Thing 21

Job Applications and Interviews - eek!

This is not my favourite thing to talk about, most likely because of my lack of experience. But the time will come soon to start thinking about it all again, and giving some thought to it now is probably a good idea.

Thinking about what I like doing at work - I love organising. Although I don't do it naturally, the satisfaction I get from it is enjoyable! When I worked at Darwin College in the summer I loved making sure all the shelves were in order with their neat labels. Although I hope that I can progress to higher things (this is definitely the case back at John's!), fundamentally I know I love sorting and perfecting things. My work with the biographical office definitely requires this, updating records and researching people for enquirers. I also love the feeling when I've had a really busy day and I've achieved so much. Having had a productive day, arranged my day well and done things to help others is truly satisfying. I love having a project and following it through to the end. I think the skill of time keeping is something I definitely built on whilst at Durham, and continue to do so especially now as I have to study and work.

Surprisingly another thing I have enjoyed since I arrived in Cambridge is doing tours and talking to students. Usually really shy, I thought this would be an aspect I would hate. But I have to say I think it is the biggest thing my work at John's has given me - confidence in the work place. I have also been lucky enough to attend lots of training sessions during the past year, from HTML and cataloguing to the everyday stuff like Microsoft Office. I am really interested in the IT part of working in libraries, and all this has helped me further,

Outside of work I love cooking and baking, especially without a recipe book (when the end result is good!). I think this shows that although I love ordering things it is in the end product that is important, not how you get there. Being out in the open air working, planning my route and reaching the top of a hill which was a challenge is when I'm the happiest. I guess that also comes from loving to organise things. It also shows how I like to keep work and home separate - I do not want being a librarian to take over my life. I love what I do now, but it is a job to me, I enjoy the fact I don't need to think about it outside of work (hm, although I guess I am a little now!). Finally, I love food, and going out for dinner and a glass of wine is such a treat. Not sure how that goes with anything work related...

I think the one thing I will take away from this - I need to keep a CV 'file'. At school you always had your personal development folder, and I guess despite laughing at it at the time it is a useful thing to do, especially now I am learning new things every week. I need to try and remember everything I have achieved since I started working - which is helped by the fact we have to review every training course we have been on in a big file at work.

In terms of interview tips I always think just being yourself is the best you can do - it's not just what you can do that's important, it's who you are and whether you will fit in in that work environment. I always like to plan profusely, if only to calm myself - usually everything you 'revised' beforehand leaves your head the minute you walk in and you have to improvise! Smile :-), and probably ignore what I've said as I am very inexperienced in all this! Read someone elses blog :-).