The San Diego Chapter hosted a powerful panel of speakers on the topic of Job Hunting and Hiring: Insider Perspecitves. Nearly 50 people attended the February 23 sessionat Pfizer San Diego to learn effective strategies for landing the ideal job.
Special thanks to the esteemed panelists who were kind enough to summarize their top tips as follows:
Anne Turhollow, Interim Associate Dean, San Diego State University
- Read the ad very carefully. Required qualifications are required!
- Get a plain vanilla e-mail address. Cute is for family and friends.
- Customize the cover letter. Don't write about the liberal arts college ethos, if you are applying to enormous state university.
Steven Deineh, Instruction Librarian, MiraCosta College
- What is your teaching philosophy?
- Intern, intern, intern!
- Beg, borrow, and steal teaching experience!!! In community college libraries teaching is one of the main job functions.
Elizabeth Grossman, Digital Library Administrator, Bridgepoint Education
- Make use of Indeed.com
- Network, network, network!
Gayle Pellizzer, Recruiter, LAC Group
- Do your homework before your interview! Fully research the firm or organization, and know what hot trends and new technologies are affecting the type of work you will be doing if you are hired.
- Be flexible! Any number of factors can affect a recruitment. Busy hiring managers or committees may have to cancel/reschedule/postpone an interview, often at the last minute.
- Always be professional and as accommodating as possible during the hiring process. Respond to emails in a timely manner, and always be on the lookout for phone calls. If you are going to be unavailable for a period of time, let everyone involved know, and don't just disappear!
Talitha Matlin, Assistant Librarian, San Diego Zoo
- Find a mentor early on! Bounce ideas off of them, go to them for advice, use them for guidance through school and into your job search.
- Join a few select professional societies and get involved. Volunteering for open positions will give you leadership experience and allow you to work closely with other people in the field.
- Intern, intern, intern! One of the main things that can set you apart as an applicant is your library experience -- try to take advantage of these positions during school to work on meaningful projects.
Dolly Goulart, Senior Manager, Qualcomm
- Make sure your resume starts out strong – the highly relevant information should be at the top of the page
- Capture your successes, not just your skills - i.e. you grew your client base by X% over X time period; initiated new research process that saved X% of time, etc.
- Develop yourself for the job you want - determine the role that you want to be in and begin to increase your skill set to match that role
Compiled by: Cindy Shamel, Shamel Information Services, Program Moderator