The Unemployment Diaries: Change of Plans

I’ve covered a lot of territory in this segment. There have been the fleeting highs, aha! moments and then the lows, lots of lows. 

Today I’m announcing that this will likely be one of my last ‘unemployment’ posts. Don’t start cheering- there is NO job on the horizon. Rather, recent events have left me like Paul on the road to Damascus (my mother is wincing at my using Biblical references regarding such a secular matter). Unlike his path, which led to possibly the biggest career change ever, mine is not so monumental. In fact, mine has proven to be a dead end; no path at all. I was turned down, without even the opportunity to interview, for two library jobs. One was in the library for I have been volunteering for 3 years. I met the majority of qualification but as the manager kindly explained, she had 64 candidates who met them exactly. At that point, even a sterling personality and dedication to the institution wasn’t enough. 

Given those personal events and the recently published report in Forbes that a master’s degree in Library & Information Science is the worst degree as far as job opportunities and growth are concerned and I realized that I have bloodied my skull enough by bashing it into the brick wall that is the my current field. Time to do something different. Not a career change because I don’t even know what that word means anymore and I don’t think today in America is the best time to look outside the box. There are millions of people with exactly the skills and experience needed for virtually every white collar job out there so having nothing more than desire doesn't cut it with potential employers. 

Where I am is a new space. One that is both foreign and uncomfortable for me. Maybe you could call it acceptance but that feels too big and permanent. I have decided that while this is definitely not a situation I desire or sought it is here. Continued pursuit of jobs that don’t even materialize into a single interview is toxic. Have I given up? Maybe. But I’m not depressed or unhappy. I have found something that I love to do, that fills me with joy even when it makes me grind my teeth. I can’t continue to focus on a situation that is wholly negative and out of my control. Rationally, I know what a great employee I’d be and that I could do well in a variety of companies but I can’t make it happen so I’m letting go.

 
I don’t want to mix the negative with the positive so the update on my new venture will follow in a post of its own.