Well the seasons change, and the people change, and the good times come, but the good times go...
Ladies and gentlemen... A word.
I hate library science.
There, I said it. Worst. Discipline ever. Well, not entirely. Academically, I find this area to be fascinating. But since I have decided against doing a doctorate (ever - I'd like to be employed someday), a "fascinating area of research" doesn't cut it any more. I need to find a job. A job where I may not want to die every day of my life.
I came to this conclusion in the summer. I was working in my field and realizing that I hate most aspects of it. Since this realization, I've begun a quest to see what it is I *really* want to do with my life (or at least a good portion of it - apparently career changing is pretty common now).
Firstly, I switched my course selection around to reflect my changing interests. I dropped my research study, but retained my qualitative methods class. This is my new (relatively speaking, I started this blog post in August... and it's not being published until the end of November. Shame.) class schedule:
Fall 2012
Information Literacy
Web Design
Metadata
Qualitative and Ethnographic Methods
Winter 2013
Database Design
Communities of Practice
Digital Curation
Intellectual Capital
The fact I decided to stick it out and finish the MLIS is questionable in itself. But, I figured I was halfway done, and an unfinished Masters is worse than an irrelevant Masters.
So back to my career strategy. I talked to everyone I knew with an interesting job. I accosted university recruiters, career recruiters... anyone I felt had an interesting position. At first I felt like I should go into Public Relations and communications. I'd just do my MA in communications (with a thesis so I could get funding) and call it a life. Although there are aspects of communications that appeal to me, I just don't think it's a good fit overall. I wanted an area that had a lot of different job descriptions (and a lot of available work in general for that matter). I wanted something that combined working with people and my current skill set (research, education, information management, sales). It turns out Human Resources is a golden ticket field in that sense.
Now I'm not saying traditional human resources is for me - My interest is labour relations. I've been interested in it since high school (I even won a scholarship based on my interest in becoming a labour lawyer). But once I got into Canadian history and found something I was "good at" and I enjoyed, this idea of going into a career related to labour relations slipped away. It probably didn't help that I went to UBC - the only industrial relations/human resources courses available are through the management faculty. No thanks.
It's an interesting crossroads. A scary one too. But I've decided to take the jump and switch fields. This has become something of a nightmare for a variety of reasons. Let's start!
1) Conventional wisdom tells us that we should never go down, always go up. This is true for qualifications as well. Since I already have a B.A., and will soon have an M.L.I.S., it would be best for me to look for a Masters programme to gain the education I need for a career switch. This isn't as easy as it sounds. There are four schools in Canada with dedicated Industrial Relations/Human Resources/Employment Relations programs at the Masters level: Toronto, York, Queens, Memorial. After looking at some of the course lists, it's become apparent that I don't have the background in order to do this program and not fail the crap out of it. I don't have a statistics course. I don't have any economics background. I wasn't even sure what organizational behaviour really was until I started my research this year. This is why three out of the four schools have pretty hefty pre-reqs to their programs including organizational behaviour, intro labour-management, micro and macro economics as well as statistics. So that leaves Queens being the only school with no pre-reqs.
2) Conventional wisdom tells us that graduate programs in Canada that aren't MBAs are all roughly the same price. *cue psychotic laughter*. The one year program at Queens is $20000. Not to mention you'd have to live in Kingston (ie. Toronto prices). The two year program at U of T or York will run you about $35000 when all is said and done. Memorial's one year program? Roughly $6500.
I don't think you have to be a genius to figure out that this is a little out of my price range. Even if the best thing in the world happens and I receive graduate funding, that's only $10000. My maximum student loan for a one year program is $10880. MATH TIME. That's $20880 of possible funding. I should mention that I can't get a line of credit when I have a maximum student loan. Oh goody. I can pay my tuition AND live in a cardboard box. Isn't life swell? Queens also has a terrible work study program where students are only allowed to make $400 a month. Kingston's job market is pretty tight, so finding part-time work elsewhere could be a challenge.
My only feasible option is Memorial. They want a boatload of prereqs and work experience. Because hey, let's get to point number 3....
3) Conventional wisdom is often wrong. Take a quick look on a job site for "HR" even "Senior HR management". Every employer wants a BA industrial relations, nothing more. A masters in this field essentially says that you're interested in government, research or policy work. If not having a masters is ever an issue for upward movement in my career, well, I HAVE ONE (and for the sake of argument, I'll say it's in knowledge management - that's relevant, right?)
Perhaps having a Masters will actually tip me off the scale into the "overqualified" land that I've heard so much about.
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So what now?
Well, I have an almost finished Queens application. I'll finish it for the sake of finishing it and see what they'll offer me.
HOWEVER...
I'm reapplying to McGill. In an undergraduate program. My pride is gone.
McGill offers a faculty program in industrial relations. 54 credits of IR, Sociology, and Economics (with a sprinkle of courses from other faculties). I could finish in four semesters. A second BA. My brain just shuttered a little. I like to think of it as getting a second major rather than another degree. It makes it sound a little less screwed up.
It's funny how this has become Plan A. But my Plan B is pretty good too.
Plan B is sort of contingent on Plan A. Plan A involves actually getting into McGill. Plan B involves finishing prereqs to go to Memorial.
Then there is Plan C...
Get a job. Get residency. I could go back to McGill afterwards and get cheaper tuition. This isn't a bad plan either. I could still take a course or two part time and most jobs in my field are temporary mat. leave positions anyways. I could also find a job in admin, which would be good experience too. I planned on taking French all summer regardless, so I'll fall into the category of "good enough".
McGill often offers the Intro Labour Relations class in the summer at night. I might give that a whirl and see if I'm not completely off my rocker before committing to another degree.
So much to ponder...
Stupid careers.
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