As funny as it sounds, I have started work on another online project. Unfortunately, I have been as productive with it as I have been with this journal and my employment search. Regardless, I try (and I usually fail). So, why am I sharing this information? I am sharing this information because I wanted to write and I actually wanted to publish something tonight because the other post I am currently drafting is quickly turning into nonsensical rubbish (much like everything else I write). In case anyone was wondering, my employment search has come to a complete halt as I have hit the inevitable wall of laziness and self-doubt. It has been nearly two months since my termination and in this time, I have received one interview (which I failed because I did not get the position) and about seven rejection notices. I have applied at various academic institutions, public libraries, and even a medical manufacturing company and nothing has panned out and I am now under the belief that I have been secretly blacklisted from library employment by previous employers. Why do I believe I have been blacklisted? I believe that I have been blacklisted because I continue to hear stories of how other former coworkers with less experience (and in multiple cases, I trained) are receiving interview requests or being hired for positions I also applied for. Of course, I could be paranoid, but the lack of response to my applications despite my experience and education is incredibly discouraging. I cannot understand it—I cannot understand why the individual responsible for hiring me at my previous library would not even give me an interview and yet she requested an interview from a friend that only worked part-time for about a year. I cannot understand why my alma mater would hire an individual with less than a half-year of experience in a part-time, non-supervisory role rather than the individual that trained her when she was hired. I hear these stories, I receive little or no response and what response I do receive; it is negative. I am at a loss and what little confidence I had at the start of this misadventure has dissipated into a farce that I put on in front of friends to ensure them that they do not need to worry about me. To be honest, I hoped that writing this out would help, but it has only made me more frustrated…
