This week's lesson: mediocrity gets you hired.

[intheflow]

Okay, so I'm trying to switch careers. Have been since 2008. Switching from ministry (complete with my Masters of Divinity) to working in a library with the goal of becoming a librarian some sweet day.

I had to leave the ministry after having a nervous breakdown from doing two years of hurricane recovery/community organizing in the Deep South after Katrina. That job stole my soul, wrecked my psyche and ended my long-term relationship. As a result, I'm 80k in student loan debt for a masters degree that is totally useless.

So I volunteered at the local library, got hired as a p/t shelver, and moved into a p/t clerk job. The pay is roughly $17k/year. Hardly enough to live on, certainly not enough to work on that massive load of student debt. And until I can work on that, I can't even think about taking on more debt by going back to grad school for my Masters in Library Science.

Have I mentioned I'll be 50 in six months?

Meanwhile, I've been applying for everything that comes open at my library system and surrounding library systems, even a 30-hour job would provide more financial security. Finally a 40-hour job came open at my branch. Even though I have been praised for my customer service skills, am flexible in scheduling, and volunteer for extra work (like working on displays, taking over co-worker tasks when they're on vacation, even doing back-up on the reference desk when the librarians are overwhelmed and I'm asked to pitch in), the job was given to a coworker who spends her days on facebook, and in the back room when she's scheduled to be on the floor assisting customers. She never volunteers for extra work and even told me, when she came out of her interview, that she didn't even really want the job. I was passionate in my interview about my love for the job, but apparently her dental needs superceded my love of the actual job (that was a reason I was told why she was hired). She is 26.

Of course I also need massive dental work and new glasses, plus my car needs alllll kinds of help. But silly me, I thought actually wanting the job was more important than complaining about my poverty.

The same week I learned I didn't get this job, I also learned from a HR person at a neighboring library district that I'm not getting call-backs from them because I'm too educated. Yes. I'm too educated to work as a clerk in a library - a place supposedly all about education. Not educated enough to work as a librarian, mind you, but too educated to help people get library cards and pay fines. I can't go to library school without some financial stability, but I can't get financial stability because I'm too ambitious.

So, lesson of the week: mediocrity gets you hired, passion gets you nowhere.

[love_katz]

1. This sounds more like age descrimination to me.

So sorry that this happened to you...it's not fair, at all.

Over-educated, my ass.

I honestly hope that circumstances improve for you.

[intheflow]

2. Talked with my boss about it a little.

She told me the other girl got hired because she has seniority over me, even though it's only about 3 months. Also the dental thing, but the deciding factor was the seniority, mostly because there were four of use applying for the position from the branch. Then she went on to say she didn't expect this girl to be in the job more than a year! Seriously WTF - why would you hire someone - even for seniority reasons - if you were certain they'd ditch out in only a year?

But whatever. I've started applying to jobs at the local college where they have a Masters of Library Science program and you can take classes for free. So perhaps something shall come of that. Thanks for your support, love_katz. Means a lot.

[love_katz]

6. Glad to be able to provide some encouragement.

I hope things turn out well for you. Wishing you good luck and the best of success.

[Chan790]

3. If it's not too personal to ask...

what church were you a minister in? More precisely, do they have colleges and universities?

I ask because I know that the libraries of religious universities may be more interested in you because of the MA in Divinity, especially if you were interested in taking a second degree and had some training or interest in taking training in restoration or archival work more immediately. I had an ex-gf who was working in the Oliviera Lima collection in the Mullen stacks at Catholic Univ. in DC getting paid to catalog and very-daintily dust the pages of 1000 year old books and relics, some of the most valuable treasures of the Catholic church. They specifically wanted someone who understood what it was they were preserving and why it was important. At the same time, they were paying for her to go to school towards a MS in Library Science two courses at a time.

It might take 5 or 6 years, but it's a free MS and a job if you can find that kind of option.

[intheflow]

5. Not too personal a question!

I was a Unitarian Universalist minister, got my degree from a Methodist seminary in Denver. I suppose I could cruise their job openings and see if they have any library jobs. It's not a bad idea. We also have a Jesuit university that I should look into, it's very liberal and much closer to my home. The remaining seminary in the area is super-fundie, I would never want to work there - and they would never tolerate me!

Thanks for the idea!

[caraher]

4. My aunt regularly concealed her education

She was a history professor who sometimes sought clerical work for extra income, and she always put "high school graduate" as her education level. Nobody hires PhDs for those jobs!

Of course, that was decades ago, so perhaps it would be wise to admit to a bachelor's degree since that seems to have become what a high school diploma once was...

[duffyduff]

7. In some fields you can't hide your education

especially when the most recent jobs you worked at REQUIRED a college degree; for example, teaching. You could leave your degrees off, but the job itself is going to be the giveaway.