Career Blog

Overview

Career Blog

Career development is on everyone’s minds. After all, that’s why most, if not all, of our students come to us. This blog is all about giving you the latest and greatest in what’s going on in the job market. Chock-full of tips and guidance, the Career Blog is a must-read for all students and job seekers.

Career Blog RSS

Career Blog

Create and Maintain a ‘Living Résumé’ to Make Life Easier

Published: January 12, 2022 by Jillian Collins

The purpose of your résumé is to open a door. Writing a résumé is a process that shouldn’t have to be done over and over. You just need your résumé to be tailored to fit the position, providing you have the skills and ability to perform in the position. A trick to streamline the résumé part of a job application is to create a “living résumé” – a one-stop-doc that you add and record all information you included in your résumé.

Career Blog

Reassess Your Self-Assessment for 2022

Published: January 3, 2022 by Jillian Collins

The career self-assessment is yet another amazing iSchool tool. The self-assessment is a template for you to conceptualize the functions, people, and setting you want for your career. It’s 2022, a new year with obstacles beyond your control. Consider the optimism and strengths gained both academically and personally to map out important aspects of interactions, duties, and physical work environment.

Career Blog

Direct Your Career by Managing Up

Published: September 10, 2021 by Jillian Collins

Managing up is the process of learning your boss’s management and communication preferences, and then adapting your communication in the workplace that supports those preferences. Clear communication among all staff members is one of the building blocks of great working relationships that enable teams to reach the goals of the organization. The same holds true for your relationship with your boss. 

Career Blog

Professional Visibility = Professional Opportunities

Published: August 20, 2021 by Jillian Collins

When you’re a student, it’s natural to focus your efforts on your courses, your GPA, and for a few highly organized types, your e-Portfolio items. But since the goal of getting a master’s degree is to land a job that can help launch a career you love, now is also a great time to be paying attention to an equally important asset: your professional visibility.

Career Blog

Your First Job is Step One to Your Career

Published: July 13, 2021 by Jillian Collins

Your first job is a huge milestone! As you complete your MLIS program, you’re gaining specialty tools to thrive in an expanding market. Your first job with your master’s degree is just the foot in the door. Your eventual career may end up being completely different from the door you first walk in, which is part of your growth as a professional, and the way your fellow professionals grow, as well.

Career Blog

In case you missed it: How to Build Your Professional Network (Without Feeling Weird About It)
On-Demand Webcast with Kim Dority

Published: June 15, 2021 by Jillian Collins

So many people have networking anxieties. That’s why we’re lucky to have Kim Dority, the fantastic iSchool career consultant! Check out her presentation, How to Build Your Professional Network (Without Feeling Weird About It). Kim goes beyond networking as a ‘thing to do’: strategies, etiquette, and what you can do now that builds up a network bit-by-bit! 

Career Blog

Not in the Job Description? Sell Solutions to the Hiring Manager!

Published: June 4, 2021 by Jillian Collins

If you’re considering information work for organizations other than a school, public, or academic library, you’re likely to encounter interviewers (for example hiring managers or HR people) unfamiliar with the range of strategic skills information professionals can provide. Even the job description may use terminology that describes things you know you can do, but with non-library language. Not to worry – you’ve got this. Seal the deal by selling the solutions your skills provide.

Career Blog

Your Terms, Your Action Plan

Published: April 26, 2021 by Jillian Collins

In February 2021, Kim Dority, our iSchool career advisor, gave an amazing presentation about creating and executing a personal career action plan. Action planning is a career – and life – skill. If you watch the presentation, you will see how actively constructing your career starts with actively knowing that small steps become larger leaps to greatness.

Career Blog

Take Stock of Yourself with a Skill Inventory

Published: March 15, 2021 by Jillian Collins

Being able to identify (and discuss) your skills and strengths is a really important aspect of job-hunting. But how do you find these qualities in yourself? If you’re stuck, you’re in luck! Information is your super power. Now it’s time to concentrate on information about you. The skill of creating a Skill Inventory!

Career Blog

The Impact of Feedback on Your Personal Brand

Published: March 10, 2021 by Jillian Collins

Your professional reputation, also known as your “brand,” is the foundation of the essentials in career kits and in your long-term career development strategy. And because everyone forms an opinion of us during any interaction we have, it’s not like we can just decide to ignore all this brand stuff. Better to take charge of how others see you to ensure they’re seeing the real you.

Career Blog

How to Get the Most from Handshake

Published: February 16, 2021 by Jillian Collins

If you read the first part of my interview with Carrie McKnight, SJSU graduate student career counselor, you’ll already know that Handshake is way more than a smaller version of  LinkedIn. That’s important because although you may be a student now, you’re going to be looking for a job sooner than you can imagine. In the meantime, you want to make the most of every SJSU career resource you can, including virtual career fairs, vetted position postings, and tools that curate your profile to boost your visibility.

Career Blog

Now’s the Perfect Time to Revisit (or Complete) Your Skill Assessment

Published: January 25, 2021 by Jillian Collins

Finally – a new year! Rather than coming up with the usual new year’s resolutions, how about instead getting the year headed in a positive direction by doing deep-dive career reflection? Specifically, why not launch this year by taking the time to revisit the career passions you identified in your Career Self-Assessment to identify what’s changed. Or, if you haven’t yet had an opportunity to explore this valuable resource, perhaps now’s the time to jump in.

Career Blog

Carrie McKnight Wants You to Know…

Published: January 21, 2021 by Jillian Collins

Meet SJSU graduate student career counselor, Carrie McKnight. While we have entered 2021, my interview with her in December 2020 clued me in on three crucial career center tools. With Carrie insight, it’s much easier to turn career resolutions into reality. As Carrie said to me, “My job is to advocate for you guys because you guys do such great work.”

Career Blog

‘Free-sources’ for Your (Creative) Career Kit

Published: November 30, 2020 by Jillian Collins

It’s always a good time to maintain your career kit. You know that you need to tailor your template résumé and generic cover letter to specific job openings and keep your LinkedIn profile current, but how do you grab attention to create and build your personal brand? There are three online tools I use that I’d like to share with you because they’re easy to learn and use quickly, and they’re free! Those tools are 1) the LinkedIn Publishing Platform, 2) Canva graphic design platform, and 3) professional photographs from Unsplash.

Career Blog

Get to Know Your Network (and Let Them Get to Know You)

Published: November 13, 2020 by Jillian Collins

Effort makes for a great network. The networking bit is always a bit of a hurdle. It can be awkward to approach someone to be a mentor or join a group that appeals to your career aspirations. Career confidence in networking starts when you take initiative to get to know “your network” as individual people just like you.

Career Blog

Take a Look at Your MLIS Skills at Work

Published: November 11, 2020 by Jillian Collins

The puzzle of finding a job. We’ve all been there, searching for that missing piece: the words that make sense; sighing at results that require experience we don’t know or have. The options, though, are more than you would think. The MLIS Skills at Work: A Snapshot of Job Titles report takes a look at current trends, needs, and actual job postings broken down to show you what is out there and what career might be looking for you.

Career Blog

Take a Virtual Selfie of Your Career Preferences with this Valuable Tool

Published: October 19, 2020 by Jillian Collins

Imagine asking yourself a set of “career preference” questions five years ago, the same questions five years from now, and those very same questions today: would the three of ‘you’ agree that you prefer working within a youth library, or that you prefer academic libraries? How many co-workers make up your ideal work setting? And do you like what you are doing? Depending on how much work experience you’ve had so far, you may not be sure about your responses, but that just means that now is the perfect time to take advantage of one of the most useful career resources, the self-assessment. Even better, keep it updated as you progress through the program and you’re exposed to new ideas and career options. Consider the self-assessment as an extremely valuable career check in and check list.