Almost a year in a new job

Rules, Regulations, Laws, Statutes, Codes, Travel Documents, Monthly Statistics, Grants, Purchasing Guidelines, Hiring Processes

Wow... and that's all beyond showing up, doing training, managing a team of six, consulting with libraries, implementing projects, and learning the agency. It has been a whirlwind year. I am hopeful that within the next couple of months we will have hired someone to fill the Library Technology Consultant position. This will allow me to stop doing two jobs and finally settle into the manager role.

I have experienced times when I felt completely clueless and inept. Recently, I have actually had moments when I catch myself talking to someone and realize I sound like I know what I'm doing. It has been quite encouraging. I know I still have a long way to go to be the employee that I want to be, the program director that my boss would like me to be and to be the manager that the team needs me to be.

Someone told me many years ago that when you make a move, whether it's job or location, it takes a good year to get to a point where you feel like you have a clue what you're doing. My revision is that it takes a year to clue and longer to feel comfortable.

Tools for moving...

As a fairly recent MLS graduate and having also moved for both of my professional positions, I'm not only familiar with the job search, but also with gathering information on potential cities. I don't like to apply for positions unless I'm fairly certain it's a place I'm willing to relocate to. Thanks to a blog I frequently read, I've discovered a new resource to help with moving, neighboroo. It's a very cool site, providing information on housing, demographics, cost of living, schools, safety, health, climate and a couple of other statistics in a map format. And, you can get the information down to the zip code level. I checked out my current zip (having just moved here) and found the information interesting. So, check it out if you get a chance.

A couple of other sites that I like are: epodunk.com for city information, Find Your Spot, provides really nice city profiles and recommended cities based on a profile you complete, and the Move Salary Calculator, for finding out just how far your salary will go in potential future city.