A New First

Yesterday, for the first time in my life, I turned down a job offer.

I saw the job posting a couple of weeks ago, and even though I had no real intention of leaving my current job, I decided it would be foolish not to explore other options.

I wasn't sure if they would even be interested, as I'm sure almost any job seeker has had the experience of applying for a position and then never hearing anything about it again. As it turns out, they wanted to meet with me, and I decided that since I'd already gone through the process of applying (which can be quite tedious when using online forms) I might as well see where it led.

As the interview approached, I became increasingly nervous. What if I wasn't prepared to answer certain key questions? I wasn't very familiar with the community or the school, and I wasn't sure if that would be a detriment. I am confident in some of my abilities working in a school library, but I am the first person to admit that learning technology is a struggle for me, and a working knowledge of technology is pretty standard in most jobs now, especially in the education realm.

I expressed my concerns to some very supportive friends, and they reminded me that I should be interviewing them as much as they are interviewing me. It wasn't a matter of me trying to convince them that I am the ideal person for the job- it's a matter of both parties trying to determine the best fit.

It was a little stressful, prepping for an interview that I hadn't really planned on having, and when I declined the job offer, I was guilt-ridden because I felt like I had wasted the time of the people who spoke with me. However, I do believe that it was worth it because even though I have grown comfortable in my school and my library, we should never become so comfortable that that we stop challenging ourselves.

In the interview process, I was forced to think about which parts of my job I really value, and what parts I am not willing to sacrifice, at least not now.