Phase One of My Top-Secret Career Plan

Ever since mid-November (when I defended my thesis), my life has revolved around spending time with my friends, catching up on books and TV shows I missed during graduate school, and filling out applications. As previous posts attest, six days out of the week I'm usually in my bedroom, laptop or book in hand. However, last week I filled out a volunteer application at the Civil Rights Institute here in Birmingham, and on Tuesday I started Phase One of Operation Infiltrate an Archives and Prove Yourself to Be So Invaluable that They Hire You.

I had specified on my application that I wanted to work in archives, but I spent all of Monday worrying that something would go terribly wrong and I end up working in the gift shop. I mean, I seriously love gift shops, but it would be a waste of my talents in the sense that I couldn't put it on my resume. For the first three hours that I was at the Institute on Tuesday, I had this terrible feeling in the pit of my stomach that my fears were coming true and that the Operation was over before it even began. As soon as I got there and introduced myself, the lady in charge of volunteers told me to go on the self-guided tour. No discussion of why I was there or what my options were, but I didn't panic. So far, so good. I finished the tour and tried to find her, but she was on her lunch break. Uh-oh, this was not in the plans. I awkwardly sat there making small talk with some other volunteers, one of whom tried to turn me into a greeter like herself. Thankfully, as soon as the lady returned, I explained my experience and asked if I could work in archives. She said yes, took me downstairs to meet the archivist, and sent me home. On Wednesday, she immediately handed me over to the archivist, who immediately put me to work.

Just as Tuesday can be classified as a disaster, Wednesday can be classified as glorious. I didn't do anything exciting like process a collection, but it just felt so nice just to be in an archives again. It was definitely the sort of turning point I needed to affirm that I want a job as an archivist and that the Operation might be a resounding success.

I successfully made myself useful to the archivist by doing two menial tasks that would have prevented her from giving her full attention to more important ones. Because I was there to photocopy documents for one researcher and scan photographs for another, she could oversee an educational program and edit an oral history interview. Any trained archivist, such as myself, could do the first set of tasks, but the second group were her specific job responsibilities. She was so excited to have me there that she kept introducing me as "the perfect - and fully-trained - volunteer," and if that doesn't boost a girl's ego, I don't know what would!

I'll probably volunteer there twice a week, and best case scenario, she'll convince them to hire and pay me for my time. At the very least, she remembers those painful days of job searching and will keep her ear open for other job opportunities.