A change of pace

On Friday everything changed.  I went to a job interview expecting to interview for a part-time temporary position.  I left with a full-time job that not only pays a competitive rate, but utilizes both my MLS concentration and library experience, and is understanding of the ultimate likelihood that I will someday end up back in a library (in fact, they brought it up and stated they were OK with it).

I'm still processing this change of paradigm and I start tomorrow.

Over the past year I have worked a large number of positions.  My resume does not fully reflect the range of jobs worked, instead is limited to "library experience" (soon to be modified to "library & related experience").  Listing every job and placement out individually with their duties and responsibilities would get a little ridiculous, particularly in light of one-week temp postings.  Don't get me wrong, I have all the library temp positions listed, but under the heading of BiblioTemps rather than as individual jobs.

The quick summary of my employment over the course of 2014 through early 2015:
  • Seasonal work at a college bookstore
  • Five library temp placements, two in the same library, one lasting five months
  • Substitute teaching K-12
  • Web development contractor
  • Bookstore shipping
At one point I was bouncing between four temporary/part-time/on-call positions at the same time (it would have been five but substitute teaching was put on hold during this time).  In summary, on top of all of the other chaos of my life, I've been in a situation of high income insecurity.  And to be honest, it sucked.  Don't get me wrong, I love the opportunities that it allowed, but the stress of not knowing if I would meet my minimum monthly expenses, or even if I would have employment the following month/week/day is significant.  Not only that, but working as a temporary employee, especially in a position of some authority, you are inevitably in a very ambiguous and vulnerable place since you are so transitory (particularly when substitute teaching).

Suddenly I'll be working in a tangential position, just for a 'private' company (still a 501.3c) instead of a library, doing Records Management and IT/Systems.  I guess I'm due for a blog byline change.  Meanwhile I'm reaching out to folks for resources to re-familiarize myself with Records Management practices/guidelines/resources (it has been years since I've need to actively pull on this knowledge).  I'm excited to see where this goes.

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