I did it!

As regular readers here may know, I have been very unhappy in my current job for quite a while. I work in an IT field now (Microsoft Office 365 related) and this field is very much in demand. So when I put some feelers out for other work, all I got is more of the same job within other organizations. Not what I wanted! I like where I work at now, I just really don’t like the job itself.

In examining my motivations and what brings me joy I found that what I really want is to go back into my original field, i.e. librarianship or to do something library related. Over the years I have tried to get back into the library world but with little luck as I have been away from librarianship for quite a while now, due to certain circumstances that came up in life and work. I settled for other jobs over the years (one or two of which I have also honestly enjoyed) but this time decided I would not do that anymore. This time I vowed to myself that I was only going to apply for jobs I really, really wanted and it turned out there weren’t many of those, especially not those that would seriously consider me an option. I was renegated to turning down weekly job offers (mostly via LinkedIn) for my current kind of work and applying to the few other jobs I was able to find in the fields I enjoyed more. I had no luck there for many months… until now.

About six weeks ago I applied for a librarian position at the university I work at but I didn’t get that. What I did get was a call from the manager of all the libraries, saying she liked my CV and letter and that she had another opening she hoped I might be interested in. Seeing the diversity of my experience she thought I might be a good fit. After several conversations and then formal interviews, the last of which was this morning, I actually got that job! I can’t tell you how stoked I am!

I’ll be a library coordinator (not manager, which is what I didn’t want to be) for the several libraries the university has. My heart has always been with libraries even though I haven’t worked in an actual library in 15 or so years. I still feel like I know libraries, I understand how they work, I generally love the kinds of people who work in libraries, when challenged to do something or change something in a library my brain starts firing and I come up with all sorts of ideas, I feel at home in libraries and after all the other things I have been doing, it felt like it was time to ‘come home’. The good thing is that the skills I have picked up in my other jobs can also be put to use in this job. I’ll be more of a generalist than a specialist, a (hands on) adviser more than a manager, which is exactly how I love it.

When I got home again today after my second interview and the assurance that I got the job, I was welcomed by an enthusiastic Mr Esther who immediately took me out for a nice lunch to celebrate…

Not sure yet when I can start this new job. Officially I have a three month notice period (!!) but my new manager and I hope that I can switch to this new job mid February. Fingers crossed! I know I need to get back to work again now, but I’ve been too excited to be of any use. Lucky for me, two meetings got canceled this afternoon and I have no deadlines to face today. Maybe now that I have told everyone and blogged about it, I can get my head back to my current work. But eeek! I got a new job that I hope will really be what I hope it can be! Life is suddenly looking so much brighter again.