Anywhere but Los Angeles

About a month ago I was sitting in my car on a way to a birthday party with one of my best friends from childhood. Naturally, we got on the subject of our jobs and the general state of our lives. I proclaimed to her that I will not be living in Los Angeles for much longer, I just can’t. Not only have I grown up here but also I do not have a chance in hell to buy a house or even rent a nice one-bedroom apartment at any point in the near future. My options are either to live at home with mom or crowd into a tiny apartment with a couple roommates. Taking public transportation is not a viable option unless I devote an hour or more each way to get to my current job in downtown Los Angeles. Also, there is the simple fact that I do not choose to live in the same city that I grew up in. It just doesn’t feel right. I have lived in other cities and loved it but was not at the point where I was able to sustain myself independently. There are worse places to live than Los Angeles but I’d rather pursue my dreams than just settle in the same zip-code as the hospital where I was born.

So for the past month I have devoted myself to looking for jobs in other cities. My primary targets have been Austin and Portland so far with some exploration of government jobs in Washington DC as well. Austin has many, many library and tech jobs but also a great deal of highly educated people to fill them not to mention an excellent library school located at the University of Texas. Portland does not have as many jobs listed on the library jobs websites but appears to have a great, supportive culture of extracurricular meetings like the “radical reference” group and the “interlibrary lush” group both which meet over food and drink and network on a semi-monthly basis. Portland does not have a library graduate school and most librarians are transplants. I was able to locate a bustling listserv almost immediately and introduced myself with a very positive response.

I have a couple options no matter where I decide to go. I have already begun the application process for professional library jobs since they can take quite a while to fill (especially in academic libraries). Obviously, stepping up from the paraprofessional level would be the most ideal possibility for my relocation. There are other ways to make it happen though including simply saving up, packing my little Toyota to the brim and heading out. I could take a temporary job, hopefully that is relevant to my studies in some way, while I interview and send out mass amount of resumes from the city I want to work in. I only know one person who was able to locate a job before leaving Los Angeles. Most, no matter where they have moved just bit the bullet and moved without having that luxury. Employers seem to prefer a job candidate, who is a “sure thing” and does not have to take extra time to find a place and shuffle their entire lives across multiple state lines.

I would really hate to have to work at an insurance company answering phones through a temp agency but I could think of fates worse than that in concerns to my long-term future. I am at a pretty strange place in terms of my professional development. I am very overqualified for an entry-level office job that requires only a high school diploma and a smart set of clackety high heels. I don’t want to smile all day and be stared at, which is the fate of many young women at work. I also have to finish my degree though and will not do so until next May. I have one class left which I may fulfill by doing a practicum. I already have a little more than three years experience in libraries and publishing.

On the other hand, I have noticed a lot of nonsense on listservs, forums and from people in actual reality in regards to my desire to relocate. It is becoming tiresome to hear the same lines being recited over and over, seemingly based on nothing actual, that is a terrible idea to move to Portland (or anywhere else) without having work lined up. I warrant this attitude to librarians who learned from their negative teachers and mentors to expect the very worst. Let’s face it, being a librarian is a pretty great job overall in comparison to many gigs. One thing that is not so great about the library field however is an inherent negativity that many people express constantly toward young people entering the field. Perhaps this is insecurity being hoisted off the shoulders of baby boomers because they feel undervalued in general. I don’t know but if I have to hear from another gainfully employed librarian in Austin or Portland that I will never be able to find work in their precious city I may just ask them how they have a job. Did they starve to death after grad school? Probably not.

I am not advocating living in a dream world. I do listen to people in regards to the job market; I just prefer not to live in a negative paranoid world. In the grand scheme of history more amazing things have been accomplished than me landing a library job out of state and paying my rent. I mean, we might have a black president next month! In the mean time, if I haven’t offended all the baby boomers out there send me some referrals and job ideas for anyplace besides Los Angeles.

Please.