that will come – but this has been my academic-ish job seeking journey. YMMV.

– – –

When I started job hunting during my last year of graduate school, I applied for almost any job that looked remotely entry-level-ish. A number of these were academic institutions, although I applied for corporate, state and federal government, and library positions as well. I wanted to stay in Boston or move closer to my family in the South. I wanted to gain valuable experience, not just do work.

I accomplished some of these goals: I took an archives assistant position at a college archives in Boston, working for a processing archivist who was open to letting baby archivists stretch their legs. My salary was tolerable, especially given the learning opportunities and Boston’s happening scene (which sounds super-nerdy but it’s TOTALLY happening). The hiring process, for me, was relatively quick; I applied at the end of March, had an in-person interview in mid-April, was asked for approval to contact references the next day (holy grail), got a hire letter around my graduation date (~1 month later), and started my new job June 1. Two months from start to finish.

Alas, my job was only a one-year contact position so I took about three months off before I started applying for positions. A friend in NC recommended a non-academic position to me; I applied in October, heard back from the organization in late January, had a phone interview in February, and made an in-person visit at the beginning of March. It’s worth noting that this non-profit did not have an HR department, which may have affected the process’s speed. No job for me. Five months from start to finish.

Next promising opportunity was a FULL-TIME, PERMANENT, ENTRY-LEVEL position at a university in Florida. The rarest of birds, so of course I jumped at the chance. I applied at the end of March, had a phone interview at the end of April, was invited to interview in-person (all day, with a presentation) at the end of May, actually interviewed in person in late June, and knew by the first week of July that the (very cool) job (with great people) was not mine. Four and a half months from start to finish.

At this point in my search, a few academic institutions at which I had put in applications called for references before reaching out to me. Some of them I never heard from myself. This was unexpected and, frankly, unwelcome although I see the value in it. My negative feelings mostly emanate from sad places and worries about why they never got in touch. Santa Cruz, call me! Why u no call? So, be forewarned, job seekers.

Another academic opportunity – project job in Iowa, egad IOWA – had an alarmingly, blessedly rapid process. They contacted my references before reaching out to me, around the same time Florida Job was checking before hauling me down for my visit. I put in my application in mid-April, knew they checked on me at the beginning of June, was contacted at the end of June, had a video-conference interview at the beginning of July, participated in a background check AND received an offer the next week (seriously – boom, boom, boom). Application to acceptance, a little less than three months, and most of that was time between application and first official contact from the search committee.

The funny (HAHAHAHA) thing is that these processes feel much longer. I’m amazed right now that none hit the six month mark, because it felt that way. I found the wait between phone and in-person interview particularly difficult, because the position and the people faded from my mind. I’m sure they expect that, but it was still difficult. The good thing about the wait (or is this is a bad thing?) is that I would use to the time to read books about specific types of archives or job functions, things that did not come up in graduate school. I learned a lot from that tutelage, but it also cost me a little sanity.

Next post will offer some strategies and tools that I have found useful in the two years or so that I spent on the archivist job market. What works for me may not work for you, but in case it might, I’ll serve up some ideas.

How I Chose Library Science and Archives Management

It took me three years to get from “starting to think about library science” to “starting library and information science school to become an archivist.” I’m a late bloomer, what can I say? But when it comes down to it, this is how I got from “that could be cool” to “this is my life.

 

Why Library and Information Science?

The People. Truly, this was my gateway into the field. I have spent a lot of time at bookstores and libraries, across the US, and my key takeaway: I like people who like books. I took the next step and started volunteering at my local public library; I discovered that I liked shelving books and helping people find what books. I also talked with archivists during this period and took an informal trip to visit Simmons College GSLIS, my current school. What I heard clicked with my interests and aspirations, and – deal clincher – everyone was nice.

Professional Principles. I am a proponent of literacy and education; I think they are the building blocks of success. I believe in access for all, because I know that everyone does not have the benefit of high-quality education or home technology. I believe that bad books are great conversation starters, and good books are even better. I believe that if I can’t afford to go on a vacation, a good book is the next best thing. I believe that everyone can learn something at the library about themselves or the world they live in; or at least check out that movie they keep missing on TV.

My Background. I was an English major in college, and minored in Political Science and International Studies; I considered going into publishing and the Foreign Service, but ended up in the research/consulting industry after I graduated. My interests, as you can see, are broad, as are my skill sets. Research taught me how to organize my thoughts well, organize documents according to how people would read them, and to determine what people are looking for when they ask broad questions like, “What’s the best way to manage performance?” Little did I know, these are information science skills.

Why Archives?

The Documents. In college, I feel in love with the personal letters of authors and fiction written in that form. My family has an extensive history that is recorded in the stories my grandmother tells and the family letters and photos that remain. I myself love sending letters and postcards; I find physically writing so much more therapeutic than word-processing. The history and personality of those items is exquisite, even when they don’t belong to Ben Franklin or Steve Jobs.

The Field. I enjoy the way librarians and archivists think about access, as the field evolves to apply technology. And books are cool, as are documents, but information organization is so much cooler. How will people search for this item? How can I title it and organize it to make it accessible? What’s the best way to advertise this item and the collection as a whole? Libraries encompass some of these issues as well, but letters and records and other documents – all that knowledge management comes in handy.

 

In conclusion: Let’s be clear, I cannot be sure if I’ve chosen my future profession exactly; I’m very much a believer in working hard, asking lots of questions, and taking opportunities when I find them or they come my way. But I’m headed in the right direction, even if the road is paved with chapters upon chapters of reading about different paper types.