Thing 21

When I saw this Thing, my first thought was that this doesn't apply to me.  I have worked in the same institution for 11 years and although my role has changed, none of the changes required me to apply for them or have an interview.  With regards to the Careers Coordinator role, I did put together a proposal detailing why I was the right person for the job, but the Assistant Head of Sixth Form role was offered to me in light of how my original role had subsumed some of the duties naturally.  I do however need a CV for my Chartership portfolio, so I will be returning to that part of the task at a later date, so for now I am going to think about 'me': what I like to do, my hobbies, interests and what I like about my job. Having had a chance to think about this, I can see why this is a useful thing to do.  It goes back to my original reason for wanting to be a librarian and part of Thing 20; when asked what it was about my BA in English and History that I really liked, I replied "the reading and the research". I loved finding out about things; researching; using multiple sources; knowing I had 'done' a source, i.e. got all the information I needed from it.  

So many years down the line, here is what I like doing now for fun in no particular order:

• Reading mainly children's older literature: Enid Blyton, Elinor Brent Dyer, Antonia Forrest, Lorna Hill, Elsie Oxenham, Malcolm Saville and Arthur Ransome  I also like historical fiction, especially Plantagenet and Tudor times as well as Bernard Knight's Crowner John series. 
• Keeping a clean and tidy house - this also extends rather obsessively to a clean LRC
• Disney films
• Eating out
• Shopping
• Being with my daughter and husband
• My Christian faith - going to church, being a Sunday School teacher

Now what about my job?

• Working with the students
• My LRC - it will always be my LRC deep down, even though I may not be the one with day to day responsibility anymore. However I took it on when the Public Library service had just pulled out meaning that it was no longer a dual use library.  How it looks today is because of me (I am honestly not showing off at this point.  For ages I was a virtual solo librarian)
• Being part of an organisation with a really clear purpose; the education of young people.  I like that there is a clear goal to work for such as preparing students for their GCSEs, A-Levels, university etc
• Convenience - my husband works in the same school
• Satisfaction of knowing I play an important part in matching students up to the right courses for them, whether it be GCSEs, A -levels, degrees, apprenticeships etc.  This year I was involved in setting up my institution's first ever apprenticeship, doing the initial research for the Business Manager and then supporting the student with his application to the National Apprenticeship Service
• Trying out new ideas in the LRC like Web 2.0 technologies, finding new resources, learning how they work, best ways to promote them to students and staff
• Buying books still!
• Planning research based lessons.  I loved working with Science this year helping them deliver the case study coursework element to the students

Making this list has only really confirmed what I really knew and have been 'fighting' for recently as my new job description is written.  I want to be a librarian and although I may have digressed a bit with the Careers and Sixth Form role, if I should leave it will have to be for an information professional role, preferably in education as that will give me that feeling of satisfaction and fulfilment.  I have always made sure that the main aspects of my role are information based; I still have strategic management responsibility for the LRC and my sixth form responsibility is predominantly IAG (information, advice and guidance); signposting students to relevant resources regarding their future aspirations, responding to their requests for advice and support with which courses to take, apprenticeships to apply for etc and coordinating with the external careers service we buy in as a school so as to ensure that the students can access impartial advice and guidance as well.  Nevertheless there are times when I wish I could still 'be' in the LRC all day every day which suggests to me that libraries are what really does it for me.

As far as interviews are concerned, the most recent advice I was ever given was from a headteacher who was also a university admissions tutor and who had come to visit my Year 13 students to give them some advice with their personal statements as part of their UCAS application.  He said that 'body language' tells us volumes about an applicant, whether they smile, gesticulate, are animated about why they want to study a particular degree etc.  It might be one of the most nerve wracking times of your life, being interviewed, but you have to look as if you are enjoying it.  I suppose that if you really want something (a job, a place on a degree), then your passion will shine through.