 Hello, and welcome to the School of Library and Information Science Career Colloquia session. My name is Jill Klees, and I am the SJSU Career Center liaison to SLIS. And I'd like to thank you all very much for joining me tonight. We get to hear from one of our own SLIS alums, Colleen Cook. Colleen Cook. And we're going to hear about how she's maximized her experience while getting her MLIS to pave a path to her ideal archives job. So I'm super excited to hear what Colleen has to share with us tonight. So let's get ourselves started, and I'm going to let Colleen take it away. So here you go. Thank you, Jill, and welcome, everybody. Good evening. I am super excited to talk to you guys. As you may have noticed, my name is Colleen, and we are here to talk about how I got my dream job and how you can, too. First off, what is this dream job of mine? What do I do? I am the Archives Coordinator for the Agua Colliente Band of Collea Indians. As you can see from the picture, I work in the Tribal Historic Preservation Department, and I have been here almost a year. My department supports the preservation of historical resources, specifically archaeological sites for the tribe, just like California's State Historic Preservation Office does for the state's historical resources. I was hired to manage the department's archives, implement records management, keep track of our departmental library, and generally provide assistance with information management. Understandably, this job is amazing and teaching me so much. However, you might find it interesting to know this wasn't originally my dream job. When I started grad school, I would have told you my dream job was with the National Park Service or University, but now I couldn't imagine not working with Native American Archives. This truly has become my dream job. So how did I get here? Well, I didn't know what to do with my bachelors in history when I graduated college, so I wound up in human resources at my alma mater. After a year and a half, I decided it wasn't for me and chose to become an archivist, but it took two years to land a paid archival position and two more after to get a permanent position. So let's highlight a few quirks of my journey to my dream job that might inspire you to yours. I volunteered in different archives on my lunch hour and on weekends to gain whatever experience I could soak up while in school and working. The lunchtime gig was offered to me after I introduced myself in the monthly newsletter of the Santa Ana Historical Preservation Society, which I had joined a year and a half before expressing my interest in archives and that I had started my master's in library science. That society also helped me create archival opportunities for myself as they benefited the workings of the society, like cataloging their library. Volunteering at NARA on Saturdays gave me enough background in federal records and archival practices that it was a major factor in me getting a paid internship with the South Florida Special Collection Center, which falls under the National Park Service. I was in the running for another wonderful paid internship with Longwood Gardens, but because my focus was on archives, they thought they wanted a more generic library intern. I'm happy to say that I was eventually accepted, and not only have they had two archival interns since I left, they also hired an archivist. I like to think I made an impression. My work in Florida and with other collection management systems was a major factor in me being offered my first full-time archivist position. My current boss hired me because she was impressed with my newsletter skills, grant-reading education, three years of records management, knowledge of historic preservation and enthusiasm for wrangling archives that haven't had a lot of work. All that on top of my archival skills, because trust me, I wasn't the only capable qualified archivist who applied. I simply had other useful skills and was the right fit. Seriously though, you never know what will set you apart from your competition, so definitely let employers know what you're capable of, which is what we're here to talk about tonight. So what else did I do? I had persistence, patience, and a lot of luck. I've applied to hundreds of jobs since starting grad school because finding a job is a job in itself, but there are some things you can do to help give yourself an edge. I utilized the skills we're going to discuss here to work my way to my current employment. So what do I hope to impart before you leave tonight? The topics I'm going to try and cover are skills and qualifications employers seek most, how to translate your background into the job you want, and how to create a LinkedIn profile, probably my favorite. So what are employers looking for? Well, let's ask them. I used Meredith Lowe's site, archives gig, to compile a demonstration for you all. By the way, if you've never heard of this site, copy the link below and access it right now, save it for the future, or whatever you need to do. I encourage you to look at this regularly. Make it part of your daily or weekly routine, because she makes it so easy for us. This is where I found so many of my jobs. So anyway, I used her site to compile a list of descriptions and requirements from 38 jobs posted since March 1st of this year. They include all levels, from entry to executive and comprise nine government, 18 higher education, four not-for-profit, and seven corporate positions in 20 different states and Canada. Ta-da! There you have it, in all its word cloud glory. So what do they want? Basically, they want everything. Sorry to tell you, but it's true. But, if you can tell from the graphic, there are a few key skills that are a necessity. Look at the very middle. See that MLIS? 99% of the jobs you'll look at are going to require a master's. The only reason it's not bigger on here is it only occurs 36 times in my word doc that I compiled, because you typically only need one MLIS for each job. But really, take a quick look. We'll hang on this page for a minute or two, and read some of the items there. We'll talk about the basics. Your master's, archival experience, where there's the knowledge, ability, excuse me, management, digital, library, records. We'll talk about those next, but really look at what else is on here. Each job is going to have a unique set of requirements, that's all your little blues and purples down here, on top of the basics. So, my tip to you, if you're not already regularly watching the job market, reading job descriptions, especially for the types of jobs you really think you want, you're going to miss something. This is how I prepared myself before I even started grad school. And FYI, the economy crashed right as I started, but I was prepared. I knew what I was getting into. And I haven't stopped looking at new jobs since. Job descriptions are one of the best ways I've found to stay abreast, and on top of changes in our field. So, on to the MLIS, your master's in library and information science. I doubt this requirement is a surprise to any of you. I mean, you're here getting your master's. So, you understand it's usefulness and necessity. But let's talk about what employers actually want out of your degree. The majority of archivist jobs require a master's degree in library science from an ALA accredited program. Check you're in the right program. However, they also want this tricky advanced coursework and or concentration in archives or another special interest related to your job. A generic MLIS may not, on its own, be enough. You have to be able to promote your archival knowledge. So, what does that mean? When I attended SJSU, there was a list of unofficial concentrations and recommended coursework. I couldn't find that this time around, sorry. But the recommendations for MARA students will work just as well. I've copied them here for you. This is what the MARA site lists as recommended coursework. Use these as a guideline to ensure you're getting a competitive archival education. Remember my word cloud and how big knowledge was? They expect you to know the basics of archival management and practices. Plus, as the MARA degree is evidence, there are specific programs out there to get your master's in archival management. So, you will be competing with people who really only studied archives. I bolded the classes I took. Notice I have most of the foundation. I highly recommend, if you still have time and haven't already, to at least try and get that. At the time, most of the rest of my classes also fell under this recommended courses. MARA is a little different than the concentration I followed. But I also took grant writing and collection management and wrote research papers on libraries, libraries, excuse me, to give myself an edge and to make sure I was prepared for other information management fields. No matter what, be prepared to defend your education decisions. Remember that phrase or other special interests related to job? It's not the end of the world if you don't have that archival concentration. You just might have to work a little harder. When you're starting out and especially with internships, your coursework could get you or cost you the job. Take it from me, it's happened. Take what you like, though, what you're interested in and what will benefit you because you'll be happier in the long run anyway. So, here's a suggestion. The next one, that lovely Catch-22 experience. Frodo got it right and it's so frustrating. I hear y'all, you need some type of experience to get experience, or in other words, a job. In fact, you're probably going to need experience to even get the internship. Both my internships required more experience than my coursework provided. Without volunteering, I wouldn't have qualified for either of them. So, how do you get it? There are lots of ways out there to get experience. So, long as it has some professional merit, I believe you can make it work. It all depends on what you can and can't, are and aren't, willing to do. Let's start with a brainstorm of ways to get experience. Internships and volunteering are excellent and obvious methods. Just make sure the situation is fair for you and your employer. Be creative, look around you, and where archives might be or might be useful. Like my historical society, they jumped at me creating my own projects so long as the board had approval and knowledge of my methods, because it helped them as well. This is also where networking comes in really handy. The more people you meet and share your passion for archives with, the more likely you are to find an opportunity to use your skills. Paid or not, so long as it's in a semi-professional capacity, I think you can make it count. So, be creative, think outside the box, and look at your current situation. What can you make work? That's what I did when I got looking for what I can do. And here's what I did. So, how did I do it? Here's a quick timeline, beginning with my start of grad school in 2009 and what I did in those two years to set me up with archival experience prior to gaining an internship my last semester. I chose to work full-time and go to school part-time to be able to pay for my education as I went. I didn't have a family and I wasn't tied to a particular location, but I did have heavy financial restrictions, which limited my ability to gain experience. So, I practiced what I learned in class at work, like incorporating more records management and digital preservation into my job. I asked the Historical Society for permission to do archival and library projects for that. Fun fact, they started asking for my expertise, such as how to remove blood from historic yearbooks after a parolee on a drug-fueled high broke into our historic house to steal our artifacts. The Society also connected me with the Acting Special Collections and Archives Head of UCI who promptly set me up with her contract archivist to work on my lunch hour. Totally worth it. One and a half to two hours a week turns into a lot of hours, which adds up to a lot of experience over several months. I also learned that NARA took volunteers and I convinced a very nice archivist at my regional facility to let me volunteer on the one Saturday a month they were open. Remember that 64 hours from way earlier in the slides? I earned that over eight months. I had to wait for a paid internship and about six months of volunteering experience before I could dive into archives full-time. However, that meant moving across the country. That didn't bother me and I've done that unfortunately three times now. You'll hear this a lot. Look nationwide. If you have any ability to relocate, you will find your job search more fruitful. And hey, I ended up back where I started, but there's no guarantee of that and I understand not everybody can do that. So again, look at your own situation. So let's go back to everything else that employers want. Back to the diagram. So we see records and management and digital is up there towards the top and library, they're all big. Management can refer to people, but also to handling the archive and its daily functions. Get to the point where you feel confident being charged in the archives. You might not be, but it'll help you in your job search. Digital should come as no surprise. Digitized and born digital records are everywhere and you will, 99% guaranteed, be working with them in some capacity. Learn as much as you can, get as much experience as possible related to this. This is already a minimum requirement on most jobs. Mine included. However, talk about an excellent volunteering or contract opportunity for a non-profit or grassroots. Wrangle their digital records. Especially if you need a little extra help getting into it. It also should come as no surprise that archivists wear many hats. Understanding and having some experience with the libraries, museums, records management and marketing among others will come in handy. And that's why you're seeing some other unique wording down here. The ability to do the basics of archives, accession process, describe, et cetera. Communicate, use archival standards such as EAD, research and create or follow policies and established practices will all benefit you. And if you look really closely, they're all there in the purple. If you really want to work in, say, the federal government, take time to start learning federal records, policies and practices and get experience there. You're going to need it. If you have an interest in Native American archives, say, check out the Native American Archival Protocols on the Native American Archives Roundtable site. If religious archives are your passion, understand the special requirements and restrictions there. So tailor what you want to do to what you're learning and the experience you're getting. Getting a job is a job in itself and the better informed you are, the better decisions you'll make about your education and experience opportunities, the better set yourself up for that elusive job. All right. So now we're going to interact a little bit because I like that. Raise your hand and if you don't remember, it's just under your name, participants' little hand button, if you have ever worked or are working with an archive, library, et cetera. Yay! That's awesome. Oh, you guys rock. Oh, why are you listening to me then? You guys are all so much more. All right. We'll raise your hand if you have experience in information management. I was going to say everybody who had archives should probably have that hand up. All right. Then finally, raise your hand if you've ever worked. Oh, that makes me very happy. There we go. All right. So now what if I told you nearly everyone should have raised your hand for information management? Why? Because so many jobs have information management components or you could incorporate them. Now, granted, you special people who are so wonderful and have worked in libraries and archives, this is going to be really easy for you, but hang in there with me for anybody else and who knows, maybe it'll spark something. Just remember, every little bit helps when you're trying to get a job. And why is this important and why is this important for all of us? Because you want to make it as easy as possible for a future employer to decide you're the perfect person for the job. Also, in case you didn't know, many companies have HR or some other non-archival person sift through the applicants and only put a handful through to your future boss. So if there's 50 applicants, the person who's going to make that decision may only see three. You want to be in that three. The other thing you need to know if you didn't already is that most archival jobs are getting over 50 applications. I was in the top two of over 100 applications along with gardens and out of 30 for my current job. So there's a lot of people out there and there's a lot of times I wasn't even in the real pile. So how do we translate our backgrounds? As you remember, I finished college without a plan, ended up in human resources and had to continue working there through school until I landed a paid archival opportunity. So the bulk of the years on my resume are still human resources. It doesn't sound very archival, does it? Well, you're right, it wasn't. But look at these three main components of that job. All right. So we've gotten past human resources and now we're going to move on to my last bullet, which to me when I was doing this a couple years ago really struck me as metadata. It's a bit of a stretch, I'll admit, but that really was what I was doing with those databases was maintaining metadata. So here's my job in two of the three, kind of fit with information management. So let's go back to the original. So how do you take your interpretation of your experience and convey it to an employer? Because right now, most people aren't going to look at this and understand that as information management. So I need to translate it on my resume and in my speech so it's easy for someone else to make the same connection. What it takes is a creative look at the archival profession and at your resume. So for you, if you're doing this at home, take your resume or an accurate list of what you do, group it together in the like categories and start thinking creatively about what may or may not be information management. Then some creative tweaks like take this top bullet, this create, update personal records and files. What if we just modify that to be monitor and maintain personal records through creation transfers, location modifications, retention, and occasional destruction? That sounds a lot more like records management to people who are in the records management field. I'm taking a lot of the words that you regularly see on jobs. So that's the one I did. But now as you listen to me, take a thought about how you would update my third bullet because that's the one I actually have updated to sound better. And see what you come up with. In the meantime, I'll just let you know that I wouldn't be at my current position if I hadn't done this. My current job required five years of experience including archives and records management. The other thing to keep in mind when you're translating is don't lie, don't make stuff up. I mean I can't make HR into any more than the records management. I actually did. But try, you know, take a look at your resume and see what you can do. Even my husband does a little bit of information management. He's a mechanic. But feel free at the end if you came up with any good ideas for this third bullet, share them with us. So now, if my internet will cooperate, we're onto the fun part, linked in. So go ahead and raise your hand if you have a linked in profile. Awesome. Yay. Look at all these hands up. I love it. All right. Now, smiley face, which is somewhere near your raised hand, if you actually use linked in, which means you did more than just upload your resume. Yes, you smiley face. Go Barnaby. Oh, birth is confused. Okay. We'll get there. Christina, awesome. All right, guys. Oh, there's stuff. I like it. All right, good. Then you guys are in the right colloquia. All right. So real quick, just for any of you that might not know, linked in is a professional social networking site. Let me emphasize, professional. This is not the place to publicly share your family vacation photos or current emotional status unless those somehow directly relate to your job. This is a place to brag about what an amazing archivist you are, connect with peers and future employers, and look for work. So two good reasons to join linked in. One, it's your resume on steroids, and two, it might help you land an interview or job. I definitely encourage you to click on my profile if you pulled it up earlier or from the blurb for the session, open up your own if you have one, or sign up for one right now as we're talking. Assuming your computer can handle that many windows, open it once and it doesn't crash. Like mine wants to. So let's go ahead and talk about that second reason I said you should be on first. It can help you get a job. So my profile is public, and you are looking at my huge, whose huge your profile. I've applied to jobs, and within weeks, people from those jobs have looked at my profile. So it hasn't necessarily translated into work for me yet, but I can guarantee you, people are looking for you, they want to know more, and especially if they have an interest in you for the job, this could be an excellent way to boost their confidence in talking to you. And it's awesome, you know, and so there's Jill, she's looked at me, that's awesome. So let's go back to the jobs in general. There's a jobs tab right up at the top where you can search for jobs, set up job agents, and connect with employers. So there's two ways right off the bat, this could help you get a job. So on to reason number one, you should be here. This is your resume on steroids. This is my personal home page, but when you go to my public page, you already know a ton about me without ever scrolling down, though you definitely should scroll down. This is your platform to brag about yourself. This is the place to have a long resume listing all your skills, special projects, connections, recommendations, et cetera. Most applications don't allow for more than a little bit about yourself, but on LinkedIn, you can have it all here and still allow a future employer to pick and choose what they want to look at. Big note, resume rules apply here. Keep your descriptions descriptive but short and to the point. Make them easy to read and understand, and keep the really important task and skills to the top, that's what I tried to do. The things I really want you to read are at the very top of each of my jobs. Oh, and I almost forgot, the third reason to be on here and connect with people, recommendations. People can write recommendations for you. I highly recommend you approach professors, mentors, employers, coworkers, whoever knows you and knows your abilities well and ask them for a recommendation here. I only have one because for some reason, of all my jobs, I've only ever had one person, Maureen McCaddon, who was on LinkedIn and so she wrote me a very beautiful review from one of my internships. That's going to verify you, verify how awesome you are, and walk with you to your jobs. So, there's also peer endorsements now. So, when you list your skills, your connections can verify them. Kind of think of these like tags for your profile. They help you show up in searches and connect to others. Mine got a little bit out of hand because I was trying to find the right terminology before they added this endorsements part, and now I don't want to delete any of the ones I'm endorsed for. So, I recommend yours probably look a little cleaner than mine, and that's why mine look a little crazy. A good place to look for the lingo that you would want to use here would be those ever important job ads for what they're looking for. You want to match a lot of those terms, same thing with a normal application, but this is an excellent resource. Now, in general, LinkedIn wants to walk you through all its features and help you set up your profile. Wonderful, highly recommend, you go ahead and use it and do it. It's going to help you get everything on there, because I recommend you get everything on there. We're going to quickly go through the features that I have set up, which is pretty much all of them, and keep in mind, mine's always the work in progress. So, if you find mistakes, feel free to point them out to me on LinkedIn. Before we get going now, there are four rules of thumb you really should live by in general for applications, but definitely on LinkedIn. Be positive. Be professional, be current, and be honest. I haven't seen too many people lying, but you just never know, and it's not a good policy anyway. So, somewhat self-explanatory are the first couple of things we're going to look at. So, your intros actually appear, my apologies, my computer cut it off. Make sure this info is current. A lot of it will be if you keep everything else updated. This summary here can be whatever you want, again, professional, positive, honest. And I have a basic listing of my skills and specialties, but I've also seen job search statements. Look around at other profiles, see what strikes you, and write up a brief statement that suits you and your needs. Experience. So, this down here is your resume. Like I said before, resume rules apply. Excuse me. If there are pieces of your resume, you always have to take out so it fits in the box for the applications of the job, put it here. Make sure everything about what you've done at your job is here. Let this be your supplement to your resume. Quick note on the experience, you'll notice on the, well, before that, sorry, the last one was asking me to upload projects, upload projects if you have them. I've just gotten that to work, so there's a finding aid that I wrote for a previous job that's up online that's now connected here. I haven't connected this colloquia today to my current job. Over here, this profile chart will let you know how you're doing. I really recommend a thorough profile, so it's to your advantage to try and get that circle full, you know, and again, if you don't have it, fine, but if you've got it, if you can fill in the experience, whatever, put it there. So, just one other note on the experience section. LinkedIn recently added the volunteering section. I haven't moved my volunteering down yet because I'm still fiddling with how it looks and what I want to do. My early archival experience is all volunteer, and I'm just not sure I want it down here, especially as I currently haven't gotten back into any other volunteering. So, fiddle around with what works for you, but keep this in mind. Volunteering in general is a great thing to put here if it makes sense, because say you volunteer at your local animal shelter, that might just be the key to getting an archival job with the ASPCA. You never know what's going to land you the job. So, just saying, really look at what you're doing and what should be on here, even the stuff you might not normally think of. All right, so education and courses. I definitely recommend filling in relevant coursework. I've applied to several jobs that asked for specific education qualifications, such as a project archivist at a jazz archive, and I needed to highlight, where did it go, that I have jazz history courses. It's especially important for our MLIS to show your archival knowledge, but also any other education you have. I have social media education. There's also a place for a brief description of your education. See mine, it's not shown here. If you want, for an example, of what you might say about your education. The other thing that's not shown are spots for additional information. There's lots of different things you could put there, and associations. Associations are wonderful for numerous reasons. I'm part of SAA and the local California one. So, definitely consider joining some, and when you do, add them here. Some jobs prefer or require involvement, like university employment. They want to know you're getting out there in the field. It's also another great way to connect to people and get experience. Other things you can do on LinkedIn is join relevant groups. I really recommend this. There we go, I just realized my pointer isn't working. Bees tend to have excellent and interesting discussions. Also, I've seen jobs posted in my groups that I haven't seen posted anywhere else, or sometimes they'll show up weeks later after the job is closed. You can also follow companies and use LinkedIn to research potential employers. Really helpful, you need to know when you're doing those cover letters who you're applying to. Finally, connect with people. If you haven't already, and want to, feel free to connect with me. Friend me right now. I will definitely accept you when I get on my email. I'd love to hear from you all. I'd love to connect with you all, especially if you have more questions and comments than our Q and A will allow. You never know who your next employer or employee might be. On that note, just don't just willy-nilly add people to have the most connections. Connect with your family, friends, acquaintances, and anyone you find particularly fascinating or inspirational, and tell them that's why you want to connect. Those are the people you want to connect with. Just always remember to keep things positive and professional. Let your skills and abilities shine here. Humbly brag about yourself. Ooh, someone just connected with me. Sorry. Get connected to the millions of information professionals out there. It's amazing who all is on LinkedIn. So, we just covered a lot of information, and I thank you guys for holding on tight there through the crazy internet lags. But here's what I hope you will remember. Dream jobs are out there, and you can find yours with hard work and a little bit of luck. But give yourself the best chance. Figure out what you want to do and how you're going to get there. Understand your field, and then translate your experience into it so employers can quickly pick you out of the crowd. Make it easy on them. Highlight those skills, quirks, and outside experience that will make you a wonderful fit for one of those jobs out there. By using a site like LinkedIn, that is your supplemental application. Use it like that. No matter what, figure out what works for you and what you can do. Above all, oh, yay, more. Above all, that will set you up to be qualified for the job that's right for you, and will help you get it because you can talk with passion about the decisions that led you there, and trust me, employers, the unwritten rule, I'll give you a really quick HR tip I learned years ago. They're looking for somebody that fits with them, and they're looking for enthusiasm and positivity, so throwing that out there, if you can be passionate about how you got to where you are, you are so going to be more likely to get the job. All right, so as I end, I've put up some extra resources here, which might be helpful to you as you're looking for experience and work. And totally just want to plug really quick, one of my internships was along with gardens. They're currently in the running for their next intern for the next year. It would start in September, I believe, and this is amazing. They're really competitive, but look into it. It's an awesome internship, and again, another one you may not have heard of, Student Conservation Association, some really cool archival and preservation internships out there. So, thank you all for spending your evening with me. I want to see as many qualified archivists out there corraling our world's history. So, I really do wish you all the best with your job ambitions, and if there's anything I can do to help, let me know. At this time, if it's all right with Miles and Jill, I'd love to answer any questions or respond to any comments you might have and keep these linked and connections coming up. I'm loving this, so thank you guys all very, very much. Yeah, so let's open it up for questions. So, feel free to chat your questions, type your questions in the chat box, or raise your hand. It looks like somebody else may have, yeah, there's a raised hand. So, Colleen, go ahead. I'll get off the mic so Richard can pick up, and then go ahead and take your questions. Hello, can you hear me? Hello? Can you hear me? Oh, okay, good. I have new headphones. I question this regarding foreign languages. I study foreign languages for quite some time, and I know like three. I was wondering what your thoughts were on that respect to writing archives. Richard, that's amazing. I am trying to relearn my German that I forgot from undergraduate. You're not going to see it often, but when you do, there are very specific archives out there that are looking for that, and you're probably going to be one in a million for them, especially if you know several. My recommendation would be depending on where you live and how much you're willing to travel, United Nations, constant, well, not constantly, but are often looking for archivists, and you need to speak multiple languages. There's a lot of archives back east. Specifically, I saw one recently that you needed Russian. I believe it was a Russian Jewish archive. So, they are out there. That's going to be huge. Put those and your level. If you're basic, I can't put German anymore because I barely understand it, but if you're fluent, put that on your resume. If you're basic, put that on your resume. If you can only write it, put it on your resume, you're going to stand out. So, that's fantastic. Good for you. Thank you very much. Any more questions? Oh, yeah, and Richard, I almost forgot there is a spot on LinkedIn to put other languages as well. So, look at that as well. Yes, Heather. Go ahead, Heather. Hi. Sorry. Thanks so much, Colleen. That was a great presentation. I don't know if it's a question so much. I have a similar background to you in that I worked in sort of academia. I did graduate teaching fellowships, and I also worked in budget stuff, and I understand that there's a way to sort of shift your job experience, you know, the details of your job experience so that it is a little bit more information management-y, if you will. But I was wondering if you could just give us, I don't know, maybe one example of a question that you were asking in an interview where you were then, you know, able to switch the language of your tasks so that it seemed a little bit more information management-like. Certainly, actually the job here. I was point blank asked if I had the five years of experience. That was a minimum requirement, and my boss might have budged on it, but HR wasn't. They wanted five years, and she needed to be able to prove to them that whoever she hired had five years. So, really easy to see. I think at that point when I got hired here, really easy to see I had about two and a half years of experience if you really added up all my volunteering. So, I needed to prove I had at least three more years of experience. And in the interview, because my boss, again, asked me point blank, do you have the five years of experience? What on your resume is your five years of experience? So, we quickly did the archival stuff, and I said, you know, really to, you know, take a look at my HR experience. I was there for four and a half years. The majority of the time I was there, I was simply in charge of the database and the records management for the department. I handled all of our files, made sure they were correct, sent off to the right locations, shredded as appropriate, saved as appropriate. I managed all of the data for all of the personnel in a collections management type system. I really didn't switch over majorly into HR until we had a departmental shift about two years into that, and I still maintained all of my old duties. And that's basically what I told her. So, using the records management. And I believe she had my resume in front of her, and if you pull up my LinkedIn site, you'll be able to better see some of what's written there. And I believe we touched on, I pointed out specific things of, you know, this really is records management. This really is, my boss has a pretty good understanding, but it's not her field. So, I had to do a little more explanation, but that's really all it took. It was just, okay, you know, making sure they saw phrasing it as records management, the access database as a collection management system. It was collecting employee records. So, some of that's practice. You know, I spent a lot of time with my resume reworking at that. That's over years that I got to the point it currently looks at to really focus on, there's a lot of other stuff I did that has nothing to do with my current profession. But those years I spent really maintaining the records for our office, making sure they went to the right location, from creation to start, you know, managing all that metadata, and really starting to think of it that way. It becomes a lot easier to talk about it. So, hopefully that helps a little bit. If it doesn't, feel free to connect with me later, and we can talk about it a little bit more. And that's true for anybody. If you guys think you need help or want help looking at your current resumes. I'm, according to my husband, actually really good at that. So, a little self-promotion, but I might be able to help you do that on your own side. Thanks so much, Colleen. I know that I've been looking at, you know, job announcements, and that five-year thing is really intimidating. It comes up a lot. So, that was a great example. Thank you so much. Your welcome, Heather, and just putting it out there. Be confident. It sounds like you've got a great background to get into it. Just be positive, be confident. It'll happen. I promise. Yes, Sita, I think, or Seta? Seta, I was wondering, because there are a maximum number of units you can take, I'm wondering if you ever had to take any courses outside of San Jose State, and what your source was for taking those courses. Because I'm, as I near the end of the program, I find that, you know, there are many courses I still feel I need to take or want to take, and there's just no time left. Awesome questions, Seta. I didn't even think of covering that, so thank you for asking. When I started the program, just to throw it out there, I looked at the requirements, again, that archives concentration, and I actually started with picking out the ones I thought I pretty much already had. There's a database management class, and I had already done that. Some other things like that. So, I kind of started with what do I not have? And again, there's classes I didn't get, and to be honest, I'm still trying to get some of that knowledge and experience. I did not do any formal coursework outside of San Jose. However, I attended associations when I could. I got really lucky. Society of California Archivists was near my hometown, one of the first years. I went there, and I did, because I didn't have to stay. I could stay with my parents and travel. I was able to afford to do some of the pre-conference workshops, which definitely expanded a lot of what I knew, and I'm still doing that. I still like to do the pre-conference workshops. Other classes hosted by SAA primarily is what I've been using up till now. It's on my list of things to do. This will make Jane very proud, is to go back to San Jose at some point and take some of these extra courses. The other thing I've done, partly because it's fairly easy to do, even if you're really busy, have other restrictions on your time, is I still watch some of the colloquia and seminars that San Jose puts on that you can view kind of as the public, you know, that I don't have to log in with a student number and whatever else to be involved in. And I look for those other places every so often. So if you're not a member of Society of American Archivists, just join the listserv. Even if you just join the main listserv, they are constantly promoting classes and sessions and seminars on all sorts of topics. The big stuff I am still trying to get more of is the digital. I really need a lot more education experience with that, and I'm taking it anywhere I can get it. And you'll find on those listservs paid, unpaid, you know, the different variations of cost, and there's a lot of sites out there, and unfortunately, they're not coming to mind that offer those, and regularly post. A lot of the library schools have similar things to San Jose. So I didn't do as much when I was in school, but you're right. There's a lot of stuff I left going. Oh, I wanted to, oh, and they've added so much more sense. But look at SEA, start there, look at San Jose, start there about some of the classes they offer, and the conferences are a great place to start. But look for some of these classes, and get on the listservs. You'll start hearing about more that I never knew about that regularly post, you know, if you're interested in preservation, go to the Northeast Document Conservation Center. They've got all sorts of stuff. Look for white papers. The consulting company I worked for, History Associates, has written white papers that you can find about a variety of archival terms. So it takes a little bit of searching. You definitely should do it. So it's a wonderful question, and I'm still looking for ways to expand my education. I'm going to have to because things keep changing. I wasn't too worried about leaving without all the requirements. I knew eventually you can get there, and that's also a great thing to express in job interviews that you're still interested in, you know, the profession and learning. A lot of jobs are going to find that very endearing that you don't think you know everything and you know there's more out there to learn. So that's kind of what I've done and where I've gone for that information. Thank you, Colleen. I wanted to add one thing really quickly speaking from SLIS, and that is that we have just recently opened courses, not the core courses, but a lot of the electives to open universities. So they're available as postmaster certificates if you wanted a cohesive set of courses or as individual open university courses. And I also want to say that I often hear from students that they're just, they don't want to graduate because there's still so many more courses they want to take. But again, you can get jobs without having that and then you can keep learning. So I'm going to give the mic back and see if there are other questions. Hey everyone, we've got about seven minutes left. So if you've got a question, please raise your hand so you can take the mic or certainly type in the chat box, but this is such a great opportunity to have Colleen available to talk with us tonight. So feel free to ask her your questions. Amy, I'm still working on that one. When I was writing this up, I was trying to be honest, I was trying to find an old resume before I had made major changes. And like I couldn't find the pictures. I was going to show you guys so many pretty pictures of places I've worked and I couldn't find those either. So I was looking back and actually transitioning backwards into what things said. I was looking at that one going, I don't know what, it's what it is, it's metadata, but I'm still looking at that one. So you're just going to have to keep an eye on my LinkedIn profile for the next like month until I figure out how to rewrite that one to better explain it to future employers. I hope I don't have to go anywhere that might understand that. So hey, if you have any ideas, shoot them my way. I'm interested. Richard, go ahead and pick up the mic with your question. Yes, hi. I was just wondering, Colleen, it's mentioned, it says, you know, you're mentioning about Southern California and UCI and all that. There is an archive place in Riverside that I found out about recently going to the Student Library Association, you know, the SLA group, the local chapter of the student. Anyway, and I was wondering if you have any information, any knowledge on that. Richard, do you remember specifically what archive? There's actually a fair amount of archives down here. Are you talking about like there's the University of California Riverside Archives? Which one? No, no, they're national, they're like an offshoot of the National Archives, but they're in Riverside. Yes, that is the National Archives Records Administration at Riverside. They're actually located in Paris. I have recently spent a lot of time there. They actually just had a job opening. I think they just hired someone. They become second family to me now, because obviously a lot of tribal records are located in federal repositories. So, yeah, that's actually the NARA that I volunteered at. Though granted, when I volunteered, they were located in Laguna, Miguel. So, for any of you guys that might have remembered from before, they were there and then they moved over. So, there's a records center and a NARA there, full staff, lots of archivists. So, it's a fascinating place, especially if you're into, say, genealogy. They have all of the, many of California records, but they also have a lot related to Arizona, Nevada, Colorado, they have BIA, BLM, a lot of those. So, I'm unfortunately, Richard, I'm not remembering exactly what you asked me, but yes, I am aware of that. So, if you want to re-ask your question, I'd be able to actually answer it. Actually, I was interested in volunteering. I live in Azusa. I don't know if you know where Azusa is. I do, and you know what, okay, you might have to message me just because we're getting close to the end, but if you go to the National Archives site and I think, I can't remember if it's on the, if it's not, which is archives.gov. And I can't remember if it's on that or on the actual regional page site. There is a place that has a volunteer application. Hopefully, I don't know if you can connect with me on LinkedIn or get my email off of here. If you can't find it, let me know. I can put you in touch with them. And then you can talk to them about volunteering. Yeah, it really was a great experience. Again, I volunteered eight hours a month, so they didn't put me on anything crazy, but I got a lot of experience. The guy I volunteered with is still there. And I learned so much. Again, in 64 hours, I learned an amazing amount of how NARA works, Federal Archives. You have to go through a real brief training. So if you can spend even more time than that, they've got some amazing projects. They can put you on. A lot of people volunteer and intern there. And at least at the time, Randy really worked with me on my interest. So we were just, you know, stuck with the fact that I could only work eight hours. So, yeah, if you can't figure out where the form is, email me and I'll hook you up with them. Okay. So I will contact you then and we can, I appreciate that very much. Appreciate it. Not a problem. Not a problem. Any other questions? You've got two minutes. No one else has any questions, Colleen. I'm wondering where you're going to be in five years. This has been an awesome presentation. Just really, really great to listen to you. And I'm so glad everybody was able to hear it. So thank you and thank you all. Yes, thank you all. I really apologize about the lag. You guys were troopers hanging in with me. So hopefully you got it all. If you missed anything, just please follow up with me. I'm more than happy to talk to you later on too. Thanks Colleen. This is Jill. That was really fabulous. Such, such good information. I was taking copious notes of things that are interesting to me. So you had such good tips to share with everybody. I really appreciate your time tonight. So thanks again. Well, again, thank you all for coming. I hope you all have a wonderful night. Lots of success. If I can do it, you can do it. Trust me. And again, thank you all so much.