First Post Ever

I don't know if librarians can technically be hacks, but if they can then I am one. You see, I just graduated from library school in May and have since moved from Vancouver, British Columbia,--aka 'Paradise'-- to Arlington, Virginia, and am now in the always-degrading position of searching for employment. To me, this process is akin to prying out my eyeballs with a rusty fork, and thus I have formed a blog to cry about it like a little baby.

The title of the blog also refers to the fact that sometimes, when I'm in the appropriate mood, I fancy myself a writer (I was a creative writing major back in my undergrad days, so it's not just all in my head). So in addition to this being a space where I can bitch and moan about the indignities of the unemployed, it's also supposed to help spur my creative genious. Ha.

To start things off, one of the first items I'd like to complain about is the soul-sucking, vomit-inducing enterprise known as 'the interview.' I had two of them last week, and interestingly enough, the one that went the best was the one where I was more or less accused of being a liar right in the middle of the interview. It started out all lovely, one of the best interviews I'd ever had, with six funny and relaxed women just sitting around chatting about their jobs. Then one of them made a reference to the many courses I have taken in archives. Knowing myself as I do, I know that I have only taken two courses in archives, and asked the woman to which courses she was referring (she had been reading my course list from my online portfolio). Meanwhile, I had forgotten that some of the courses at my school were cross-listed (there being two master's programs in the school, one for libraries and a separate one for archives), which means that the courses have 'and archives' attached to the end of the title, such as 'Management of Libraries and Archives.' [Basically it's a meaningless gesture made to help the archival students at the school feel included, even though there's essentially no material regarding archives in any of those courses.]

Anyway, as soon as I registered puzzlement and asked the woman to explain, everyone in the room froze. Obviously they were all wondering how I could have forgotten about courses I had taken; the word LIAR may as well have been chiseled across my forehead. When she read out the titles of the courses to which she was referring I suddenly understood the problem and immediately tried to explain, but of course no one in this country understands the concept of a separate archival master's degree and I knew it was hopeless. So the next thing out of the library director's mouth is, 'Do you have any old professors that we could contact, or a transcript you could give us?' Then, immediately following this, 'You did graduate, didn't you?' Humiliations galore!

The interview the next day went marginally better, but I didn't really want that job so it doesn't matter. This morning I got a call for an interview at another library; the woman at the other end of the line never introduced herself, and when I asked who the interview was going to be with, she said it was going to be with her. The name Mary S. Thelen was in the job announcement and therefore I assumed Mary Thelen was the name of the library director. I had even began my cover letter with 'Dear Ms. Thelen.' So, still searching for a proper name, I asked, 'Are you Mary Thelen?' Silent pause. Then, 'Mary Thelen is the name of the library. I am Somebody Somebody.'

Hello, how am I supposed to know that when you don't put it in the job announcement and don't introduce yourself over the telephone? So that interview is bound to suck as well. Rest assured, I'll keep you posted.