It’s happened to all of us who’ve spent any time in the workplace, and after being read the riot act several times, you realize that the best way – in fact, the only way – to handle this type of career crisis is head-on. As soon as you realize you’ve made a mistake that may have an impact on the company, you want to pull together the following information, and be prepared to lay it out for your boss:

1. Identify what the mistake was, and the potential damage that did or may result from the mistake.
2. Identify what steps you can take or have taken to remedy the situation. (Your boss may have different or additional actions steps for you to take, but it helps if you’ve already tried to come up with some solutions.)
3. Identify what happened to cause the mistake (focus on the relevant process malfunction or missed step; you don’t need to tell your boss that you missed something because you stayed up all night playing Texas hold’em with the tech services team and were suffering from major sleep deprivation).
4. Describe what steps you will take in the future to make sure the mistake doesn’t happen again (again, focus on the process – how you will double check the key information, verify that all steps have been completed, etc. No need to mention your pledge to avoid playing cards til 4:00am on a weeknight in the future….)

Your goals in mastering your “I screwed up” statement are to make it clear to your boss that you know you messed up, and you intend to take responsibility for it (thus building your boss’s confidence in your honesty and reliability). Also, you want to make sure that you’re the one delivering this information rather than the woman three cubicles down who’s got it in for you.

Bottom line:

• Never let your boss learn of your screw-up from anyone other than you.
• Never try to hide information about a mistake; know that it will almost always surface, and in the worst ways at the worst possible time.
• Never let your boss get blindsided by something you did and concealed from him/her; it makes bosses look bad, and they’ll never forgive you for it – or trust you again.

So start rehearsing your speech now: “Ah, boss, do you have a moment? I need to tell you about a situation that came up and how I’d like to handle it if this sounds okay to you….”

Brand-Building on LinkedIn
Creating your professional brand involves showcasing your strengths, accomplishments, and passions (assuming they’re legal) to your universe of friends, colleagues, and potential employers. How do you want the world to see you, without having the potential embarrassment of pointing out to hundreds of people face-to-face what an amazing person you are?

LinkedIn is perfect for this sort of low-embarrassment-factor branding. Think “everything I wanted to tell you about my brilliant career but was too shy or well-mannered to mention….” Or, if your brilliant career is still in pre-launch stage, this is an opportunity to showcase volunteer work you’ve done, education you’re pursuing, community projects you’ve worked on, etc. Your goal is to let people know you think of yourself as a professional (even if you’re still a student), and you have either created or are building your value as a potential employee.

Networking on LinkedIn
Offering three approaches to building your professional connections, LinkedIn provides a great opportunity to easily expand and maintain those contacts.

The first approach is to find a few friends or colleagues you’d like to “link” to, and then send them a request to link. A lot of people prefer this “less is more” approach, because it keeps their network to a small group with very strong bonds. The second approach is to link to everyone you know and/or have worked or taken classes with (and who happen to be on LinkedIn), on the assumption that you already have something in common. This creates a much broader network, but still one where you feel like you’ve already got established trust relationships.

The third approach is to link to (or accept link requests from) people with whom you may not have any pre-established relationship. This approach seems to work best for “power networkers” whose goals are based on having the largest possible pool of connections (for example, recruiters).

Tactics for Getting Started on LinkedIn
It’s free, it’s relatively easy, and having a presence on LinkedIn is quickly becoming as expected among professionals as having an up-to-date resume. Also, HR types and hiring managers almost all check out applicants’ LinkedIn profiles before considering them for job openings, and would be surprised not to find one for you. These days, you need to consider having a presence on Linked to be an important, but happily low-maintenance, part of your career platform.

If you’re just getting started, the following steps will help you cover the basics.

Make sure your profile is complete. If you haven’t created a profile yet, it’s easier if you go check out a couple of other profiles of people whose careers you admire, then gather/write the information you want to put in your own profile before you actually start inputting the data. If you’re stumped about what to write or how to phrase things, ask others who know you to help with ideas.

Make sure your summary showcases your strengths in business language. Likened to an “elevator speech,” your summary is a couple of sentences that describe your expertise and background. If you’re just starting out in your career, you might want to describe your career interests, e.g., “Have focused on productivity among culturally-diverse work teams in my business administration coursework and researched methods for creating high-performing teams.”

Also, here is where you want to make sure to use the language (“keywords”) employers are likely to use to find someone with your skills. For example, if database management is the term people use in your field, make sure you’ve included it in your summary.

Include a photograph. It’s now pretty much expected that everyone posts a photograph of some sort; not doing so seems to create a sense that you’re hiding something, and tends to make readers uneasy about who you really are. Don’t feel like your photo needs to be a professional job, however; you’ll find plenty of “my best friend took this on his smartphone” photos on LinkedIn, and they work just fine.

Reach out and link to some friends, colleagues, or classmates. You don’t need hundreds of connections, but having zero connections on LinkedIn makes people wonder whether you live in a cave. Well, okay, maybe not a cave, but it does make you look a bit…odd. So find at least ten willing connections to add to your network!

Ask for some recommendations. These can be from colleagues, bosses, classmates, teachers, people who have volunteered with you, just about anyone who can comment on how smart you are and what a delight you are to work with. Naturally, you’ll offer to reciprocate.

If you’re uncomfortable asking people to do this for you, try this wording: “Hi, [name], I hope all is going well with you! I’m contacting you because I’m in the midst of building out my LinkedIn profile, and was wondering if you would be willing to write a brief recommendation for me on LinkedIn about the work we did together at [company / school / volunteer project / etc.]. I would, of course, be happy to do the same for you.”

Join several groups that interest you. Go to the “Groups” tab at the top of the LinkedIn page, and check out the “Groups You May Like” option for groups matching keywords in your profile, or search on “Groups Directory” using some topics that interest you.

Being part of a group lets you connect with people who are interested in the same professional topics you are, and provides an acceptable platform of common interest with which to reach out to them if you’d like. You may also want to start building your brand visibility by asking or answering questions in the group’s discussion threads. If you’re a student, the members of most groups on LinkedIn are usually very receptive to and supportive of questions, but if you’re hesitant, then just lurk for awhile to see how the discussions go before you jump in.

These actions will help you start building your brand and your network on LinkedIn. But if you’d like more coaching, check out the “New User Starter Guide” by going to the LinkedIn homepage, then clicking on the “More” tab at the top of the page, then “Learning Center.” Also, when you have a chance, consider simply exploring the site to see what other options it offers.

Bad Idea #1: Focusing more on personal than professional information.  Social media used to be primarily for sharing personal interests, information, and connections, so that’s what most people did. Now, however, social media sites and tools have gone mainstream as a way to build your professional brand and visibility among potential colleagues and employers. So make sure you’re not posting so much personal information on key sites such as LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter that it displaces the career-focused info you’d like hiring managers to know about you (or consider separate profiles or privacy filters).

Bad Idea #2: Sharing too much information of a very personal nature…and especially if includes a photograph! Generally speaking, resist the urge to regale the world with how many jello shots you had Friday night at Bob’s bar, stories from your bachelor/bachelorette party, or descriptions of how you dressed your pets up for Halloween – especially if any of them are accompanied by photos. Sure, these can be fun things to share, but you don’t want them to cross over into the same space where your professional persona lives (or come back to haunt you later). Consider it TMI!

Bad Idea #3: Discussing any behaviors or activities that would give a potential employer a reason not to trust your judgment.  And here we are, back at Bob’s bar and the jello shots…. The thing to keep in mind is that you’re trying to convince someone to trust your professional maturity (and pay you a grown-up salary) – so yep, don’t give them any reason not to trust your judgment (at least that they can find online).

Bad Idea #4: Making negative, whiny, racist, or otherwise obnoxious comments in general, but especially about a person or employer.  When you start building your professional brand, you’re establishing what you want to be known for (your skills) as well as whom you want to be known as (your personality and character). Making negative or obnoxious comments online pegs you as a toxic personality, and besides poisoning the discussion in any online community of which you’re a part, it will also turn off potential employers, who generally are looking to recruit people who play well with others.

Bad Idea #5: Engaging in confrontational behaviors (flaming, having to have the last word, etc.). This is the younger snarky sibling of Bad Idea #4. Word gets around fast, and people who might have been willing to be good career connections for you (letting you know about job openings, recommending you, sharing their connections, mentoring, etc.) will instead avoid being associated with you. Play nice – career karma really does work, and if you are good to others, it will come back to you in all sorts of good ways (read: job opportunities).

Bad Idea #6: Disclosing information about your employer (unless it’s part of your job). What’s inappropriate versus an okay disclosure will depend on your company, but generally speaking, assume a post about what a fabulous place it is to work, or the great management style they have, or what a great learning environment it provides would be good to go. Comments about massive layoffs, your psychotic boss, or the top-secret product about to be launched? Avoid at all costs – besides possibly getting you fired, you’ll scare off any potential employers who see this.

Bad Idea #7: Lying about your background, skills, experience, or expertise. Okay, we know, it’s mostly just Congressmen and CEOs of major companies that try to get away with this, but if you happen to be contemplating, ah, enhancing your professional assets, don’t! Aside from the ethical issues involved, it’s just way too easy to get found out – and it’s bound to happen at the worst possible point in your career.

Bad Idea #8: Spending too much time on Twitter during work hours. Here’s the thing: everybody you work with (including your boss) can see how much time you’re spending tweeting – rather than working. It’s tough for you to make a case for overtime hours, or increased pay, or a decreased workload, when someone can refer to a twitter feed that shows 25 tweets a day. Especially bad form if they’re about sex, beer, or your boss….

Bad Idea #9: Having abandoned social media accounts or out-of-date profiles.  These tend to reflect poorly on your ability to commit to something and then follow through, plus it’s really pathetic when people try to connect with or follow you, only to be met with a resounding silence. So 1) think seriously about which social media tools you want to use to establish your professional presence and how you will consistently maintain that presence before you commit, and 2) don’t use your company e-mail as the contact e-mail. It’s way too easy to lose access to that e-mail, and then you’ll have to go through unbelievable brain damage to regain access to your site account.

Worst Idea #10: Not having any online presence. It’s now pretty much common knowledge that nearly every potential employer is going to Google you and check out your LinkedIn profile before they contact you for an interview. If you aren’t “findable” online, two things happen. First, people wonder why you’re not online (do you live in a cave? on the run from the law? in witness protection?). Second, prospective employers will move on to another candidate they can find information about.

Remember, your goal is to use social media tools to make it easy for hiring managers to find information about you that makes you seem like the perfect candidate for their job, without making them have to work to find that information.

Requesting Links and Recommendation

Links are connections you establish with others on LinkedIn that enable you to share information, contacts, and updates in your careers and/or job status. Generally, you send link requests to people you know or have met or have something in common with.

Recommendations, on the other hand, show up on your profile next to the job entry they’re related to – in other words, if your supervisor at your previous employer writes a glowing recommendation for you, it will show up next to that company’s entry in your job history.

Don’t Default to the Defaults

LinkedIn has automatic defaults for both of these request types to make it easier for you to reach out and touch someone, but the smart move is to ignore the default requests and instead tailor your requests to each individual and his or her place in your life or career. So, for example, if requesting that someone “link” with you, you have this default message:

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn

Instead, you want to send a request that notes what you have in common and why you’d like to connect and stay in touch, such as:

• [Name], I’ve just gotten started on LI and would like to connect with you so we can stay in touch now that we no longer work together – would you like to link?
• [Name], I really enjoyed meeting you at/during [event], and would like to stay connected – would you like to link?
• [Name], I really enjoyed the class I took with you and appreciated your support and interest in our success as students. I’d like to stay connected with you – would it be okay for us to Link?
• [Name], I’ve really enjoyed your posts in the [name of LinkedIn group] group; I’d like to connect with you if you’d like.

Note that you’re addressing the person by his or her name, which makes it clear that you’ve taken the time to personalize the message, and you’re not just blasting everyone in your Outlook address book with a mass invitation to link. It’s human nature: people appreciate feeling special. And you want the person you’re reaching out to to feel that your connection is important enough to you to make an extra effort.

Recommendations work the same way. Here’s the LinkedIn default message:

I’m sending this to ask you for a brief recommendation of my work that I can include in my LinkedIn profile. If you have any questions, let me know. Thanks in advance for helping me out.

Instead, address the person by name, and always format your requests for a favor as a reciprocal relationship – this is what makes it okay to ask for a favor. Also, be specific, if you can, about what strengths you’d like them to mention (and when you do a recommendation for them, be equally specific).

Some possible language:

• Name], I’m working on building my LinkedIn presence, and wondered if you’d be willing to write me a brief recommendation based on our work together at [project, organization, company]. Specifically, if you feel comfortable doing so, could you comment on my [strengths]? I’d be happy to write a recommendation for you as well; if so, is there any area of expertise you’d particularly like me to comment on?
• …based on my work for you at [project, organization, company]
• …based on my work as a student in your [title] class

Your goal with the recommendations you’re requesting is to continue to position yourself as a professional others would want to work with, and to provide evidence of why you should be hired.

Reach Out and Touch Someone

Not sure who to link to or request recommendations from? For links, think as broadly as possible: former colleagues, friends, people who you know through volunteer work, members you’ve gotten to know through professional associations, classmates, former classmates, teachers, administrators who you’ve gotten to know in college, and others whose paths you’ve crossed and liked enough to want to stay connected with.

For recommendations, you’ll want to be a bit more selective – a positive recommendation from a co-worker is always great to have, but a glowing recommendation from a boss or company executive tends to carry the most weight with prospective employers. Best case: you’ll have at least one or two positive recommendations from someone who can speak highly of your skills and/or expertise for each job listed in your LinkedIn profile.

Although it takes a bit more time to personalize your request for a link or recommendation, the payoff in terms of professional impression is well worth the effort.

Requesting Links and Recommendations
Links are connections you establish with others on LinkedIn that enable you to share information, contacts, and updates in your careers and/or job status. Generally, you send link requests to people you know or have met or have something in common with.

Recommendations, on the other hand, show up on your profile next to the job entry they’re related to – in other words, if your supervisor at your previous employer writes a glowing recommendation for you, it will show up next to that company’s entry in your job history.

Don’t Default to the Defaults
LinkedIn has automatic defaults for both of these request types to make it easier for you to reach out and touch someone, but the smart move is to ignore the default requests and instead tailor your requests to each individual and his or her place in your life or career. So, for example, if requesting that someone “link” with you, you have this default message:

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn

Instead, you want to send a request that notes what you have in common and why you’d like to connect and stay in touch, such as:

• [Name], I’ve just gotten started on LI and would like to connect with you so we can stay in touch now that we no longer work together – would you like to link?
• [Name], I really enjoyed meeting you at/during [event], and would like to stay connected – would you like to link?
• [Name], I really enjoyed the class I took with you and appreciated your support and interest in our success as students. I’d like to stay connected with you – would it be okay for us to Link?
• [Name], I’ve really enjoyed your posts in the [name of LinkedIn group] group; I’d like to connect with you if you’d like.

Note that you’re addressing the person by his or her name, which makes it clear that you’ve taken the time to personalize the message, and you’re not just blasting everyone in your Outlook address book with a mass invitation to link. It’s human nature: people appreciate feeling special. And you want the person you’re reaching out to to feel that your connection is important enough to you to make an extra effort.

Recommendations work the same way. Here’s the LinkedIn default message:

I’d like to add you to my professional network on LinkedIn.

Instead, address the person by name, and always format your requests for a favor as a reciprocal relationship – this is what makes it okay to ask for a favor. Also, be specific, if you can, about what strengths you’d like them to mention (and when you do a recommendation for them, be equally specific).

Some possible language:

• Name], I’m working on building my LinkedIn presence, and wondered if you’d be willing to write me a brief recommendation based on our work together at [project, organization, company]. Specifically, if you feel comfortable doing so, could you comment on my [strengths]? I’d be happy to write a recommendation for you as well; if so, is there any area of expertise you’d particularly like me to comment on?
• …based on my work for you at [project, organization, company]
• …based on my work as a student in your [title] class

Your goal with the recommendations you’re requesting is to continue to position yourself as a professional others would want to work with, and to provide evidence of why you should be hired.

Reach Out and Touch Someone
Not sure who to link to or request recommendations from? For links, think as broadly as possible: former colleagues, friends, people who you know through volunteer work, members you’ve gotten to know through professional associations, classmates, former classmates, teachers, administrators who you’ve gotten to know in college, and others whose paths you’ve crossed and liked enough to want to stay connected with.

For recommendations, you’ll want to be a bit more selective – a positive recommendation from a co-worker is always great to have, but a glowing recommendation from a boss or company executive tends to carry the most weight with prospective employers. Best case: you’ll have at least one or two positive recommendations from someone who can speak highly of your skills and/or expertise for each job listed in your LinkedIn profile.

Although it takes a bit more time to personalize your request for a link or recommendation, the payoff in terms of professional impression is well worth the effort.

From a conceptual standpoint, equity refers to how much investment you’ve built for a given asset, which might be your political reputation and influence, the value of your home relative to your mortgage, or the amount of standing and influence you have in your community of choice.

From a career standpoint, professional equity is a combination of the job skills, expertise, and experience you’ve accumulated, the relationships you’ve developed, and the reputation you’ve built so far in your career.

The Skills, Expertise, and Experience Piece

In 1999, Tom Peters wrote The Project 50: Fifty Ways to Transform Every “Task” into a Project That Matters!, touting the importance of looking at your work as a series of “projects” that either provided you with terrific learning experiences or demonstrated your extraordinary skills. Since then, the concept of building your professional portfolio around several (as many as possible) signature projects has gained traction as a way of providing evidence not only of what you know, but also of what you can do with that knowledge.

How does this work in real life? Look at career opportunities from the perspective of how they’ll help you document outstanding work. Join, create, and/or lead projects whenever you can, even if it means putting in extra (uncompensated) hours or volunteering outside of your job. Your goal is to find ways to distinguish your contributions, and working on high-visibility projects is one of the easiest and most effective ways to do that.

The Relationships Piece

Every day in your career you have an opportunity to build positive long-term relationships with co-workers you’ve identified as people you enjoy, admire, respect, and/or can learn from. Working with them, you have an opportunity to see very clearly who they are, how their values align with yours, and what professional skills they bring.

You also have an opportunity to help these individuals build their careers. In so doing, you build long-term and mutual respect, trust, and goodwill. By being a positive player in your co-workers’ lives and careers, you signal that you care as much about their success as you do your own. And you will be building professional relationships – and equity – that will sustain your career for years to come.

There are all sorts of ways to build positive connections with your co-workers and others with whom you come into contact in a professional way. Some basics:

• support others’ success through your connections
• share your knowledge and experience
• find opportunities to applaud others’ achievements – in public
• model positive collaboration
• find ways to reach out and help others, especially with their careers

Think of this as career karma – the good that you do for others can’t help but come back to you.

The Reputation Piece

What kind of professional reputation do you have, or would you like to build? Your professional brand is basically what people think of when your name comes up: your character, values, judgment, intelligence, reliability, creativity, and similar significant characteristics.

You build your professional reputation by the work that you do, your visibility within the field, your communications (in person, in print, and online), and your engagements (read: associations in which you’re active, volunteer work, etc.). The longer you work in the LIS profession, the more engagement you’re involved in, and the more actively you establish your online presence, the stronger your professional or career brand will be.

Putting Them All Together

The good work you do, the strong relationships you nurture, and the professional reputation you build provide the sturdy platform you’ll need to continue to build your work opportunities over a decades-long career. Multiplied over years of work engagements, your growing professional equity will be the greatest asset you have for creating a sustainable career.

• You need a master’s degree to work in a library?
• You’ll never get a job (or one that pays anything)
• It’s stupid to go to graduate school at your age
• What on earth are you going to do with that?
• Are there even go to be libraries anymore?
• Why would you need a degree in that, everything’s on the Internet!

Okay, my favorite was my (former) husband’s request that I not tell anyone that I was getting a master’s degree in library and information science because it “sounded like a kindergarten degree” and embarrassed him.

At the time, I was too young to know how to verbally stand up for myself (and insufficiently experienced in martial arts to whop him upside the head with a well-placed kick). But actually he was just one of hundreds of friends, family members, bosses, co-workers, mothers-in-law, kids, and others who don’t get why we’d “waste our time” on an MLIS, and would much prefer that we do something related to either 1) meeting their needs, 2) getting a job right now that contributes to family finances, or 3) pursuing a degree that they can brag about.

So I thought I’d go on the record with why I’m really glad I got an MLIS, and why I would do it again in a heartbeat.

• Information is the world’s currency, and an MLIS can position you in a multiplicity of ways to become part of the flow of that currency. You can do it in ways that pay you $38K a year or $125K a year, depending on your interests and skills. I’ve used my degree in at least 15 different directions, had a blast, and made grown-up money in the process.

• MLIS skills can be deployed in all types of organizations, including libraries, can be endlessly repurposed, and can be easily updated (we know how to find and use information to learn cool new stuff!). You can choose which of hundreds of potential career paths to pursue, or create your own.

• MLIS skills lend themselves to independent work, should you have an entrepreneurial streak. Or you can do freelance work on the side, in addition to your day job, or plan for part-time information gigs in your retirement.

• MLIS skills are broad-based rather than rigidly focused (read: MBA), so in a world where all the boundaries are dissolving and new opportunities are replacing old established structures, MLIS skills can be endlessly adaptable. With a bit of career exploration and networking, you can come up with multiple alternative ways to deploy your skills.

• MLIS skills make a terrific foundation upon which to layer or build additional expertise or specializations. In any other professional setting, you’ll always be the one who can dazzle the team with your information magic.

• Librarians and other information professionals as a community are amazingly willing to share knowledge, support each other, and generally are much more collegiate in every situation. It means you can extend the reach of your knowledge by tapping your support network.

• MLIS skills lend themselves to supporting life circumstances – you can move from part-time work to full-time work to freelance or project work, and still be professionally active and engaged.

• We always get to look smart to people who don’t have a clue how to find, evaluate, organize, or manage information. They think we can do magic (and who are we to tell them otherwise?).

• There is so much upheaval going on in the profession, so many new technology, programming, and outreach experiments taking place, that it’s like working in a constantly changing, challenging environment where we have pretty much no idea how things are going to turn out – how many career paths offer that level of adventure?

• Lastly, I believe information is the most powerful, positive change agent we have in the world, and the more effective I am at using it, the better I can serve my community and the world at large to effect positive change at every level. I learned that in my MLIS program.

Bottom line: this is a time of upheaval for the profession, and it’s easy to focus on the jobs that are contracting, the challenges in finding entry-level jobs, and the poor pay in traditional libraries. But by taking a broader view of the career possibilities, including traditional librarianship, it’s easy to make the case that an MLIS is truly an investment in a future of opportunities and solid income.

And for those who think you’re too old to go to graduate school, or you’re wasting money, or you should be at home taking care of them (like you always have), understand that they’re probably not going to change their minds until you bring in those first paychecks. That doesn’t make them bad people, it just means that you’re going to have to have the confidence and commitment to pursue your studies without their support. Easier to do if you keep in mind that you’ve got the support of all the rest of us who’ve been there and done that. Trust me: your dreams are worth the effort you’re making.

Faculty make-up. There are a number of elements to consider here. In the academic universe, scholarly/research credentials signify accomplishment and value. However, if a program has mostly full-time tenured faculty who focus primarily on scholarly work (which undoubtedly has value), they’ll be unlikely to have many professional connections or experience outside academia, which means they’ll not be able to help much when it comes to helping you find great internships and/or jobs. Another consideration is who teaches in the subject area that interest you? Are they publishing interesting papers, exploring new applications, leading interesting projects (that you could participate in)?

A third consideration is how many adjunct faculty teach in the program, and the quality of their teaching. Adjunct faculty are usually practitioners who have had successful experience in the topic they’re teaching, and can bring real-life insights (and a practitioner’s network of connections) to the subject at hand. On the other hand, some adjuncts can have poor teaching skills, poor communication skills, and little understanding of how to help students master the material. So if you’re getting serious about a program, you’ll want to learn more about the faculty, and perhaps research them online to see if their strengths align with what you’ll be looking for.

Career services. The level (and effectiveness) of career support for students differs radically from school to school. Some MLIS programs have dedicated career-services counselors, others share one of the main campus’s career-center staffers. Some schools provide a tremendous amount of career information and support resources online (see, for example, San Jose State University’s Career Development section on its website), others almost none. So when talking with a program representative about their strengths, be sure to ask about what resources and support they provide for career counseling and job placement.

Internships. Internships are a dynamite way to 1) gain job experience, 2) test out potential career paths, and 3) build professional connections. Does the program have internships set up with organizations that reflect your career-path interests? Are the internships paid or unpaid, virtual or onsite or a blend of both? If possible, ask to speak to someone who’s done an internship in your area of interest. If the school doesn’t help with internships or practicum placements, it’s sending a pretty clear signal that you’re going to be on your own when it comes to finding a job when you graduate.

Corporate relations. Related to the internship question, does the program have any relationships established with key employers? If so, how will those relationships benefit you as a student? That might be internships, opportunities to participate in real-life business projects, working with professional mentors, willingness to do information interviews with you, or even job placement for top students. Your job is to see if these relationships are in place, and how they benefit program students and graduates.

Professional associations. Does the program have active student chapters of the professional associations relevant to your interests? If not, this can either signify a great opportunity for you to step into a leadership role and create the chapter or it can indicate that no one else in the program shares your professional interests, which might mean it’s not the right school for you.

Alumni network. A great alumni network can be a major career asset for students. Alumni can mentor students, be available for informational interviews, make wonderful guest speakers, and connect you to their professional network for job contacts. They can also show you career directions and paths you might not have considered. So you’ll want to ask about the program’s alumni network – what is it, how does it work, and would it be possible to speak with some alumni in your potential field.

Employment statistics. Where do students go to work once they’ve graduated (what organizations or types of organizations, what roles or job titles)? How long on average did it take them to get a job? Some schools don’t have this information, but if they can discuss even anecdotal data with you, it means that they realize how important it is for students (and prospective students) to find decent jobs as quickly as possible when they graduate.

Advisory board make-up. Who’s on the advisory board for the program? Is it mostly people from industry, mostly from traditional libraries, a mix? Any non-LIS folks? The make-up of the advisory board can often signal what types of LIS paths are most highly emphasized in the program.

Technology focus. This is two questions. First, how much is technology is used in the program? Organizations today are looking for employees who are adept at using a wide range of collaborative and communications technologies, and it’s a lot easier to master these tools in grad school where there is faculty and IT-department support. Second, how many courses in the program focus on technology-based LIS skills? If few, you have to assume that you’ll be graduating without the most in-demand professional knowledge and skill set, and will be competing for jobs against other new grads who do have those skills.

The question is – between classes, internships, possible family commitments, and other obligations, who’s got the time?!

Grab Every Opportunity to Build Your Portfolio
If possible, see if you can turn some of your course assignments or school activities into portfolio fodder. Some ideas:

• Volunteer to organization a campus-based or virtual career day. This offers you multiple benefits. First, it demonstrates those in-demand professional skills of leadership, project management, and personal initiative. Second, it gives you a terrific excuse to reach out to local LIS professionals who will then get to see you demonstrate those skills firsthand. You’ve just added great contacts to your budding professional network and contributed to your professional brand as a high-value contributor.

• Get active in the local (or student) chapter of one of the profession’s associations. ALA? SLA? ASIST? MLA? AALL? Contact the programming person and offer to give a presentation on the topic of your best student paper. Or revise it for a professional audience (rather than academic), and submit it for publication in a student newsletter or the association’s magazine as the voice of the new generation of students. From a portfolio-building perspective, this allows you to point to public speaking skills and/or professional-level writing and communication skills.

• Look for cool projects to work on. If one of your teachers talks about an innovative project he or she is working on, see if you can wrangle a spot on the team. Although you may not have a lot of spare time you can volunteer, offer to do some level of work that’s manageable for you. Or, look around your community to see what new initiatives might be going on that you could lend your skills to at a modest time-commitment level. Being able to point to participation in innovative projects in your portfolio documents your interest in and willingness to engage in new ideas and opportunities, while demonstrating that you can apply what you’re learning.

• Repurpose your assignments. Think up variations on your assignments that let you demonstrate a certain type of expertise, then sell the idea to your instructor (making sure that you’re staying faithful to what he or she is trying to make sure you learn!). Do you want your career direction to focus on research, or community outreach, or technology innovation, or new approaches to information literacy programs for immigrant communities? Then see if any of your assignments lend themselves to this type of work or engagement, so your portfolio will demonstrate that you’ve already been developing an expertise in this area.

These ideas are examples of how to think about creating a portfolio of accomplishment that will demonstrate to a prospective employer just how much of a contributor you can be, and have been. It’s the difference between saying “I learned how to do XYZ” in college and “let me show/tell you what I can do with XYZ.”

In that case, it may be time to bring out the big guns, as in Guerrilla Marketing for Job Hunters 3.0: How to Stand Out from the Crowd and Tap into the Hidden Job Market Using Social Media and 999 Other Tactics Today (Jay Conrad Levinson and David E. Perry, Wiley, 2011).

The third edition of this popular job-hunting guide continues to offer its familiar combination of strategies, tips, resources, war stories, and take-no-prisoners tactics for winning the job-hunt war. While occasionally a bit over the top for some more reserved job hunters, the book intends to make the process less daunting, less painful, and a lot more effective for the time spent. Although most of the ideas are much more applicable for nontraditional than for traditional LIS jobs, and introverts might not connect with some of the authors’ brasher recommendations, the sheer range of ideas and actions presented makes the book worth checking out.

The book is divided into four major sections, each with a thematic focus. Part 1, Your Guerilla Mind-Set, focuses on creative ways to approach personal branding, key elements of a successful attitude, and tools and tactics for “cracking the hidden job market.” Part 2, Weapons that Make You a Guerrilla, coaches you through your research plan, provides a resume writing and cover letter boot camp, and lays out the why-to’s and how-to’s of networking.

The chapters of Part III, Tactics That Make You a Guerilla, walk you through LinkedIn and other social media tools and tactics, then describe how to get in front of the people you want to meet with. Part IV, Your Guerrilla Job Campaign, explains how to use the “force multiplier effect,” defined by the authors as “the military discipline of using multiple tactics at the same time to create synergy – and overwhelm the target.” In addition, this section addresses how to ace the interview and then smartly negotiate the job offer.

The flow of the book lends itself to a methodical job-hunt campaign, but you can also “drop in” and sample specific topics as needed, for example, if you’ve got a job interview coming up that may involve negotiating an offering package. Also, the core narrative is enhanced with drills, scripts and worksheets, cases studies and “war stories,” and guerrilla tactics tips and tricks.

You won’t use everything here, but you’re sure to pick up a lot of really great ideas and action items. And needless to say, in this hiring environment, every new idea helps.