Job vacancies for New Librarian Graduates – Regional versus City career
Job vacancies for New Librarian Graduates – Regional versus City careerQuote - “Some artists only paint what they want you to see, just like the optical illusion artwork, there is often something ‘hidden’. To every coin, there are 2 sides.” Anonymous.
Great opportunity or misguided importunity – Things to seriously consider and questions you should ask! I recently read an article promoting all the pros and downplaying or even missing out the cons of starting a career or transferring to the Country regions for work, so here’s a look at the Cons:
Transferability:
There are so many advantages of starting in the city, much easier to transfer inter-shire – 20kms, as opposed to inter-region – 600kms.
Team size:
How many staff work in the library? Remember, you can still be lost among a team of 8 if the supervisor chooses to ignore you and your need for professional development and turns down your requests for further training and professional development on the basis that you ‘might’ head back to "The City".
Let’s be realistic, most academic campus libraries including City campuses have a similar sized reference services team, some campuses in the city even have less staff on their Reference service teams than in a regional place. All you need to do before you apply is check out the library website – go to contacts link and have a look at the staff listed under Reference Services or Information Services.
Economics/real estate:
Regional house prices – Beware the ‘investment’ difference. If you plan to move to a regional area and sell a house in the city for $200,000 more than the equivalent property in a regional area, think about the reverse of this if you ever want to come back to the city. You lose big time if you sold, but perhaps if you use the city property as an investment and a ‘safety gap’ in case you do decide, “oh what am I doing here?" and come to realise, hey "nothing is stopping me from leaving”: or you might seriously wake up one morning and think, I really miss:
- The convenience of inner-city travel
- The Mega shops like DFO, MYER and real Mall shopping
- Real retail therapy which is just a drive instead of the cost of an airflight
- Choice of private hospitals/birthing places/State of the art medical facilities and medical specialists galore
- Choice of University/Academic campus, Public, Hospital, TAFE, Law, Commercial/Business, School libraries & other special libraries (Do a search on the Libraries Gateway and compare just how many varying job options there are in the area you are considering http://www.nla.gov.au/apps/libraries
- 10-15 minutes from home in the City or city suburbs if you choose your home suburb strategically from place of work
- Beaches everywhere, some within 20 minutes depending on where you live.
- Choice of excellent education for your children
Consider carefully the management qualifications of your immediate supervisor. Ask them some questions about what they can do for you when it’s your turn in the interview. Give them a scenario question to find out how they would handle particular staffing situations such as subordinate personality clashes and fallouts, etc. If they hedge when answering, chances are you’d find yourself working under a supervisor who got the job because it’s a regional area and the management at the time found no interest from city folk with better qualifications, in other words, the current supervisor didn’t win the job on a ‘merit-basis’, it was handed to them.
NEW GRAD DOESN'T MEAN - 'you're a pushover and we'll push you around if we like"
Other questions to ask in an interview if considering applying in a regional/country area & you are a new graduate:
1. What type of induction process will I be given and how long will I be mentored?
2. What is the length of probation period? How does this compare to the induction length? i.e. Is it a 1 week induction and a 4 week probation, or will I be mentored through till my probation period ends.
3. How much parental/carers leave per year?
4. How many sick days per year? This might not seem relevant to a young person who is very rarely sick, but for the new mother with child/ren attending a day care it’s a big one to know about. Important point - if you are off work to care for your sick children, always get the doctors certificate; particularly in the Winter blues time of year, or high work stress times when you yourself can’t seem to get on top of a flu. Make sure you keep the original doctors certificates on file & attach photocopies to sick leave forms. You just never know when your supervisor might want to try the EBA sick day clause on you when it’s really a hidden personal attack and not a justified staffing strategy, simply a “let’s do it cause we can” mentality.
5. What is the standard working day? What are the lunch breaks? And tea breaks?
6. Is the salary/superannuation amount stated, the ‘Before-tax’ or ‘After-tax’ and can you opt to pay less than the EBA % or are you bound to pay twice as much as government legislation due to an EBA agreement?
7. Will you be asked to ‘move’ to a different position to the one you applied for? It does happen, staff appointed as Health Science Liaison within first 6 months are asked to take up a new position (same pay) as Business Liaison. This means learning a new faculty, new courses/programs, not impossible, but until you are comfortable with policies, you can say no. If it doesn’t suit you, say so and SAY NO. If you feel that you don’t have a choice, tell your supervisor you’ll think about it, and ask when would they like your response, If it’s not long enough time for you to consider, then say so. Consider contacting your Union rep.
8. Do you really want to be in a regional library with very little prospect of promotion? Where do you really want to work? Also, helping with the decision as to which sector to work, be thorough & do an audit:
http://lllibrarian.blogspot.com/2006/04/where-should-i-apply-for-job-as.html
9. Will they pay your moving expenses? Remember it costs big bucks to move long kilometres. If you love your furniture and depending on removalists you are looking at a minimum of $1000.
10. The best decisions are ‘Informed decisions’ and what better way to know you have considered every angle of making a big move to remote country areas, which really just do not have all that city areas do.
11. If you get the job, and find in 3 months time you hate it, then do yourself a favour and leave. Nobody is irreplaceable, personality yes, but position no. Another staff member will just have to Act in the position until it is replaced, but that won't be your concern. Your concern is, do I enjoy my job and the people and place I work? If the answer is no, move to the City, there's plenty of jobs here.
Life is what you make it. If you choose to work the 9-5 and have a life outside of work, whether you live in a city area or country area, you have a lifestyle choice every day. You choose to keep your job in its place, while you enjoy your life when you’re not in your place of work.
Prologue: I now work in a public library with a proven Strategist manager who is objective and forward thinking, and who has no hidden agendas.
Good luck to new grads finding a great library to work in and remember:
The City always has a large selection of types of libraries and variety of jobs within these buildings, the same does not apply equally to our Country Cousins.
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