Who are the People in Your State Library Resource Center

Meet Rebecca Sullivan!

Job & Career Information Center Manager

Enoch Pratt Free Library/State Library Resource Center

What do you do?

I am the Job & Career Information Center manager and the assistant manager of the Business, Science & Technology Department (BST). I work as a librarian in BST answering questions about all sorts of topics. I also teach classes and trainings on job related topics – job searching, interviewing, and resume writing. I’m also fortunate to be able to do outreach through the Job & Career Information Center to community groups that are interested in tours and classes.

How did you get here?

I finished my MLIS at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee and was looking for a job. A friend from library school was working at the Pratt Library and suggested that I might apply for a job here. I ended up moving out to Maryland and have been here ever since!

What’s your favorite thing about your job?

My favorite part about being a librarian is helping people find answers to their questions. It is a lot of fun, especially when the question requires some detective work. I also really love teaching classes about job searching. Teaching people skills that can help them get a job is really rewarding.

What’s a book that you didn’t expect to like – but did?

Wisconsin Death Trip by Michael Lesy. It’s an interesting book that combines photographs and newspaper text from Black River Falls, Wisconsin from 1890-1910. The images can be really creepy – including children in coffins – but it is a really fascinating read.

What is your favorite SLRC program, service, or training?

I really like the LATI Blog – and not just because I’m the editor of it! I think it’s a great resource for finding new ways to answer customer questions. I definitely learn a lot when I read the answers that are sent to me.

What do you do when you’re not reading?

During the spring and summer I like to run and bike outside. I also love camping and traveling. I’m hoping to visit all 50 states eventually!

I have customers who are looking help with figuring out how to change careers. How do I help them?

There are a lot of free online career assessment tools available for library customers to use. They can range from skills assessments, personality tests, and career assessments. Try recommending a few of these:

• The Skills Profiler identifies skills and matches them to jobs.
• O*NET's Ability Profiler matches strengths with occupations.
• O*NET's Interest Profiler identifies broad interest areas.
• O*NET's Work Importance Locator identifies job features that are important to you.
• Employability Checkup provides a snapshot of your employability.
• Enneagram Test will find your personality type.

Don't forget about books! There are also quite a few popular books that you can suggest to customers to find out more about their career possibilities. Here's a couple good ones:

Do What You Are : Discover the Perfect Career for You Through the Secrets of Personality Type by Paul D. Tieger and Barbara Barron-Tieger (2001)

Uses the Myers-Briggs personality types to link to possible careers. Career advice is provided and each strengths and pitfalls of each personality type is highlighted with real-life examples.



The Everything Career Tests Book by A. Bronwyn Llewellyn (2007)

Take ten different tests to reveal work habits, affinities, and interests. Emphasis on "finding your passion" to be able to find the career path that you were destined for.

Review Thursday: Nonfiction

The Back Door Guide to Short-Term Job Adventures: Internships, Summer Jobs, Seasonal Work, Volunteer Vacations, and Transitions Abroad by Michael Landes (2005)

Do you know a recent graduate looking for experience? Maybe there is a library customer who is trying to make a career change but needs to gain certain skills to improve his/her resume. The Back Door Guide to Short-Term Job Adventures: Internships, Summer Jobs, Seasonal Work, Volunteer Vacations, and Transitions Abroad offers a number of possible venues as tools for their job search.

Michael Landes starts with a number of life-planning exercises and leads into a variety of sections, which include real-life stories, websites, and associations for further exploration. Each section outlines whether the experience offers a stipend or if it’s a volunteer opportunity. Some programs are geared specifically for college students or recent graduates, while others are open for anyone over eighteen. The reviews also offer contact information and how to apply for participation. Short-term work may be the tool you need to build the skills, experience, and connections with people to get to the next phase in the job search.

Curious Librarian and Job Seeking

Enjoy this video giving advice for job seekers!

Review Thursday: Quick Picks Nonfiction

Do you have customers that are looking for information on how to get into the health care field? Here are some quick picks to help them investigate their options.

Workplace Readiness for Health Occupations by Bruce J. Colbert (2006)

Assess your current work skills to determine goals and create a plan for success in the work world. Chapters on communication and the job search will be useful to first time job seekers.

The Everything Guide to Careers in Health Care by Kathy Quan (2007)

Learn about the wide variety of health care careers available, including occupational areas most in demand, training needed, and how to determine what area is best for you. The job search process is also detailed.

Careers for Health Nuts & Others Who Like to Stay Fit by Blythe Camenson (2004)

Showcasing a variety of careers for individuals interested in health, this book covers a wide range of health related careers such as personal trainers, occupational therapists, and dieticians. Information on salaries, working conditions, and opportunities for professional advancement are also included.

I’ve got a lot of customers who need to write a resume. Are there any templates or easy ways to create a resume?

A lot of customers want to use the Resume Wizard in Microsoft Word, which can be an easy way to quickly create a resume if the customer is familiar with using Word. However, if the customer is not familiar with Word, the Resume Wizard can be complicated and challenging to update in the future.

One great place to find a user friendly resume template is on the Maryland Workforce Exchange Web site. Your customers do have to create a username and password in order to use the template, but after that hurdle is cleared, the resume builder should be fairly straight forward. The customer is given boxes to fill in for each section of the resume (work history, certifications, military history, etc.), which is similar to an online job application. After all the information is inputted, the customer has the option to save and display a printable resume or a Word document. In both cases, the formatting has been done for the customer. The Word document can also be saved on a flash drive or floppy disk for future use.

Another useful Web site is Emurse. Customers will have to register in order to use this Web site. It also has the customer fill out the resume as if it were an online job application and provides downloadable resumes in several different formats, including as a Word document, PDF, HTML, or Plain Text. Customers can chose a variety of different formats for presenting their resume. Emurse allows the customer to save up to two resumes for free on the site and create a personalized online resume.

A customer needs help looking for jobs. Where is the best place to start?

With the tough economic times, it's more common to have library customers asking for the best places to search for jobs.

For Maryland jobs, a great place to start is with the Maryland Workforce Exchange (MWE) Web site.  MWE is put together by the Department of Labor, Licensing, and Regulation and includes much more than just job postings.  You can find your local One-Stop Career Center locations, a calendar of events which includes trainings and job fairs, and education/training opportunities in the Maryland area.  Registration with the Web site is free.

Another great place to start a broad online job search is with a job search engine such as Indeed or Simply Hired.  These job search engines search a wide variety of Web sites, including major job boards such as Career Builder and Monster, company Web sites, online classified, and more.  Job search engines allow customers to see what jobs are available in their area and only have to search one Web site, saving them time.

There are many more options for online job searching from the Job & Career Information Center's Job & Career Subject Guides.