New Job!

So I got a new job!

I am not a PT Library Assistant III in my holy grail of libraries.

If you are trying to remember which interview this one was from, it was the last one I post (remember with the really difficult reference questions?)

Anyways, here is how it went down. I got home from the interview....blogged...and took a nap. Well I received a phone call about an hour or so after I got home. I recognized the number as from the library. I thought "I must have left something".

They were calling to let me know that they realized that I was the only applicant that they wanted to hire. They weren't even going to bother with second round interviews ********EEEEEEEKKKKKKK*********

So why are you only hearing about this now? Because it was a conditional hire...meaning I had to pass a drug test (which they sent me to immediately), then a physical (which I took a week later and consisted of the doctor telling me I was alive)....then they had to wait on the results. This all took about two weeks. When the department head called to offer me the job, she asked that I wait another day or two before announcing it so they could inform the other applicants. Then I had to wait another two days because my current boss was out of town and I wanted to give her my notice before anything. I thought for a split second about working both jobs because they are part time, but scheduling was going to be a big problem. I decided to keep my job as a hostess at a local restaurant til a FT opens up in my holy grail of libraries.

Once I was finally able to tell people, I got lots of questions, which I am going to answer now.

Why leave one part-time job for another?

The library I was currently working in had no foreseeable full time positions. Zero. Also, this new library is my holy grail people! I cannot explain how much I have wanted to work here. Why? They only hire within, so starting out as a Library Assistant III is the perfect way to move up. They pay more than most. It is .5 miles from my apt so I'll be walking. And its just an overall awesome library.

What do I know about nonfiction and reference?

Not a clue. I am still shocked that they hired me because my main experience is in Children's but I plan to dive right in!

Am I still going to apply for other FT positions at different libraries?

Probably not. I am exactly where I want to be in 20 years. Ok, not PT, but I am at the library I want to be it. If I apply for any other library gigs it is because I want to gain more interview experience.

I have already started there as of this past Friday. I will update more because I had an interesting first day (think tornadoes) but now I'm slightly tired.


Before I go, I wanted to give a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who helped. Whether it was making my apply, advising me, references, encouragement, or just listening to me ramble. I appreciate your support and you!

Shameful Confession.....

I have never read To Kill A Mockingbird

There. It's off my chest. I can handle whatever you throw at me. I deserve it.

Adult Content....

I happen to overhear this conversation the other day and it made me giggle...a lot.

Setup: A librarian was recommending a book to a teenage girl, maybe around 15. The book in question had some adult content, so the librarian simply told the young girl that this book had some material in there that was pretty adult.

Girl: Oh, its okay. I have read Twilight.

Librarian (who was trying to keep from grinning): Well, this might be a little stronger than Twilight.

Girl: Have you read the 4th book? Its extremely graphic.

Most popular books (picked by teens)

You really didn't think I was gonna post that list without revealing the number 1 pick?

No. 1 (in a landslide) is.................... The Harry Potter Series!

No. 2 Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

No. 3 Hunger Games Series

Other popular picks - Crank by Ellen Hopkins, Twilight,

Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn

Book Recommendations - By students for students

So after polling over 1,000 kids and going through lots of answers, I have compiled the list! I'm super proud of the kids because the results were totally varied! Infact I decided to read every book on this list just for fun!

So how did we decide to format this list? We toyed around with grouping them in genres, but decided that some students might cast aside certain books because they don't like that genre. A lot of the students listed their favorite classic books, mostly which they have read in class, so we decided to create a catagory just for the classics. Check them out!

Here's the list:

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

The Five People You Meet In Heaven by Mitch Albom

Go Ask Alice by Anonymous

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher

Boy In The Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

The Lost Symbol by Dan Brown

Women by Charles Bukowski

A Clockwork Orange by Anthony Burgess

Heaven Is For Real by Todd Burpo

Ender’s Game by Orson Scott Card

Crazy Love: Overwhelmed By A Restless God by Francis Chan

Papillon by Henri Charrière

The Perks Of Being A Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky

And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie

Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

The Supernaturalist by Eoin Colfer

The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins

Beach Music by Pat Conroy

Timeline by Michael Crichton

Spartan Gold by Clive Cussler

Seventeenth Summer by Maureen Daly

Thr3e by Ted Dekker

Lock and Key by Sarah Dessen

Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? By Philip K. Dick

Drama High series by L. Divine

The Daughters of the Moon series by Lynne Ewing

Beastly by Alex Flinn

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick

The Pillars of the Earth by Ken Follett

Sandman series by Neil Gaiman

Old Yeller by Fred Gipson

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Be True To Your School by Bob Greene

Rachel and Darcy series by Emily Griffin

Christy Miller series by Robin Jones Gunn

The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton

Crank series by Ellen Hopkins

Alex Rider series by Anthony Horowitz

 Redwall series by Brian Jacques

Scar Tissue by Anthony Keidis

Alabama Moon by Watt Key

It by Stephen King

Take One by Karen Kingsbury

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

14,000 Things To Be Happy About by Barbara Ann Kipfer

Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt

Dramarama by E. Lockhart

I Am Number Four by Pittacus Lore

The Giver by Lois Lowry

The Astonishing Adventures of Fanboy & Goth Girl by Barry Lyga

The Communist Manifesto by Karl Marx

Wake by Lisa McMann

The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead

Twilight series by Stephanie Meyers

Wilderness: The Lost Writings Of Jim Morrison by Jim Morrison

Fablehaven series by Brandon Mull

The Watchmen by Alan Moore

Inheritance series by Christopher Paolini

Witch and Wizard by James Patterson

Hatchet by Gary Paulsen

Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult

Song Of The Lioness series by Tamora Pierce

The Chosen by Chaim Potak

Anthem by Ayn Rand

Confessions of Georgia Nicholson series by Louise Rennison

Redeeming Love by Francine Rivers

Percy Jackson series by Rick Riordan

Stiff: The Curious Life of Human Cadavers by Mary Roach

Harry Potter series by J.K. Rowling

Rainbow High Trilogy by Alex Sanchez

A Non-Blonde Cheerleader series by Kieran Scott

The Alchemyst series by Michael Scott

The Killer Angels by Michael Shaara

Pretty Little Liars series by Sara Shepard

A Series Of Unfortunate Events series by Lemony Snicket 

The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks

The Wolves of Mercy Falls series by Maggie Stiefvater

Deadly Little Secrets series by Laurie Faria Stolarz

Give A Boy A Gun by Todd Strasser

Lord Of The Rings series by J.R.R. Tolkien

Slaughtehouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegurt

Night Angel series by Brent Weeks

Impossible by Nancy Werlin

Uglies series by Scott Westerfield

Night by Elie Wiesel

The Extraordinary Adventure of Alfred Kropp by Rick Yancy

Favorite Authors

Laurie Halse Anderson

Jane Austen

Dan Brown

Charles Bukowski

Orson Scott Card

Agatha Christie

Cassandra Clare

Suzanne Collins

Pat Conroy

Michael Crichton

Sarah Dessen

Philip K. Dick

Alex Flinn

Neil Gaiman

John Green

Robin Jones Gunn

Ellen Hopkins

Stephen King

Karen Kingsberry

Bernard Henri Levy

E. Lockhart

Alan Moore

Stephanie Meyers

George Orwell

James Patterson

Jodi Picoult

Tamora Pierce

Ayn Rand

Rick Riordan

Francine Rivers

J.K. Rowling

Nicholas Sparks

Laurie Faria Stolarz

J.R.R. Tolkien

Mark Twain

Scott Westerfield

Students’ Favorite Classics

The Divine Comedy by  Dante Alighieri

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë

Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë

A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens

The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Lord of the Flies by William Golding

The Scarlet Letter by Nathaniel Hawthorne

Les Misérables by Victor Hugo

To Kill A Mockingbird by Harper Lee

Animal Farm by George Orwell

The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare

War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy

Adventures of Huckleberry Finn by Mark Twain

                                        

Job Interviewing Continues ... (With Interview Questions)

On Thursday, I went on another job interview. I am applying for everything I can, just to build my interview experience. This interview, in my opinion, was a little more difficult than the one I had in the previous week. The questions were more about my interaction with the patrons, not necessarily work relationship with supervisors.

Here are some sample questions from the interview:

What was the last nonfiction book you read?

Will you be able to hold up the library’s policy of a censorship free environment?

If a patron asks for controversial material that you are not comfortable with or disagree with, will you be able to help them?

How many times in the last year have you had to call out for work?

Will you be able to work around these ____ days and hours?

What sets you apart from other applicants that we might interview?

If a patron has a research paper on a certain topic that they are not excited about, how would you go about helping them?

How would you help a patron research the tea party movement?

I had to rate my skills on several software programs on a scale of 1 – 10 and explain why.

I know a lot of my peers are going out on interviews and several people have mentioned what are some key things I do that sets me apart from others.

1. Laughter. I am a firm believe that getting people to laugh with you will leave them with an overall positive impression of you.
2. Smile. Another key factor is having a warm smile. This aspect is important, not just for interviews, but for every day life.
3. Sell yourself! I try to be modest, but when I interview, I know that I have to be a salesperson and the product I am selling is me.
4. Be honest. If you lie in an interview and they end up hiring you, they are going to find out that you initially lied about your experience/knowledge.
5. Before hand I prepare a set of questions that I want to ask my interviewers if given the opportunity.
6. I also try to think about what questions they might ask me. If I know what department I am interviewing for, I will research all the books that I have read in this genre, along with the popular choices at this moment.

I hope this helps anyone who is applying for a job. I know that this time, especially with graduation looming, can be very frightful and scary, but the important things to remember are to keep applying and keep putting yourself out there! Also, network! Your colleagues have been in this position before. Talk with them about it. I have asked several of my co-workers, friends, and really anyone I can find about their job searching experience. Another key factor is to decide what you want! Think about the things that are a requirement for you to have in a job. Salary? Benefits? Location? Hours? It is important to know what you want.

More Funny Book Recommendations

Ok, before I post the top books that the students at my internship recommended I wanted to post a few more of the funny submissions.

Mice of Me

Books Sucks (Yeah someone actually put that)

Harold and the Purple Crayon

Sports Illustrated

First Step 2 Forever by Justin Bieber

Berenstain Bears

Karma Sutra

I’ll post the total recommendations soon and with some interview questions from my recent interview.