Sly & The Family Brarian
August 1, 2008 at 8:12 pm 2 comments
I want to take you higher!
So thank you for letting me be myself . . . again . . .
I started a blog on 10/21/07 but only got as far as two posts before Life once again interrupted.
Used this career downtime to build my network of LinkedIn contacts from well under 100 to 1,800+.
The premise being that conventional job search methods (applying to positions on job boards, etc.) would be less likely to help me achieve my immediate goal: a full-time corporate communications position within 30 miles of my home in Bridgewater, N.J.
I even appeared on CNBC’s “The Big Idea, with Donnie Deutsch” 7/30, apparently stumping their panel of experts with my career-limbo quandary.
So here I am, bloodied but unbowed, and ready to get back in touch with my authentic voice again.
And after leafing through Jeffrey Gitomer’s Little Black Book of Connections, I realized what the other problem was: I was looking to “get something” out of my network without first injecting sufficient value into it.
That will be my mission here: to provide a few career “lagniappes” that will help get others unstuck, and in so doing, encourage them to look out for me as well.
As for the name “Slybrarian,” it is derived from the term “cybrarian,” which is one of the many selves I aspire to become. I completed nine credits of reference librarianship coursework at one of the country’s top library/information science graduate schools, in addition to a master’s degree in communications from Seton Hall University, and 11 credits in their law-degree (J.D.) program. I’m a news and information junkie, as well as a corporate mentor, counselor and coach. I love to write, edit and research, and I’ve got plenty of experience in helping companies tell their stories (i.e., right messages to the right people through the right channels at the right times).
I do have a sly sense of humor, and I am also a blues singer and harmonica player, as well as a three-time marathon runner. Sly has many definitions, not all of them particularly charitable. The definition I prefer: someone who regularly appreciates the fact that truth is stranger than fiction, and that strangeness — things outside of one’s experience — is a quality to be treasured rather than reviled.
In other words (final Sly & The Family Stone reference, I promise), different strokes for different folks . . . we can make it if we try.
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1.
tld | August 2, 2008 at 1:00 am
Kudos for endeavoring to find a way to integrate your multiple talents and interests into a unified calling.
I would argue that your authentic voice never left you . . . it was just temporarily drowned out by a deluge of conventional job search advice, coming from those whose limited perspecive prevented them from seeing the “whole” person. Writer, editor, coach, artist, musician, athlete, mentor, research guru, epicurian concierge, comedian, storyteller, trusted friend.
Individually amazing enough, collectively unstoppable.
I say, rock on, Slybrarian. Don’t put too much stock in conventional advice from those who don’t understand our particular brand of strangeness. And don’t forget to Dance to the Music in your soul, for at the end of the day, we are just Everyday People on the journey to personal greatness.
And yes, we *can* make it if we try.
2.
Kate | December 24, 2008 at 12:34 am
Great post.
Love “The Big Idea” and have read all Jeff’s “little books” of various colors.
Interestingly, it’s the third time I’ve heard someone use the word lagniappes in the last 24 hours. Prior to that, zip.
So true, that as you give you get. In Org Behavioral Theory, it’s called “utility” and in marketing it makes all the difference.
It makes perfect sense to start with giving in order to kick start your search.