I am actively job hunting; I started officially on August 1st. So far I've sent out a dozen applications for jobs, mostly state ones and the majority of those at a nearby university. Right now my eyeballs are swimming from looking at multiple career sites, most of which have a plethora of outdated jobs, national get-rich-quick schemes, identical entries as other sites and ocassionally multiple entries for the same position on a single site. It was definitely time to do something else--anything else--for awhile.
A year ago I said I wanted to go back to school to get my Masters' in Library Science and that goal has been postponed repeatedly due to Fibro issues. I have not changed my mind about earning this degree; neither has my reasoning changed signifigantly. The book industry, and the entertainment industry in general, has changed dramatically in the nearly 20 years that I've been associated, accelerated by the maturation of the Internet. The company that employs me has been heavily affected by the changes and not always for the better. I got a lesson on this at a meeting about 4 years ago, showing the chain of development of stores over the past 50 years, which I'll encapsulate. Mom and pop shops have been replaced by chain stores which have been swallowed by big corporations. Mall stores, small and specifically selling the fresh and new books, started to fade and now are more rapidly being evicted by larger stores in the mall parking lots or nearby shopping strips. Now even these huge general book stores are being displaced by Internet superstores which carry far more and offer almost immediate delivery. Now, whole libraries are putting their collections online, at least the items that are public domain.
If you add the music and movie industry, which my company does, since we sell CD's and DVD's, you see even more impact with the introduction of music downloads, whether free or simply cheap, and inexpensive movie rental companies like Netflix. Music purchases in stores have dropped precipitously as a result; if this is a surprise, I'll remind you of the recent demise of Tower Records, merely 20 years after their rapid national expansion. The main reason that the DVD industry has actually grown in the past few years is the enormous release of old movies and television shows for the first time. Eventually that will plateau (when the studios finish copying the dregs onto disc) and the same phenomenon will occur.
I'm not just being pessimistic about my field. This is clearly visible if you look at store openings and closings in this business and reported sales figures each quarter. Barring phenomena like a Harry Potter release or an appearance on Oprah or the annual invasion of students needing summer reading for the forthcoming school year, daily traffic in these stores is down. I work in a store that has mirrored these nationwide trends in a company that has already been affected, as evidenced by the closure of over half of their mall stores. This particular store leases its location, and I am confident (after having the mall store I managed with healthier sales, close its doors at renewal time) that its lease will not be renewed when the time comes.
This led, in part, to my decision to go back to school. Libraries are still thriving, especially at colleges and universities. As the need for college education increases and tuition grows annually, these college libraries will continue to be heavily patronized for decades to come, particularly if they keep pace with technological improvements. As I've seen degrees offered with digital information concentrations, I know the library boards are aware of this, too.
However, I'm not ready to return to school yet. I won't do that until I find a new job. Initially I didn't plan to leave where I am until I graduated. After all, what better place to work, if I'm not able to work in a library without the degree, than a bookstore? Since I went back to work in May, though, it became obvious that I needed to leave permanently. I chose the August 1 deadline for two reasons. I didn't want to leave before the Harry Potter release, because I had been part of that history that I wanted my involvement until the end. Secondly, I wanted to make sure I stayed through my three month treatment with the Fibro doctor. These deadlines have passed, though I'm still seeing the doctor every week and taking my 29 pills a day--when I'm able.
I can't stay there because it is not a good environment for me. I'm not talking about the people or morale of the place. I enjoy my coworkers and have developed some strong friendships as well as working relationships. To the best of my knowledge nobody hates me or thinks I do a poor job. I'm not really even referring to the big problems this store has that I think are severely impacting its operations and sales and which I spend much of my time trying to change. (I will not willingly talk about that in more detail in this forum.) I said once, and I still believe, that you can only work for a company if you agree with its politics; until recently I did agree with them here and I may again in the future. That is not even why I need to leave, though.
I refer instead to the daily realities that will not change. The store is open 14 hours a day and staffed usually 17 hours. My schedule tends to vary from arriving at 7AM to arriving at 5PM. No matter when I do arrive, my job involves issues from cash handling to paperwork to customer interaction that cover all the hours we are open. Sometimes I can't leave the issues at the store, either, though I'm better about this than I used to be. Plus, it is hard to keep to a schedule that allows me to take my medicines promptly and eat and sleep regularly. The lights are all bright flourescents, and the back office and stock room have no windows. The office hums and buzzes with the sound of too many computers, a copier, a fax, a DVR, a Coke machine and a server within a condensed space. There is no quiet place in the office, and the sales floor has a dozen more computers, the overhead music, the phones, customer conversations and questions (and periodic cell phone tones), the espresso machine, coffee grinders, blenders, freezer coils... One thing I discovered this spring before I took my leave of absence was that my office, which is lit by ceiling and desk flourescent bulbs and which contains two computers with loud fans and the DVR with an even louder fan, is a painful place when I have a migraine. Outside isn't much better than inside, with a busy intersection 100 yards away, a nearby highway, and all the typical unidentfied background sounds of city life.
I'm really not whining. I'm sick. These things have an impact on my pain tolerance and my sleep, greater than it would on many people, which in turn affect what I can manage at home and how I perform on the job. It's a vicious cycle. I don't want to lose the opportunity to enjoy either my work or my life because of this illness.
I know I won't find the perfect job with silent computers, windowed walls on two or three sides, and the outdoor park for lunchtime strolls. However, I need to find somewhere with reasonably tame demands on me (rather than dealing with constant crisis), with a regular schedule (the typical 9 to 5 that I swore at 19 years old I never wanted) and work that I can leave behind when I go home. This should improve how I feel day-to-day, a necessary change, since my health took a dive again after I returned to work, and allow me the time and energy to pursue the classes I need for the degree. And if I happen to land a job at the university where I can also study Library Science, so much the better.
A year ago I said I wanted to go back to school to get my Masters' in Library Science and that goal has been postponed repeatedly due to Fibro issues. I have not changed my mind about earning this degree; neither has my reasoning changed signifigantly. The book industry, and the entertainment industry in general, has changed dramatically in the nearly 20 years that I've been associated, accelerated by the maturation of the Internet. The company that employs me has been heavily affected by the changes and not always for the better. I got a lesson on this at a meeting about 4 years ago, showing the chain of development of stores over the past 50 years, which I'll encapsulate. Mom and pop shops have been replaced by chain stores which have been swallowed by big corporations. Mall stores, small and specifically selling the fresh and new books, started to fade and now are more rapidly being evicted by larger stores in the mall parking lots or nearby shopping strips. Now even these huge general book stores are being displaced by Internet superstores which carry far more and offer almost immediate delivery. Now, whole libraries are putting their collections online, at least the items that are public domain.
If you add the music and movie industry, which my company does, since we sell CD's and DVD's, you see even more impact with the introduction of music downloads, whether free or simply cheap, and inexpensive movie rental companies like Netflix. Music purchases in stores have dropped precipitously as a result; if this is a surprise, I'll remind you of the recent demise of Tower Records, merely 20 years after their rapid national expansion. The main reason that the DVD industry has actually grown in the past few years is the enormous release of old movies and television shows for the first time. Eventually that will plateau (when the studios finish copying the dregs onto disc) and the same phenomenon will occur.
I'm not just being pessimistic about my field. This is clearly visible if you look at store openings and closings in this business and reported sales figures each quarter. Barring phenomena like a Harry Potter release or an appearance on Oprah or the annual invasion of students needing summer reading for the forthcoming school year, daily traffic in these stores is down. I work in a store that has mirrored these nationwide trends in a company that has already been affected, as evidenced by the closure of over half of their mall stores. This particular store leases its location, and I am confident (after having the mall store I managed with healthier sales, close its doors at renewal time) that its lease will not be renewed when the time comes.
This led, in part, to my decision to go back to school. Libraries are still thriving, especially at colleges and universities. As the need for college education increases and tuition grows annually, these college libraries will continue to be heavily patronized for decades to come, particularly if they keep pace with technological improvements. As I've seen degrees offered with digital information concentrations, I know the library boards are aware of this, too.
However, I'm not ready to return to school yet. I won't do that until I find a new job. Initially I didn't plan to leave where I am until I graduated. After all, what better place to work, if I'm not able to work in a library without the degree, than a bookstore? Since I went back to work in May, though, it became obvious that I needed to leave permanently. I chose the August 1 deadline for two reasons. I didn't want to leave before the Harry Potter release, because I had been part of that history that I wanted my involvement until the end. Secondly, I wanted to make sure I stayed through my three month treatment with the Fibro doctor. These deadlines have passed, though I'm still seeing the doctor every week and taking my 29 pills a day--when I'm able.
I can't stay there because it is not a good environment for me. I'm not talking about the people or morale of the place. I enjoy my coworkers and have developed some strong friendships as well as working relationships. To the best of my knowledge nobody hates me or thinks I do a poor job. I'm not really even referring to the big problems this store has that I think are severely impacting its operations and sales and which I spend much of my time trying to change. (I will not willingly talk about that in more detail in this forum.) I said once, and I still believe, that you can only work for a company if you agree with its politics; until recently I did agree with them here and I may again in the future. That is not even why I need to leave, though.
I refer instead to the daily realities that will not change. The store is open 14 hours a day and staffed usually 17 hours. My schedule tends to vary from arriving at 7AM to arriving at 5PM. No matter when I do arrive, my job involves issues from cash handling to paperwork to customer interaction that cover all the hours we are open. Sometimes I can't leave the issues at the store, either, though I'm better about this than I used to be. Plus, it is hard to keep to a schedule that allows me to take my medicines promptly and eat and sleep regularly. The lights are all bright flourescents, and the back office and stock room have no windows. The office hums and buzzes with the sound of too many computers, a copier, a fax, a DVR, a Coke machine and a server within a condensed space. There is no quiet place in the office, and the sales floor has a dozen more computers, the overhead music, the phones, customer conversations and questions (and periodic cell phone tones), the espresso machine, coffee grinders, blenders, freezer coils... One thing I discovered this spring before I took my leave of absence was that my office, which is lit by ceiling and desk flourescent bulbs and which contains two computers with loud fans and the DVR with an even louder fan, is a painful place when I have a migraine. Outside isn't much better than inside, with a busy intersection 100 yards away, a nearby highway, and all the typical unidentfied background sounds of city life.
I'm really not whining. I'm sick. These things have an impact on my pain tolerance and my sleep, greater than it would on many people, which in turn affect what I can manage at home and how I perform on the job. It's a vicious cycle. I don't want to lose the opportunity to enjoy either my work or my life because of this illness.
I know I won't find the perfect job with silent computers, windowed walls on two or three sides, and the outdoor park for lunchtime strolls. However, I need to find somewhere with reasonably tame demands on me (rather than dealing with constant crisis), with a regular schedule (the typical 9 to 5 that I swore at 19 years old I never wanted) and work that I can leave behind when I go home. This should improve how I feel day-to-day, a necessary change, since my health took a dive again after I returned to work, and allow me the time and energy to pursue the classes I need for the degree. And if I happen to land a job at the university where I can also study Library Science, so much the better.