Job of the Week: Library Assistant II

This week’s featured job from MSU Human Resources is a support staff position for MSU Libraries–Library Assistant II (posting 752784). Apply today to join MSU Libraries, a leader among international research libraries and the center of academic life at MSU. They strive to build an accessible, enriching environment for researchers and learners on campus and around the world. 

The selected candidate will perform detailed bibliographic verification for English and foreign language materials for purchasing and processing and provide bibliographic access to materials requiring detailed processing. They will also perform data entry, record maintenance, and process mail. 

Applicants interested in this role should have completed at least one year of college or business school education. Work or educational experience required includes the ability to type 45 words per minute, record keeping, web page editing, and more. This role may also require the ability to identify information or read and translate one or more foreign languages. 

Learn more about MSU Libraries at https://lib.msu.edu/. Read more about the position here and apply with a resume and cover letter by December 28. All the latest job postings can be found at careers.msu.edu

Common Work-Related Goals with Resources to Help You Achieve Them

As we say goodbye to another year filled with unexpected challenges, now is a great time to take stock of how you’re feeling at work and pinpoint areas you’d like to improve on or change. If you don’t know where to focus your time, start by reading What’s Your Plan: Six Steps to Align Your Goals with What’s Important to You. You’ll learn how creating a personal strategic plan can provide a “vision and structure for your professional life and an anchor for you to connect with during periods of change.”

Sometimes, we set goals that may sound good on paper but aren’t super meaningful on a personal level, which sets us up for failure or significant stress as we try to achieve them. Take some time to clarify what you value most – such as life/work integration, better time management, or meaningful work – so you can focus your time strategically and succeed.

Common Work-Related Goals:

Review the common work-related goals below to see if any resonate with you and use the articles and learning opportunities provided to help you reach them.

What would you like to work on this year? I’d like to…

As you think about what you want to work on in the coming year and beyond, consider tying them to your Performance Excellence goals (for support staff). For more information about how to set yourself up for success as you identify goals, check out this When SMART Meets HARD: Setting Goals that Matter article. 

Job of the Week: Research Integrity Officer

This week’s featured job from MSU Human Resources is an internal posting for a Research Integrity Officer (posting 749396) in the Office of Research and Innovation. This is an internal search–only current MSU tenured full professors are eligible to apply.

The selected professor will be in charge of research oversight, including abiding by uniform policies and procedures for investigating and reporting instances of alleged or apparent misconduct involving research and related activities. They will coordinate the procedures and be responsible for their fair and impartial administration of research misconduct allegations. When requested, they will provide logistical support, recruit expert witnesses, and arrange for legal advice for misconduct hearings. Other tasks include but are not limited to informing the Provost when there is a new misconduct case and being present at workshops and training events on responsible conduct of research to promote key issues on research integrity. For a complete list of responsibilities, click here. 

The MSU professor chosen for this position would ideally be from the Biomedical Sciences or STEM discipline. Familiarity with grants from federal agencies that fund projects at MSU and understanding of principles of procedural fairness and investigative processes for complaints and allegations of misconduct will be taken into consideration. 

Learn more about the Office of Research and Innovation at https://rio.msu.edu/. Read more about the posting and learn how to apply here. The review of applications begins on January 4, 2022 and will continue until the position is filled. All the latest job postings can be found at careers.msu.edu. 

Turn the Job You Have Into the Job You Want with Job Crafting

What if your supervisor told you that you don’t have to do the job you were hired to do?

We often think of our job as being constrained within the rigid framework of our position description, but these days, with rapid change and shifting expectations now the norm, many roles can’t adapt quickly enough to remain relevant…nor to keep employees inspired and fulfilled at work.

When it comes to work, the way to find fulfillment may be to change how you work, not what you do. Every one of us has our own ideas, natural strengths and a desire to learn new things. Job crafting — a mindset and skill — allows you to shape and redefine your current role in ways that can foster job satisfaction, increased engagement, and greater resilience and thriving at work.

What job crafting is (and what it isn’t)

Traditional job design theory focuses on a top-down process of supervisors designing jobs for their employees. Oftentimes, employees are naturally motivated to customize their roles to better fit their motives, strengths and passions. Job crafting is a way to engage with this process with purpose and intention, utilizing opportunities to actively adjust your tasks and interactions with others.

You still must contribute toward your organization achieving its objectives. You still must complete your work in order to get paid. However, with job crafting, your work will feel more meaningful.

Job crafting is not a one-time event

Job crafting is a fluid process that you engage in over time. It typically falls into three stages.

  1. You’re motivated to craft your job due to one or more factors. For example,
    • a desire for more control of your job or greater meaning for your work
    • a need for meaningful interactions with the people who benefit from your work
    • fulfillment of your passion for an occupation other than your current role
  2. You identify any available crafting opportunities and enact one or more ways of crafting your job, actively adjusting one or more of the following areas:
    • Processes: the number, type or nature of your work tasks
    • People: your interactions with others
    • Purpose: your perception of your work
  3. The crafting techniques you employed then lead to associated outcomes, including:
    • Changes to the meaning of your work and your work identity
      • alignment with personal expectations
      • fulfillment of a valued identity
    • Positive experiences
      • achievement
      • enjoyment
      • meaning
    • Resilience
      • increased competence
      • personal growth
      • ability to cope with future adversity

The 3 Ps: Process, People and Purpose

When job crafting, you’ll want to spend time focusing on step #2 above, particularly taking time to examine if and how you can adjust the “three Ps” of Process, People and Purpose.

Process

Have you ever complained about not enjoying your job and received a response along the lines of, “Of course you don’t like it. That’s why it’s called work?” Yes, there will likely always be aspects of your job that feel boring or mundane, but having a negative attitude toward your work quickly leads to feelings of burnout and disappointment.

Instead, seek out the purpose in your work. Try taking the initiative to bring an exciting new task — no matter how large or small — into your work.

Consider: How do I use my strengths to bring more of myself into my work?

People

Although you typically can’t choose your coworkers, you may still be able to re-craft the quality of your relationships with them. One idea? Share a story of gratitude to build connectivity. Write an email to a colleague describing a memory of a time they used their strengths and skills to make a special contribution to your work or your organization. Be sure to include a lot of details.

Consider: How can I improve my relationships at work so they are more inspiring? How can I interact more with colleagues who inspire me, rather than detract from my quality of life?

Purpose

Don’t wait for someone else — whether it’s your supervisor or your stakeholders — to give you a sense of purpose at work. Purpose is about understanding your impact on others, and developing a story about why you do what you do. Your purpose is a story you tell yourself, and you have the power to craft that story.

For each of your work tasks, ask yourself, “Why do I do this?” You may find you aren’t inspired by your answers. If that’s the case, try to personalize the purpose of each task to discover its larger meaning and purpose.

Consider: What story do I tell myself about why I do my job? How can I make the narrative more inspiring?

Discover the value and meaning of your work

You may assume work satisfaction is primarily about what you do, but more often than not, it’s also related to how you do it. Job crafting can help you learn to see value and meaning in all aspects of your work.

Annie McKee, author of How to Be Happy at Work, explains, “Happiness at work comes from the inside out. It’s something we create for ourselves. A lot of people will lose or leave a job and go somewhere else and find that they’re just as unhappy.”

Take the time to apply job crafting principles, and you may discover that your current job offers greater meaning and satisfaction than you thought. Resources to help you get started with this process are included below, and MSU HR’s Organization and Professional Development department can also offer further guidance at prodev@hr.msu.edu.

Recommended Resources

Sources

https://hbr.org/2021/02/turn-your-boring-job-into-a-job-youll-love

https://medium.com/big-self-society/how-to-be-happier-at-work-without-changing-your-job-3050c8ba4e61

https://positivepsychology.com/job-crafting/

https://positiveorgs.bus.umich.edu/wp-content/uploads/What-is-Job-Crafting-and-Why-Does-it-Matter1.pdf

Leadership Blog Series: New Leadership Library and Leader Development Resources

Whether new to a supervisory role or a long-time manager, the best leaders are lifelong learners adaptable to change and flexible in their leadership style. The ongoing changes and unknowns brought on by COVID-19 have made it particularly clear that leaders must embrace the complexity of their roles, which demands new ideas and strategies to stay fresh and ahead of the curve.

Earlier this year, a small workgroup was formed at MSU to explore the learning development needs of those who find themselves leading in this “new normal.” The group identified the need for an easily accessible collection of relevant and applicable self-directed learning resources on a wide range of topics. To assist leaders in navigating challenges and handling their responsibilities with confidence, an online Leadership Library was created in August 2021.

Visit the new, online Leadership Library.

One member of the workgroup, Cindi Leverich, Director of Academic Leadership Development in the Office of Faculty and Academic Staff Development, explains, “As leaders continue to navigate the changing world of work, it is important to have a range of resources available in multiple modalities. The Leadership Library provides busy individuals a convenient list of articles, videos, and workshops on topics key to developing and supporting remote and hybrid teams.”

Updated regularly, the Leadership Library highlights curated content related to timely topics. Ideas for additional, relevant leadership resources are welcome and may be sent to prodev@hr.msu.edu for consideration.

Looking for additional leadership development opportunities?

Danielle Hook, Learning and Development Manager for HR’s Organization and Professional Development (OPD) department, shares, “The importance of professional development cannot be overstated. We also recognize the barriers to accessing meaningful learning are greater than ever. In response, we are exploring creative ways to differentiate our learning solutions to meet the increasingly diverse needs of our learners.”

Learn more about OPD’s new leadership programs and resources below.

New Leader Development Series (NLDS)

Apply now to join the next cohort of this nine-session series. Starting January 18, this program equips new leaders with a toolkit of crucial knowledge and resources.

Sessions cover a variety of topics, including:

  • Leading in a Union Environment
  • Workforce Management and Strategic Staffing
  • Fostering an Inclusive Culture
  • Budget Responsibilities and Ethical Finance
  • Conflict Management
  • and more

Leadership Workshops

In addition to OPD’s popular, established courses around the topics of leadership and management, five new workshops for leaders were recently launched. Currently held via Zoom, registration will soon be available within EBS for the following classes:

  • Building Cohesive Teams
  • Conflict Management
  • Managing and Leading Across Multiple Locations
  • Performance Management for Hybrid Teams
  • Strategic Planning

Find out more about OPD’s upcoming course offerings.

elevateU Leadership Resources

On-demand, self-paced courses, videos, audiobooks and more are available to MSU employees via the free elevateU platform, including a Leadership Development section covering a wide range of leadership topics.

Access elevateU leadership resources.

Have questions regarding the above resources and opportunities? Contact OPD at prodev@hr.msu.edu for additional information.

Job of the Week: Agricultural Laborer I

This week’s featured job from MSU Human Resources is an Agricultural Laborer temporary support staff position (posting 697468) for the South Campus Animal Farms in the College of Agriculture and Natural Resources.

The selected candidate will perform and assist with agricultural labor. Special duties include, but are not limited to, moving, loading and unloading supplies, materials, tools and equipment, and assisting with the movement and transportation of livestock. They will operate tractors and other agricultural equipment as well as assist with the care and feeding of livestock. Employees of the farm must comply with University, state, federal, American Association for Accreditation of Laboratory Animal Care (AAALAC), Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC), and species-specific rules at all times. For a complete list of responsibilities, click here. 

It is desired that applicants interested in this role have the knowledge acquired from two or more years of coursework from secondary school, technical, vocational, trade school and/or college in the field of animal science. Other desired qualifications include basic math skills and experience working with student employees. Applicants are asked to be able to lift 50 pounds and have experience operating a skid steer before they begin. 

Learn more about the South Campus Animal Farms at https://www.canr.msu.edu/scaf/. Read more about the position and learn how to apply by December 12 here with a resume and cover letter. All the latest job postings can be found at careers.msu.edu.