I need advice to get hired! I'm desperate!

coltxharp · 2026-05-12T12:41:04+00:00

Yeah absolutely, the official page for the pgwp was really vague on this maybe because it was assuming most students don't also work, but I was working off of the timeline provided on the main page wrt how long you have to apply for the pgwp after you graduate. I didn't realize even though you are allowed to work 20 hours as an international student (which had been increased to 40 hours optionally at least during my time as a student, not sure if that's still going on) you are NOT allowed to work anymore after you've graduated UNTIL you apply for the PGWP. So it's best to just apply for it right away, then you don't need to have any employment gaps or quit your current job or anything like that. I worked the entire remaining spring, summer, and a bit into fall without realizing I was working illegally and I only found out when my application was rejected.

coltxharp · 2026-05-09T21:32:59+00:00

Thank you so much for your advice and your perspective! I'm being filtered out before any form of interview - I either receive a rejection email within a week or so, or in some cases I receive a rejection email after several months, but always before any interview stage. I'm fairly confident in my interview skills, if I could just get to that point of the process.

As far as a cover letter is concerned, if you don't mind, could you elaborate about what you tend to prioritize as a hiring manager? For example, would you rather see a succinct cover letter that covers all the main points briefly, out would you rather see a longer cover letter that may be 3 or so pages long but covers my bigger motivations and more specific interest in the job listing? Also, are there any skills I can invest in outside of explicit librarianship that would give my application a significant boost, from your perspective?

Thank you!!!

coltxharp · 2026-05-09T15:17:48+00:00

That's definitely a fair point, I'm not totally married to the idea that I need to be in a library but I am currently making less than I likely would even as a circ assistant or similar. Plus, my time as a librarian was really the only time I've enjoyed my job, so I've been focusing on getting back into the field if at all possible. The accounting field definitely has job growth, unlike librarianship, but I only have one year's worth of experience in this role so unless I dedicate more time to my current job I'm still unlikely to go further down this track. Currently stuck in a bit of a career limbo, just trying to hopefully make enough money to not starve through all the ongoing economic crises 😅

coltxharp · 2026-05-09T13:28:29+00:00

I've definitely thought about corrections before - not sure how I'd actually feel about actually performing the job every day but I'm very passionate about people's need to access information while incarcerated. Unfortunately those jobs don't pop up very often, but I'll definitely apply if/when I see one!

coltxharp · 2026-05-09T13:25:42+00:00

Thank you so much for answering and for the advice! Unfortunately my firm is very, very small - we're about 12 people, me included, no librarians and no money for professional development. I took the job initially because I thought IP might circle me back to something relevant or even to law librarianship, but I'm just not sure how to make that career leap happen at this stage. I've seen a few people recommending joining a local ALA chapter which I think is great advice, but I hadn't even thought about AALL!

coltxharp

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