Job searching from the heart

So about a month ago I came to the painful decision to leave my job as a school principal.  When people asked me why I left I had a canned answer ready, my dad's health requires me to be at home, but the real answer is I had done a lot of soulsearching and the Holy Spirit lead me to leave.  I was listening to the Spirit when I took the job and listening for when it was time to go.  Once I listened and turned in my resignation, the school spirit picked up, more students enrolled, and in general, things are looking up.  There are a couple of ways to look at that: 1 - people were hoping I was leaving and waiting until then to show up or 2 (my personal view) - my work for the last 3 years was bearing fruit and if you listen and do what the Holy Spirit asks then good things will come.

I listened and now I'm broke and jobless.  There are lots of jobs open in my field, library and higher education.  The problem for me is two-fold, timing and experience.  Since I hold a doctorate I am mostly "over-qualified" for a lot of entry positions in higher ed, like Academic Affairs or Student Affairs, but since I've never worked professionally in higher education I'm not really qualified for anything other than entry-level.  In the library field, I've worked in both school and public libraries but it is the beginning of the school year so school jobs are filled and with the economy, many cities are placing holds on open positions until after the new budget year.  I would love to move to into an Academic library but again without professional experience, I'm left a bit in nowhere's land, too educated to start but not experienced enough to fill a non-entry-level position.

I am also running up against something new with this job search: "We are waiting for a bigger candidate pool to start reviewing applications."  While I don't know if this is a real line or just something people are telling me to get me to stop calling I don't know but it is a line I'm getting quite a bit.  People with ALA-accredited Masters degrees in Library are few and far between.  It is a graying field with high demand.  If you aren't limited to where in the country you want to live ALA Joblist has over 4,000 openings!  If you are looking to go back to school I highly recommend looking into library studies but make sure the program is ALA-accredited!

So once I get a job I'll make sure and post about it.  I'm trying to keep my head up and understand that job searching takes time.  With children and bills, I am beyond stressed but I also believe, feel, and know God's timing is always right so I'll breathe deep and have faith. 

Moving forward? Time for a CV

So I'm still in the process of deciding why I am getting my doctorate.  I get asked why all of the time and outside I'm being lead by God, which leads to some strange looks, I haven't really been sure.  I want to homeschool my child; however, I'm not the sort of woman who can stay at home with her kid all day.  Stay-at-home moms work their asses off and I ain't that girl.  So I have been thinking and thinking and getting my resume out there.  I'm not in a serious job hunt since I love my job as a GA but I am looking for full-time work to see where I might land and see where I am being lead. 

In an ideal world I would work part-time outside of the home as a lecturer or librarian.  I miss the library world so much!  The funny thing about being a lecturer is that I'm really only qualified to teach in a library program and the closest one is at Sam Houston, which is the rival to my current university SFA.  The rivalry thing aside, the commute is not that bad especially if only a couple of time a week.  This has me working on my CV.  A university wants to know that you are a researcher and can bring "honor" to the institution.  Here is the thing, I never planned on not working outside of the public school field so I've never presented at a conference or published a paper.  I've done the work and have some projects and papers that might would have been worthy but I never thought I needed it so I never got off my butt.  Now I need it to create a CV and I feel like I'm years behind! 

I am going to present a research paper with one of my co-hort members in a couple of weeks.  I'm not sure I have a lot to say so I'm nervous.  I feel like my professional life is suddenly on the line.  I know that that is not a true statement.  There will be jobs and opportunities a plenty in my future but I like a plan and I like working towards something so here I go.  I recently submitted a paper for publication.  It will be weeks before I hear back but I'm daring greatly and getting myself and my research out there.  I expect to be rejected.  I need to be rejected.  I'm not ready for publication but I also know that I'll never believe anything different until I get my first piece published.  I mean I never would have thought I would keep a 4.0 through 15 doctoral hours and yet here I am.  I am a researcher and I'm going to make it work along with being a homeschooling mother.  I can do this. 

This is my current jam (enjoy!  Ravebaby has me playing it day and night):

Wordless Wednesday: Story and Crafts at the library