Reflections, reflections, reflections

This week's thing is reflective practice. The cpd23 blog has some very useful references on reflective practice and we also used a reflective practice model in my CTLLS course.  One of the things about writing reflectively is that it requires a fair amount of self-disclosure. Not necessarily personal I guess, but certainly professional.

As I am just back fro Umbrella 11 (which I will be writing up for HLG Newsletter) I wonder if there is any mileage in reflecting on this.

The fact is that as usual I failed to do as much networking as I would have liked. In spite of reading the shy person's guide to networking. I think one of the reasons for this is that being unemployed gives you a much less sturdy base to start with. In answer to the question "where do you work?" it's very hard to say "I'm not working at the moment, I was most recently in a healthcare library" and see people's eyes glaze over. It's most noticeable (obviously) with the exhibitors who are there to sell, but also with people who are still employed. There's definitely a fear of catching the unemployment lurgy. Or maybe I'm over sensitive. I did manage to speak to one of the people on the cpd23 poster stand and say thanks so that's something!

Twitter and more thoughts on branding

Bit late blogging this week due to a crippling migraine earlier on. Gone now though and I feel quite energised following a good night's sleep.

Thing 4 in cpd23 is to sign up for Twitter and use some other tools.  A post on the clinical librarians mailing list made me see that there is real potential for using Twitter in an information context. Some medics are using Twitter (+ blog) to run a journal club. Isn't that fantastic! So I'm signed up but haven't tweeted yet. This is mainly because Twitter is yet another place where you're advised that you should upload a photo before you do anything else and I'm still really reluctant. Just looked at my leftover passport photos in case I could use those and I look really grim - what to do???

I do have a vision of myself Tweeting during Umbrella and thus saving myself taking notes for my write up but I would need an app to record my tweets or maybe the whole Twitter stream (is that the expression?) 

This page lists 10 ways to record your Tweets. The journal club mentioned above are using Twapper Keeper which looks as if it works well.

I've signed up with Pushnote - this one seems even harder to find a use for. I suspect I'm probably not seeing the potential - I will wander round some other blogs and see what other cpd23ers have to say.

I'm already familiar with RSS but I could work on some ways of incorporating it into this blog page - I've seen some blogs which incorporate Twitter feeds.

I've uploaded my CV to my Linkedin account which has improved my profile. Still awaiting photo upload though! 


I see that there are going to be some opportunities for networking in person as part of Thing 6. I find this really quite scary - which no doubt means it would be very good for me to attend a f-2-f event. I've ordered some business cards which will hopefully arrive in time to take to Umbrella. I looked at some examples of business cards for unemployed people and the advice seems to be to use them as a very mini CV.

On jobhunting - more feedback that I don't appear confident. I'm just not sure what to do with this as it's a kind of Catch-22. The more you're told you appear unconfident - the less confident you become. Ah well, move on.

Keep on keeping on

Taking the chance of a cpd23 lull to add some more job-hunting news. I'm still unemployed and feeling anxious.

So far I've been chivvying my sons about their exams and generally keeping busy on a domestic front, but I can see that that's going to pall quite quickly. When I receive my final payment from HWPH I think I may really start to panic.

So, what's going on.

Completed Applications

• Clinical Librarian post in Surrey - unsuccesful. Waiting for feedback.
• 3 posts I've asked agencies to put me forward for - no news. I'm slightly miffed about this because in one case I didn't even get an acknowledgement from the agency. This was an academic library post in London so not ideal, but even so.. Next time I think I'll try phoning.

Current applications in progress/under consideration

• Librarian in very local to me NHS Trust Library. This would be perfect, and I have the skills. Just need to refine and complete the application form and submit.
• School librarian in a very local to me primary school. I'm not sure about this one -  I don't have school library experience but I do have some experience with primary age children from my work with the After School Club and volunteering in the CofE school when the boys were there.
• College library post in Hants. I have the academic library experience, but I'm put off by the travelling (48 miles, 51 mins according to Bing) and the fact they start at 7.45. I know that's shallow. On the brightside I'm guessing the travelling would be much quicker at that time in the morning. I think this will go on the back burner.
• Final post is in Herts.(43 miles, 45 mins) Library manager, Part time and a band 7. This actually sounds better the more I think about it. I think I will move onto this one when I've finished the local NHS one.

So that's a brief update. I'm being even more circumspect about details than I was before, following my thoughts about branding. If any other jobseekers would like to compare notes I'd be delighted to hear from you via comments or by e-mail - and good luck to all of us.