This Extended Furlough May Change My Life
Its an understatement to say that Covid-19 has rocked our world. Considering that my family and friends are all safe and well, I feel exceptionally lucky.
It hasn’t been easy though - My librarian job (the job that pays my bills and gives me health insurance) has put me and numerous others on a 6 month furlough. All of the part-time folks were simply, unceremoniously laid off. I can’t recall another time in my managerial history where I’ve cried so much in between phone calls.
Fortunately, I was able to secure a temporary gig to make up some pay from home and I’ve started this art business as well. However, it’s becoming increasingly doubtful that the library job will exist once the furlough ends. And so, change I must.
I can’t say that I have any hard and fast answers here. Between the rising cases locally, the budget cuts, hiring freezes, and the simple fact that I’m in the frequently mentioned “high-risk” category, job hunting in libraries is dubious. Being fatalistic isn’t in my nature and, having career-switched before, I’m prepared to do it again…and I’m taking you all along for the ride.
Some of my reasoning is that I don’t want other people to feel alone in this. Some of it is that I don’t want to feel alone. My hope is that, as a community, we can support each other through this and maybe learn from each other’s experiences.
So, what am I doing at this point? Where do you even start?
You just start.
After a conversation with my father about all this (thanks, Dad!), we came up with 3 daily focuses. Focusi. Whatever, there’s 3 of them:
Work the temp job the best I can and keep an ear out for other opportunities there. You never know how one job, even temporary, could lead to another.
Spend some time each day on the hunt: send resumes to recruiters, search postings, and look for new career tangents. One tangent that I’ve seen some librarians go into is UX (user experience). Considering that a love of information architecture is key (and was my favorite class in grad school), this is definitely going to get more research from me.
Build La Prima Nerda. I would love to make this gig my full-time one but businesses tend to grow gradually. Stepping up my game here with a financial runway provided elsewhere will ensure I maintain my physical and mental health (and home).
Juggling all this won’t be easy but it certainly won’t be boring and I can’t say I’m sure where I’ll end up. Let’s find out, shall we?
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