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Re: other realities in the job market



In light of Richard Cox's lucid comments and some of the others in this
thread, I felt the need to add my $0.03 (hey, I'm feeling generous today!
Must be the magnolia blossoms or bluebonnets or something...)

I was very depressed by the situation I saw in the world of archivy upon
leaving Graduate School. I was fortunate to find work, totally unrelated to
archives, over on the dark side. Work which, I might add, only ended up
enhancing the knowledge I had gained in school. Had I NOT left archives to
work in the corporate  web development arena, I would never have had the
experience AND qualifications for my present position.

Amazingly enough, there were no less than three positions for which I was
qualified, all at good salaries even WITHOUT adjusting for location. None of
them could have been easily filled by a candidate with a traditional
archives background, but all of them required the training. The only thing
is, I'm not called an "archivist," even though my office is in the Archives
of the institution, I'm the only other MLS with archives training in the
unit, and I do processing and reference on the Collections. Call me what you
like, just don't call me late for meals. I really don't mind.

Yes, it is distressing to see positions posted with some of the salaries,
especially when they are from institutions that could and should offer
more.Yes, there is much to be said for the environment that is offered, but
consider: if the institution places such a low value upon the work, can you
really expect it to be that great a working environment? A lot of us do this
work because we love what we are doing it. But we've only ourselves to blame
when we TAKE that poor-paying job, if we haven't done something to change
our situation.

BTW, be careful about using those on-line salary adjustment
calculators...they only provide a VERY rough guideline...you're better of
following it up with a copy of the sales pages from a local newspaper. There
are certain assumptions built in to those calculations about lifestyle and
quality of life. Can you say "reality check?"

Dennis "I was torn from the bosom of non-profit by the Wolves of Commerce,
but now back in the fold of Academia" Moser, MILS, Web Librarian
John P. McGovern Historical Collections and Research Center
Houston Academy of Medicine-Texas Medical Center Library
1133 M. D. Anderson Blvd, Houston, TX 77030-2809
dennism@library.tmc.edu

"It was all too easy..." (Oh, jeez, are going off on a Star Wars theme?!?!)

-----Original Message-----
From: Kurilecz, Peter <peter.kurilecz@WOODSIDESUMMITGROUP.COM>
To: ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU <ARCHIVES@LISTSERV.MUOHIO.EDU>
Date: Wednesday, March 29, 2000 1:59 PM
Subject: Re: other realities in the job market


>Steve wrote:
>>Of course there
>> are higher salaries in the corporate world, we all know that.
>> I would not
>> work in that world for any price, but that's just me.
>>
>
>
>Come over to the dark side, Luke (I mean Steve)
>
>Peter A. Kurilecz CRM, CA
>Woodside Summit Group, Inc
>Richmond, Virginia
>Tel: 804-744-1247 extension 23
>Fax: 804-744-4947
>mailto:peter.kurilecz@woodsidesummitgroup.com
>
>>
>
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>

A posting from the Archives & Archivists LISTSERV List!

To subscribe or unsubscribe, send e-mail to listserv@listserv.muohio.edu
      In body of message:  SUB ARCHIVES firstname lastname
                    *or*:  UNSUB ARCHIVES
To post a message, send e-mail to archives@listserv.muohio.edu

Or to do *anything* (and enjoy doing it!), use the web interface at
     http://listserv.muohio.edu/archives/archives.html

Problems?  Send e-mail to Robert F Schmidt <rschmidt@lib.muohio.edu>