Thing 21 cpd23

This task is all about job interviews and applications as well as how you promote yourself for these. This is perfect timing, as I am currently doing my chartership and one of the things I have been working on this week is my SWOT analysis. Having previously done one or two during my working life, I've always struggled with the strengths aspect, I can easily rattle off my weaknesses- lack of confidence, limited archiving skills, poor delegation ability, fretting, unable to speak a second language, can't throw a frisbe. Etc. but strengths is harder.

Firstly how do you define a strength. Is it something you have improved at, excell at above others, or is it something your are good at, but others are better at it than you. Here's where my confusion starts. For instance my knowledge and use of online resources has improved since starting cpd23. But I'm no expert and would struggle to define and explain them all to other person, but there has been an improvement. However I feel I excell at collection management, and I am better than anyone else in my organisation ( rightly so being the librarian) and better than the previous librarian. Alternatively I am good at covering books to extended shelf life, but I'm slower than anyone else in my team. But I can still do it. Personally I'm thinking one and two are relevant, once explained, three is a developing skills area.

Having just completed the lengthy professional knowledge and skills base from CILIP, I have managed to add in more strengths- financial control, collection development, collection management and understanding of relevant legislation. Aspects of my role that I had ever see as strengths before.

In conjunction with this I am also reading - Alire and Evans book academic librarianship, chapter 15 on career development.

Tips for interview

I've been on both ends of interviewing, applying for positions and recruiting, I find recruiting more nerve raking than applying. In applying you sell yourself, so it's about boosting those confidence levels, even if only temporarily. Or a bit like a driving test, all you have to do is convince the people I front of you, at you can do this. In answering the questions, I find be honest, answer the questions with concise detail, enough to explain the situation but not enough to make it feel like they were there as the interview panel is likely to get bored. One tip I find useful is stand out. In my current role I made them laugh, by accident. The question was - describe yourself in 3 words, mine were on- time, polite and short. At 5'1 the last one is hard not to notice.