Interview
Well, the interview at LMU was yesterday, and the short version is as follows:
I think it went well on the whole, but I'm a little less confident coming out of it than I was going in because they seemed to be emphasizing different parts of the job description during the interview compared with the written job description I'd seen. I was expecting it to be about 75% tech services, and 25% public services, when it's actually closer to 50/50.
I also came out of it feeling rather conflicted about the job, although I'm feeling somewhat less so after having slept on it a little. The head of special collections (who would be my boss) and the dean of the libraries were awesome, but the other two full-time staff members in special collections seemed really antisocial, and seemed pretty meh. The job itself will be a real challenge, but if I can do it, will put me in a fantastic position, career-wise. It involves cataloging, collection development, building their digital program almost from the ground up (they're hiring a digital initiatives coordinator, which will help), providing reference services both in special collections and on the general reference desk, and--this is the only thing that really worries me--doing faculty outreach and giving class presentations about the special collections.
What probably bugged me the most was not even about the job itself... it was the students. I wandered around the campus a little bit after my interview, and it was just so wholesome and homogeneous. I feel like college students should really be a little bit angry, and a little bit weird. There was an air of complacent normality (which I really should have expected, given that it's a Catholic university) that I just find rather uncomfortable.
So, I have some pondering to do, and there's always the possibility that they'll find someone more qualified, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. They have more interviews throughout the week, and will try to send their decision to HR "as soon as possible" once those are done.
I'll probably post an even more long-winded ramble about the interview later, but for now I'm going to try to get a little bit of actual work done.
I think it went well on the whole, but I'm a little less confident coming out of it than I was going in because they seemed to be emphasizing different parts of the job description during the interview compared with the written job description I'd seen. I was expecting it to be about 75% tech services, and 25% public services, when it's actually closer to 50/50.
I also came out of it feeling rather conflicted about the job, although I'm feeling somewhat less so after having slept on it a little. The head of special collections (who would be my boss) and the dean of the libraries were awesome, but the other two full-time staff members in special collections seemed really antisocial, and seemed pretty meh. The job itself will be a real challenge, but if I can do it, will put me in a fantastic position, career-wise. It involves cataloging, collection development, building their digital program almost from the ground up (they're hiring a digital initiatives coordinator, which will help), providing reference services both in special collections and on the general reference desk, and--this is the only thing that really worries me--doing faculty outreach and giving class presentations about the special collections.
What probably bugged me the most was not even about the job itself... it was the students. I wandered around the campus a little bit after my interview, and it was just so wholesome and homogeneous. I feel like college students should really be a little bit angry, and a little bit weird. There was an air of complacent normality (which I really should have expected, given that it's a Catholic university) that I just find rather uncomfortable.
So, I have some pondering to do, and there's always the possibility that they'll find someone more qualified, but I'm going to keep my fingers crossed. They have more interviews throughout the week, and will try to send their decision to HR "as soon as possible" once those are done.
I'll probably post an even more long-winded ramble about the interview later, but for now I'm going to try to get a little bit of actual work done.