Job Hunting Support Group

They really are! I can only find a job that is worth applying for once a fortnight or so, at most. Just gotta keep looking and waiting!

Woooh!

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I think I found another job, but it’s at a university library. This is fine, and actually sounds v cool. However, the application asks for a CV instead of a resume. If I sent a resume instead would that be…weird? Bad? Disqualifying for some reason?

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Also, @noitsbecky this may be relevant for you, but I did this tip from Ask A Manager last night when applying for the city job and it made the most annoying parts of the app fly by!

If an application system asks you to fill out questions that are already answered on your resume, can you just write “see resume”?

Sadly, no. The temptation is understandable, but it will annoy a lot of employers. They’re asking, so they want you to answer.

But to make this easier, a good trick is to keep a plain-text version of your resume that you can easily copy and paste from without having to deal with formatting issues that can result if you’re copying and pasting heavily formatted text.

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my understanding is that it would be tone deaf to send a resume, and potentially move you too far down the list if they have other candidates who did a cv.

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Blerg. OK. Maybe just means I’m not qualified in general?

no, it means that cultural norms differ across industries and we need to do the translation for them if we want to move over

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On the flipside, if it comes down to applying or not applying, I would just send in a resume. I’ve worked academia-adjacent most of my career, and often the HR system is designed for the faculty and not for the staff, so requesting a CV could just be a result of that. A resume is probably fine if they don’t expect their librarians to publish and present (and if they do, then yeah you’re likely not a good fit at this point in your career).

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This IS an explicitly non-tenure role…

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One other thought - always let them decide that you’re not a good fit if you think you might be. No need to take yourself out of the running :slight_smile:

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Out of the listed duties, only the second to last one gives me pause:

  • Provide research, learning, and engagement support to selected departments and programs, including course-integrated instruction, skill-building workshops, research consultations, and collection development.
  • Contribute to Research and Learning Services Department projects and initiatives, including creating research guides and instructional materials, advising on the development of library discovery tools, supporting staff at the Libraries’ information desks**,** and providing reference services in person and through various online means.
  • Provide library and information literacy instruction for university programs including first year writing, honors program, and undergraduate research initiatives.
  • Provide support for research data management, research metrics, and scholarly communication.
  • Work autonomously and collaboratively to meet strategic goals, while consistently promoting teamwork, respect, diversity, and inclusiveness.
  • Participate in library and university committee work.
  • Actively contribute to the broader profession through scholarship and service.
  • Perform other duties as assigned.
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Maybe it’s a good idea to do the upfront work to translate the resume to CV now and then I have that ready to go as I ramp up applying

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I bet they put that in all of their job descriptions! My last job had a bullet about performing ground-breaking science. I asked about it in my interview and they were like, oh yeah you won’t have time or resources to do experiments, we just put that in all of our JDs. :upside_down_face:

I took it out when I was a manager but I’ve seen that it’s back in!

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Lmao that’s so silly!

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I wouldn’t even mind writing an article or two if they felt it was appropriate for me to do so! But it’s not like, what I’m getting into the field to do

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This definitely seems like the spirit of what they’re asking for.

One more thing about job descriptions especially in bureaucratic organizations, is that they are often written once with HR when the position is established and never edited again. Good orgs/hiring managers take the time to look at them before posting them and update them. If they can, they will even tailor the wording to the exact position they are hiring for. Some bureaucracies won’t allow the JD wording to be changed (looking at you, federal government - or at least the agencies I worked at). So - I would just say don’t get too bogged down in the wording - but do ask about it once you get an interview if there was something that gave you pause.

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So I applied for my current university position with a resume instead of a cv but the post didn’t ask for one. I would probably err on the side of providing what’s asked for. Honestly just increasing the font size to 12 if it’s not already and adding normal amounts of spacing instead of crowded bullets might be enough to make it feel more like a cv. Expand out your educational section to include more relevant details on mlis coursework and you should be good to go.

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I’m confused - I’ve always thought resume and CV were synonymous?

Edit: looks like this is a UK vs US difference maybe?

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I just checked this out as well, the CV is a longform version. So here in Australia where everyone is very casual I’ve seen jobs saying stuff like “3 page CV” to indicate it should be a bit longer with more information… Mine is 2 pages and I barely fit all the info I want in there!

Also in the US cover letters seem less common but here its a basic requirement of applying to a professional role.

It will be good for you noodle, you can just bulk it out with anything you can think of to highlight transferable skills! How long is your current resume?

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Ugh I wish. Not in my experience! But perhaps in other newer fields/more technical roles?

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The standard is pretty much 1 page in the US, unless you’re like, C-suite level. Which I am v much not! But it is getting hard to fit my professional experience on there. I wonder if this will change in my lifetime now that most people end up with many jobs instead of one career they stick in forever

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