Have You Tried Being Likeable?

Interesting article from the On Hiring  blog. He’s mainly talking to the superior and arrogant who don’t or won’t give their coworkers the time of day. I’ve worked with people like this. They are so much better, smarter, whatever, that they can’t tell you hello in the hall much less collaborate or share the work load on a committee. They’ll just do it themselves because they are much more capable.

What’s really interesting though are the comments. Yes, we all work with someone who is and idiot (or even a complete department of idiots). What in the world gives anyone the right to treat them like they are idiots. And the term “faking nice” came up way too often. So, your mama told you that you were the center of the universe and every teacher or  teammate or coworker kissed the ground you walked on. (Of course, I’m willing to make a sizable bet that they did’t, but you didn’t notice because you thought they should.) Did you never observe the world around you? Have you not noticed that some people say please and thank you and occasionally smile at others?  Have you never appreciated someone’s kindness toward you? So your mama really didn’t teach you any manners when you were little. It’s never to late to learn them and use them appropriately without “faking nice” to manipulate others.

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I am a librarian

I’ve got a new job and it’s had to stay under my hat a bit as things developed before I could officially resign from my old job. Resignation happened last Monday, but it’s been such a whirlwind this week that I haven’t had the time to properly write about it.

I am the new Media Specialist for C. C. Griffin Middle School in Concord NC. I was hoping to have pictures of the media center to post because it’s beautiful, but the school is only open M-Th right now and I’m teaching summer school on those days.

 

Using the word “I” in cover letters?

Reading another interview on Hiring Librarians. This one points to being tired of the use of the word “I” in resumes/cover letters. I can figure out how NOT to use I in the resume, but it’s not so easy in the cover letter. What do you do to not overuse the I?

Have you had an abysmal job interview?

It’s been awhile, but I have had some that went south. I’ve even had some that I thought went pretty well up until a point and then I knew they were doomed. Forbes has some advice about those terrible interviews in

7 Things You Can Do After A Really Bad Job Interview

Not that you can necessarily redeem the experience, but you can learn from it. One of them is something I had to learn the hard way with lots of things in life. Don’t beat yourself up. After a period of reflection, move on! You can’t change what’s already happened. Get what you can from it and get on with your life!

Hiring Librarians

OK, I’m going to push another blog. Hiring Librarians by Emily Weak. The majority of the posts I’ve read in this one have to do with what those hiring want to see from those interviewing. A lot of the questions have to do with the resume and cover letter – key components to getting past the mailbox and into the interview room.

There are other good topics too, like the one about hiring those with disabilities – specifically Autism. Lots of good info was shared in that post.

I am not a loner!

Although there are times when being alone is the best! But NBC posts  jobs for loners and librarians are at the top. *dislike* Obviously, the writer has not been in a real library in quite a while to see what a hopping place it is.

Are you looking for a job?

I’ve read a couple of posts on NewGradLife. Don’t think you have to be a new grad to appreciate their job hunting advise – like this one on Ten Mistakes that Can Sabotage Your Job Search .

The list includes:

• Blasting your resume
• Not customizing your cover letter or resume
• Only using big sites and the internet

 

Arrow Recruiting

Well, I’m virtually finished with my masters so to say it’s been tempting to look at jobs related to libraries would be a great understatement. So a job came across my feed that looked interestingly perfect for me and I clicked. Job looked even better when I read the whole thing so I sent in my resume. *ahem*

I got a response pretty fast for a Saturday. At first I got an email from Sarah at RecruitArrow thanking me for my resume. Then I got an email from her telling me that while I was highly qualified, librarians are hard to place. At this time I’m getting a little suspicious because nothing about my qualifications for the specific job had been mentioned. Sarah gave several suggestions of places to look. Some (if not all) of them were for-pay job sites. I wish that I’d kept those earlier emails so I could give the names of the sites. (If you’ve had experience with RecruitArrow and saved those sites, I’d love to post them here. Please comment and let me know.) The one I do remember is called Hound. Those just keep coming. (Thank goodness for filters.) At first they were only from Sarah. The first really suspicious email said something along the lines that RecruitArrow had to keep high standards as a placement company but the job was actually listed at Hound and I might have good luck if I contacted the company myself. mmmmmmm You can sign up for a free few days, but really either I’m qualified for the job or not. AND Then I started getting emails straight from Hound.

So, what’s unclear is whether Hound is using RecruitArrow as a way to drum up business or RecruitArrow is using Hound as a money making venue – like an affiliate program.

Job offer via email

It’s been a while since I either got one of these or it slipped past my filter:

It’s from hipujaguwysuz@[some popular email dot com]. Very spiffy name doncha think!

Dear Bitsy Griffin,<br />
We have reviewed your resume from [I removed this part] database reviewed it and  think that you to be a great candidate for this job which we propose.<br>
Our company are  now looking for a few qualified individuals for a vacant position “Account Coordinator”.<br><br>

The main task of this position is collecting payments  wire transfers and cheques  from our clients in US.<br>
If you  don’t have checking account We will help you to open a new one.
<br><br>
Average salary is $600-$800 per week.<br><br>

General Requirements:<br><br>
– Age: 21+<br>
– Ability to work at home<br>
– Responsibility<br>
– Computer skills MS Word personal e-mail address<br>
– US Citizenship<br>
<br><br>
ALL FEES PAID BY US<br><br>

Interested candidates please <a href=”plzlink.me/u2w “> apply here</a><br>

Very stylish with all the html coding too.

If you are looking for a job and get this email, hit the delete button. Do Not Pass Go. do not click on the link. Delete, Delete, Delete.

My friend Matt has a teaching interview!

He’s looking for words of wisdom, so if you have any, chime in please!

This is what I told him off the top of my head:

• Know the curriculum for the grade/s and area as well as the before and after grades. Think of some exciting teaching techniques that are hands on that you can use across multiple topics. You will almost certainly be asked how you would teach so-n-so and they will be looking for innovation and student involvement.
• Think through your philosophy of education. Write it down in bullet form to help you really know it. You’ll probably be asked some questions on which you can use a great deal of material from that document. For instance, I believe that all children can learn (if they wanna). Everything I do – pushing, pulling, reteaching is based on that philosophy.
• You may be interviewed by a team. This one always slays me as someone 1) either doesn’t like an answer someone else seemed perfectly happy with OR 2) someone isn’t listening and you find yourself answering the same question.
• If it’s a public school you’d better know all the latest on the TAKS test and what the latest thoughts are on it. Find out how the school you are interviewing with has done on it. Go to greatschools.com for that info.
• If it’s a private school, know what test they administer. Those tests are very generic and you have to address how you’ll follow the curriculum and have them score highly on the test.
• What kinds of assessments will you use – you need a happy medium between paper and pencil and on your feet kinds of checks to something right in the middle.
• How are you going to use technology in the lessons AND ask about what kinds of technologies they have. Document readers are all the rage. Up to date schools will have those (and they are called a variety of things like ELMOS) as well as smart boards and laptops and LCD projectors. Medium tech schools will have computer labs and a bank of computers in the rooms. Look into a couple of classroom response systems so that if this school has sets, you can ask about them.
• How will you incorporate reading and writing into the subject? Unless it’s English of course 😉
• You may be asked about teams you’ve served on before.
• In some states you can get some kind of teaching credit for teaching related work – your youth work may count here.

That’s it off the top of my head.

So what’s your advice for a teacher interview?