I sent my resume to the "EdLab" (a word that meant nothing to me when I applied) in response to an online job posting which seemed to be seeking an "Acquisitions Librarian." Admittedly, the wording of this ad was a little bit strange because in addition to the usual acquisitions job functions normally found in an academic library; the same ad also included a laundry list of other functions which generally do not fall to the acquisitions librarian. These include: Circulation, ILL, Collection Development, Cataloging, Archival processing of special collections (like an ad for Prego Spaghetti Sauce "You Name it! It's in there!).
Fortunately for them, I am somewhat of the unicorn they are seeking as I have actually DONE 99.9% of those things in one way shape or form. But did they care? Not so much.
As I mentioned each item in the ad (and the fact that I have done this before) I was met with a form of puzzlement as if ILL, Approval Plans etc. had absolutely nothing to do with the job after all. I can't say for sure, because the guy interviewing me (who was about 25 years old) said "Well, I'm not a librarian so I don't know." I responded with, "all of this stuff is on my resume so I guess there must be SOME reason you called me." He admitted that yes, "your background does closely match the job description."
However, I knew I was doomed when the interviewer followed up with "I'm just calling you to see if you fit our culture. We have a really great culture, it's sort of like a Silicon Valley startup here. They also have a lot of weekly meetings where they listen to a presentation and pat each other on the back and say cool things. Oh, and they also suggested that "we don't work 9-5 here" the implication being that they work "tech hours" which is like 75 hours a week or something like that. The word "teamwork" was thrown around as if working in teams is actually a good thing. The only real question I was asked to answer was 'when was the last time you were creative?'"
What I actually wanted to say was this: "You get a list of books, you order them. Then you mark them as received and you pay for them. you do not have to be a Leonardo Da Vinci for this. But just so you know, I did win a blue ribbon at a Junior High School art exhibit."
My take on all this was they googled me after they set up the phone interview. They then realized to their horror I was not 20 years old and they had to back-pedal somewhat by insisting that I wouldn't want the job because they work 70 hours a week and are mostly young "creatives." But why are they asking for an acquisitions librarian if that is not actually the job they are looking to fil.