Who We Are And How We Got Here
- June Avila, Customer Success Lead, Vantage Analytics
- Hannah Loshak, Project Coordinator, Centre for Effective Practice
- Emily Porta, Scrum Master, Rangle.io
What This Talk Is about
- You have a unique skill set that can open doors to a wide variety of careers that don’t start with a capital L.
- Bringing your skills into a new career can not only teach you new skills, but also forward the momentum of ‘librarianship’ as a whole.
- We should consider that the future of librarianship, for most, might take place largely outside of the library.
how we sold our MLIS skills outside the library world
- Step one: you have to learn to talk to people who aren’t librarians
- When you enter into non-library worlds, you are the expert
- Learn about fields outside libraries by talking to people in roles you might see yourself in
- Learn the culture of the industry you’re getting into and understand that the job application process can be very different
- Seeing new industry jobs as a learning opportunity - you want to gain their skills as much as they want yours
- Manage your online presence: Linkedin, Twitter, personal homepage, portfolio
Positions and Careers outside of MLIS
- Scrum Master, (Agile) Project Manager, Development Manager
- Customer Success/Support
- Project Coordinator
Also: User Experience Design/Researcher, Information Architect, Database Admin, Web Master, Technical Writer, Quality Improvement/Assurance, Knowldge Translation, Information Specialist, Content Creator, Content Marketer, SEO Specialist, Social Media Coordinator, Prospect Researcher, Business Analyst, Data Analyst, Entrepreneur!
Skills and knowledge desired in non-library occupations
Personality traits:
- (Servant) leadership
- Communication and situational flexability
- Passionate, with follow-through
- Problem solver, helper
- Empathetic, and friendly!
Skills and knowledge desired in non-library occupations
Skills:
- Any and all technical skills
- (Web) design skills
- Project management
- Critical thinking
- Writing
- Leadership
Next Steps
If you're thinking of branching out in to a career outside the big L, here's what you can do:
- Do research into positions. Cast a wide net.
- Use linkedin/twitter/personal contacts to get info interviews with people in that field. Stay in touch.
- Match up what interested you in librarianship to a new career space.
- Start gaining the relevant specific skills and experience! This will not be a straight path.
The End!
Take-aways:
Be open to learning, be flexible, open yourself up to new experiences
Learn where to find opportunity: come to terms with the fact that your dream might not happen from day one; getting skills and continuous growth and improvement is more important
At the same time: push yourself, challenge situations where you are not valued as a worker, have a life plan
Questions?
JUNE: @juneavila
HANNAH: @hannahloshak
EMILY: @agentemily