Well, here we are at the end of CPD23. There have been times that I despaired of completing the course, others when I have been enthused and I have even taken the time to learn a few new skills.
Just a quick post to cover promoting yourself and volunteering. One thing I have learnt is to look at the things you have accomplished in life, not just those things that are definitely library related, and to "rewrite" them for any application that you are preparing. So, what do I mean?
Over the course of 7 years we moved house 10 times, most of those moves were organised and undertaken by me! What skills did I learn? I believe that I honed my negotiation skills, learnt about project management and brushed up my research skills (choosing movers, finding schools, checking curriculum). We went through some hard times due to the lack of work, started our own company where I was secretary, bookkeeper and studied AutoCAD so that I could do some of the drafting. Translate that into library skills: capacity to learn new software, project management skills, people skills (think customer service), financial skills, procedural skills, setting up a database plus I undertook my library qualifications.
I also took the time to volunteer at a not-for-profit as part of my degree, this entailed re-organising the office, writing a procedure manual and continuing the cataloguing of their small library. I enjoyed all of the things that I undertook and I learnt a great deal.
Looking back on where you have come from and how you did it can translate into a really professional looking CV and job application. Life-long learning doesn't just include libraries.
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