Comments on: Jobs and the elusive sense of “fit”

By: Stephanie

Stephanie — Fri, 16 Sep 2005 18:55:22 +0000

Hi Meredith,

I’ve seen your name a lot lately as I’m a WebJunction user and love your Wiki (still haven’t figured that technology out so well…). I felt this immediate connection to you and couldn’t quite figure out why. Well, now I know, my degree is in Social Work. I worked in the field for 8 years out of college and felt JUST LIKE YOU. Such misery. I discovered my niche in Training and ended up working for private industry training on a geodemographic marketing software. I got tired of traveling and answered an ad almost 2 years ago to be the Training Coordinator of our Library System here in Lancaster County (www.lancasterlibraries.org) WOW, I love libraries and librarians now. So I can’t decide to pursue a master’s in Training and Development or LIS, but it’s nice to know there’s a kindred spirit out there. I’ve added you to my aggregator and look forward to following you…

By: bill

bill — Sat, 10 Sep 2005 20:58:24 +0000

I’ve just obtained my first position as a librarian this week, having spent some time in public relations, law firms, and a ton of less focused positions. I’m glad you’re enjoying “living the dream” and I’m looking forward to the same. Best of luck to you.

By: Rebecca Hedreen

Rebecca Hedreen — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 20:26:42 +0000

I spent 4 years as a grad student in zoology before I realized that what I most enjoyed about zoology was the teaching (laboratory TA) and the library research. Several agonizing meetings later, I turned in my resignation and set my sights on librarianship. (That’s an incredibly simplified version of what took a couple of years.)

I’ll admit that one of the great appeals of librarianship was the thought of getting an actual job after the degree (instead of years of post-docs), but I, too, found the “fit” to be perfect. In what other career can I assist in the research of hundreds of researchers, without every standing in a laboratory (and washing glassware) myself? And your laboratory animals never get that light in their eyes when you hand them the answer you’ve been looking for. (Occasionally their cells light up, with luminescent tagging and such, but not their eyes.)

Good luck in the new job, and may you never lose the “fit”.

By: John Russell

John Russell — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 15:12:05 +0000

Hi Meredith, I’m glad that your new job is such a good fit. I’m a former Vermonter myself and know that you will love the area. A favor: is there any way you might e-mail me your IM proposal (or some variant)? We are trying to do the same here at Georgia State and need all the weapons we can get our hands on. Merci!

By: nichole

nichole — Wed, 07 Sep 2005 14:46:17 +0000

This sounds so familiar! For the longest time I thought I wanted to be a music therapist. I quit when I realized that my favorite assignment was compiling a folk music discography for clinicians, not, you know, actually learning the music.

Speaking of which, knowing when to quit is so important. I recommend “The Quit” by Evan Harris.