If you haven’t seen it yet, you may want to take a look at LJ’s latest set of articles about job placements and salaries in libraries. It’s always interesting to see the trends for salary increases (or decreases), position types, etc.
One of the articles focuses on job search skills and strategies. Here’s an excerpt:
Strategies that students used successfully for the search began during their education by gaining experience through practicums and internships, beginning to develop professional social networks, volunteering in professional situations, and starting the search well before graduation.
This shouldn’t come as a surprise. I think most people know by now that gaining practical experience and developing a professional network are both key parts of landing a good job after school and beyond. A big part of our internship program is designed with those two things in mind!
I recommend spending some time exploring all of the data. If you have any thoughts or questions from reading through the articles, share them with the group!
This was a very interesting series of articles. In some ways, it’s very encouraging, because it seems like more students are successfully finding employment. On the other hand, it’s very frustrating to see that even in a profession that employs predominantly women, men are still making significantly higher salaries.
I’m very glad to be doing this internship for many reasons, but even more after reading these articles. It’s nerve-wracking but also exciting to think about possibilities after graduation.
Thanks for sharing!
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Good point about the gender pay gap. ALA-APA published a pay equity bibliography a couple of years ago. It looks like it includes a lot of helpful resources, including many focusing on salary negotiations.
http://ala-apa.org/improving-salariesstatus/resources/pay-equity-bibliography/
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