This episode1 is a conversation between Tracy and friend of the pod and “omg what kind of group chat2 did I get myself into?!” participant, Jenn Monnin3. We talk about how Jenn came to be a #medlibs after her experience in public libraries and transferrable skills. We also touch on collection development4, mentoring and the value it has in professional development, and applying for jobs.
In talking about collection development, Tracy mentioned you may need to know how medical journals and books can be referred to by color. She did a Twitter thread about this a few years ago. Also, readers’ advisory is an art!
Jenn talked about how to use job postings to guide professional development and skill assessment. She also makes a great point that it’s not your responsibility to decide if you are qualified for a position - that’s the search committee’s responsibility.
As Jenn can attest, cold emailing someone is a vital skill (that’s how she ended up in our group chat!). Sometimes it doesn’t go anywhere. Sometimes it can help you find folks that can serve as mentors (formally or informally) or make up your “safe” people.
A special thank you to Carrie, who put this episode together from an all-over-the-place conversation, even though she had no idea what we were talking about (before or after, to be fair).
When Tracy asked in group chat what this episode should be titled, Jenn responded with this Friends-esque suggestion.
Jenn also named our group chat “The Podchat”.
ICYMI, Jenn wrote “Searching: More Art than Science” for the newsletter.
We bleeped out cost details, for reasons.
MM.08: The One Where We Talk About Transferrable Skills