End of rollercoaster ride or Thing 23: What next?

So the end is here. I face the final curtain... Dum dum dum dum!

Some posts were written faster than others, some series of posts were written faster than others but by and large all posts were thought about equally. 

I have a lot to do and a lot more to learn and try out (that's right I'm looking at you screencasting and podcasting) and I'm looking forward to integrating it with work in the library in general and in special collections.

6 word story: Work starts with you. Go now!

Thank you all for following the programme and well done for getting to Thing 23.  A short evaluation of the programme is coming soon, but if you're up for a challenge maybe you could come up with a "6 word story" to sum up how you feel about the programme.

I last did a PDP about 5 years ago and I've reached all my then goals. I've talked to my new boss about it and he's going to help me put together a plan. I'm lucky as well that my library has someone in charge of staff training and development so courses that are upcoming are on project management and group facilitation which will be useful for when I go to do chartership. There's no rest for the wicked! 

Once I've put the plan together I'll put it up on the blog.

Big thankyous to the CPD23 team. I've learned so much and I look forward to next year's programme!

Thing 22: Volunteering to gain experience

This is something I feel oddly about. I haven't volunteered. I know I should but where to do it? So much about work is unionised and where do other people in unions stand on someone else volunteering? I know if people come to the library I'm in for work experience then they can do six weeks maximum and then only if they're applying for a library course and need the minimum for entry. Otherwise... I'm not sure. 

I'd love to get any experience doing cataloguing but short of redoing the entries on my ebook collection or tagging on the National Tagging Project well...

As someone I know says: It's problematic.

Thing 21: Promoting yourself in job applications and at interview

Shout out to Ned Potter! You are a star!! I found your post so useful and hey you know but it worked! I got the job! I guess I shouldn't give away the ending at the start but yeah I went for a job and I got it and you do the system and it works. Go figure!

Did I identify my strengths? Yes! Go read Susan Cain's Quiet. Very useful and very interesting. I am an introvert but this can be used wisely.

Apply for job? Only two months before I applied for the job a different post came up so I reorganised my CV for the first time since 2006... Shudder! It took quite the while adding on the sections I'd worked in, the committees I'd served on, the qualifications and modules I'd completed. You know the score! But finally it was done and the next day there was a follow-up email to say only certain grades, I was not the requisite grade, should apply. But I thought no matter it's done now and I can update as necessary and it'll never be that hard again. So when I went to apply for this job well it was all there for me and I just had to fit it for the job.

I was lucky in that I met most of the criteria and I was in the process of working on the rest. And always state that you know you have more to do. When do we ever stop? You stop learning when you're dead. My granny taught me that.

Ned has a fantastic list of 20 things that you need to answer before you go in and they pretty much all came up in one form or another so go Ned Potter!