Thing 21: Promoting yourself in job applications and at interview

For this we are asked to think about our likes, dislikes and achievements.

Likes:

• Cataloguing and classification
• Stock management - I like doing the relegation and removing the old unused stuff, sprucing up old books that are well used and ordering new books.
• I like things well ordered and organised
• Technology - I love being able to incorporate technology into my work and the service, sometimes I find that my staff and the students are resistant, I however want to get on and will continue to embrace new technology
• A tidy desk - amazingly it often is. This morning I was irritated as the desk had been cleaned and stuff was out of position (I know i'm bordering on OCD here)
• Doing displays - sadly i'm not the most creative of people and I do like things symmetrical (the OCD is kicking in again)
• Going to Conferences and external training sessions. I like the opportunity to network and see what other people are doing. I should warn you though (and I have mentioned this before), i'm an introvert, so I do need my own space and time to recover from networking.

Dislikes:

• Doing inductions and information literacy sessions - basically teaching of any kind to a group. One to one is fine, i'm comfortable with that.
• Being interrupted - not much can be done about that as I share an office and I don't think anyone would take any notice of a sign saying do not disturb or currently unavailable etc. I've learned to live with it and appreciate more any time I get uninterrupted.
• Conflict - I don't mind people disagreeing with me but please do it in a civilised manner, listen to my point of view and don't shout or spit your dummy out
• Lateness especially when I'm on a tight schedule.

Achievements:

Over the last 3 years there has been:

• The move - helping move 4 buildings into 1, as well as the physical move itself I was involved with planning how it was to be achieved
• Rearranging the LRC, having moved in, we lost a floor the following summer and had to rearrange and fit into 3 floors. This was an immense opportunity to address all the parts that didn't work at the same time and make the LRC a better space for both staff and students.
• Changing the LMS to Heritage. Changing the LMS is a daunting task, it was important that we moved to a system that was fit for purpose though.

I think that these 3 achievements have all been initally overwhelming because of the timescale involved and the amount of work needed for it to be successful. The pessimist in me told me I couldn't do it, well it was wrong - I could and have done these things successfully.