While we keep hearing good news of bookstores opening here and there, a dismaying number of stores are shutting down and laying off staff. Most of us probably know booksellers who have lost their jobs recently.
Penelope Trunk, on her consistently excellent Brazen Careerist blog, has a compassionate, clear-minded post on how to talk to a friend who’s been laid off. She lays out seven guidelines:
- Don’t ask “how’s the job hunt?”
- Ask about extracurriculars.
- Ask about health insurance.
- Talk about industry news.
- Offer up one good contact.
- Acknowledge trouble with the significant other.
- Don’t be shy about gratitude.
In my previous career, I was out of work more times than I care to think about. (Of course, writing this, I thought about them. sigh.) At this point, I don’t know how much of what learned in that career would transfer to a new job search were I to need to do one in the bookselling universe.
But I suspect that the main thing that got me jobs before would work here: having a good network of people who know who you are and what you do well. These can be coworkers, booksellers and people in related professions in your area, people who might see what you do online (a not-too-hidden reason for this blog), or even customers.
Every time that you help someone find something or answer a question at your store, you have made a personal contact at some level and may have racked up some good karma. If you stay in the same area after a job ends, there’s a non-zero chance (related, of course, to population density and the like) that you might run into people who have a positive sense of you from your bookselling work. If you do encounter them when out of work, it might not hurt to let them know that you’re open to opportunities.
Of course, I know that my impulse when losing jobs is to hide under a desk until another job happens. And surprisingly often, I have gotten calls out of the blue.
But, as always, it’s the human contacts that help.
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