Tag: jobs

the work I got

Posted on by jessamyn

Photograph of a person's hand adjusting a padlock. It's attached to a handle with a sign nearby that says "DO GOOD WORK"

So it’s funny, I spent a lot of time “working my network” to try to find the right thing for me. I applied for a few jobs, had a few good interviews but no actual bites, put feelers out on social media. And, at the end of the day, the thing that wound up working for me was a random “Hey I’d really like to work here at the point at which you wind up having people working here” email.

You can read the announcement about my new (part-time, contract) gig working for Flickr Commons as their Community Manager. I’m beyond stoked about this. First week went well, here’s to many more.

the work I want

Posted on by jessamyn

Reproduction of mural in Library of Congress showing two men removing tree stump.

I am looking for work.

During most of last year and some of the previous year, selling my mother’s house was my part-time job. That project is done and I’m ready to go more formally on to the job market. I’m looking for something fairly specific but I honestly believe there’s a good fit for me somewhere. Please feel free to connect me with people or placements you think might be a good fit. I am looking for a part-time, work-from-home job doing various kinds of knowledge management. Specifics and finicky requirements below.

I’m at my happiest when I am researching and writing Wikipedia articles, cleaning or creating metadata, helping people learn technology, answering reference questions, dropping links into a live chat (or after the fact in podcast notes), or writing clearly about complex topics. I work decently well with a team but am also fine working alone. I have a good eye for detail and accessibility and am comfortable and capable in most online environments. I am very organized. I don’t mind repetitive work and often enjoy working a queue of tickets/emails/tasks if the workload is manageable. I am an excellent troubleshooter and diplomatic communicator.

Because of my other commitments–I have some local part-time library work and other civic tasks–I’m looking for 20 hours a week maximum with 15 being ideal. I’m available to work 11 am EST or afterwards. I don’t mind working evenings and could work some weekends.

More specifics about my background can be found on my resumé or my LinkedIn profile. Got something in mind? Get in touch.

How we announced we’re strongly encouraging salary/hourly pay scale in online job postings

Posted on by jessamyn

I am the lead on the Vermont Library Association website. One of the things we do a LOT of is post jobs. Many of these jobs are in small or rural libraries and don’t always pay well. We made a decision to start strongly encouraging people to post the pay range and here was our explanation for why.

We’ve been talking amongst ourselves on the web team and wanted to put in a friendly encouragement for people to put salary or hourly $$ ranges and description of benefits in their job ads if they’re posting them on the VLA web site.

We’d like this for a few reasons, primarily because of equity and diversity issues. This slightly tongue in cheek blog post has a good enumeration of the reasons that this is a positive move for employers to make.

https://nonprofitaf.com/2015/06/when-you-dont-disclose-salary-range-on-a-job-posting-a-unicorn-loses-its-wings/

And here’s a slightly more serious post from NTEN
https://www.nten.org/article/youre-not-serious-about-equity-if-you-dont-post-salaries/

Summarized

  • People don’t want to apply for a job if they don’t know the salary and if it will pay what they need a job to pay (i.e you will get more and better applicants if you include this information)
  • Transparency with salaries leads to better equity among staff (i.e. “harder negotiators” don’t necessarily get paid more, people know what to expect)
  • If the salary isn’t on the job ad, ask yourself why it isn’t (I know many of our jobs don’t pay well, but this is a separate issue, not one that should lead to pay being left off of a job ad)

If people would like to discuss this as a group, or email me directly, please feel free. Thank you for considering it.

2016 in work and money

Posted on by jessamyn

Screen Shot 2017-01-03 at 21.19.45

This post leaves me dissatisfied with pie chart makers and is as much a note to myself as anyone else who will read it. Last year was a weird year for work. I picked up a bunch of odd consulting projects, I left my job at Open Library, and I started teaching graduate school on an adjunct basis (and they’re having me back this year!). That big pink chunk is the part I’ll be looking to replace this year. I’m looking for a part-time, mostly telecommute job doing outreach/community work with a library or library organization, or possibly a regular writing job since I liked my last one. I’m interested in doing more teaching. I have a good solid resume which I’ll be sprucing up.

I’ll continue to write for Computers in Libraries, staff drop-in time in Vermont, do public speaking and consulting, and pick up the odd consulting gig. I’ll write my labor of love newsletter which is one of the best things I started doing last year. It’s a little weird to not have One Big Job, but it’s preferable to having One Bad Job. Wish me luck and if I can help you get where you are going on some random way, do let me know.

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