January 1, 2017 · 4:36 pm

2016 – what a year!

I am going to concentrate solely on me.  What else is a blog for?  And there has been enough published regarding how the world is going to hell in a handbasket and celebrities are getting off a.s.a.p…  Too many to discuss.  However, this year has been a year of changes, from which I can take positives regardless of actual events.

Had a quick look at my last, eons ago, entry and it seems I was a delivery driver for Argos and planning to become a teacher.  Well… The teaching thing did not happen…  I got as far as attending for the literacy and numeracy tests to discover, as I prepared to take them, that you already have to have paid the application fees etc before taking them!  This meant they then incurred examination fees which, with the addition of the application fees, loans etc… I decided against but this means the years of wondering have finally been put to rest.   I do not have the temperament or patience for the politics of education!

As for career – well, I really enjoyed being a delivery driver, but the hours dropped and on minimum wage I could not afford to stay there, so I went to a private company.  Initially this seemed promising albeit on another temporary contract, and the vast majority of people were fine.  I made a couple of good friends.  BUT it was a harsh lesson in learning to keep ones mouth shut and not call out latent ‘-isms’ as the passive aggressive bullying that engenders from this can force one out unfairly.  This contract ended and then followed a hard period of signing on.  However I had only positive experiences of this and within 2.5 months I started at my current place of employ.  Better wages than any job thus far, a venue I could walk to if ever necessary (though public transport is my preferred mode), gaining a work husband and more good friends and a much longer term contract.  Excellent benefits which are being take full advantage of, fabulous training and managers who are effective, knowledgeable and confident.  I have taken the lesson learned in my negative work place and remember it is work, mouth firmly SHUT!

So… still working.  And only one job!  Survival financially thanks to the help of my sister, and muchly thanks the Bank of Mum and Dad.

Personally – life is on the up and up.  My Dad decided to give us a HUGE scare over summer but is recovering well…  Hopefully he will be able to travel within a few months and come and see his younger GD as she storms up the football field!

I am aware I do not blog much, if at all, call it introspection and a result of the mouth shut lesson of that toxic work place.  However I have decided to challenge myself to read more, I don’t do anywhere near enough.  My Good Reads account is finally going to get used and I have, hopefully, linked it to here.  We shall see if that link has been set up correctly when I review my first book on there!

So – positive vibes coming at you all.  Huggles.

 

 

 

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October 12, 2015 · 4:55 pm

Well – who’d a thunk that?! TOTAL CHANGE!!!

So, not only have I got a job but also, potentially, a whole new career!

I have already completed the first online assessment, which I was told this morning I have passed, and have a few hours of induction booked for the upcoming few days. This will be followed by a practical assessment of my driving and then I shall being starting my shifts as a delivery driver!

Argos driving

Yes, I shall be joining the new fleet of delivery drivers Argos are employing. I have to say I was very impressed at my interview with the support that seems to go into their staff. There is open promotion of motivations, a Union which is advertised for membership, staff socialising and their informal chats. They seem genuinely flexible whilst not using 0-hours contracts to which I am vehemently opposed. The job itself offers the security of a salary and a large firm behind me, whilst giving the autonomy within my role that I am used to. So no signing on for me 😀

So… what else may be on the horizon?

I plan to retrain as a teacher!

teacher training

It is something I have always done as part of my professional life as a school librarian; I am also a qualified vocational qualifications assessor for the LAIS sector AND I am a qualified driving instructor although that will lapse in a couple of years. The latter is a definite advantage for the aforementioned driving role! Thus far I have completed some research, requested honest advice and have registered to take the professional skills tests required by Doncaster ITT, with whom I hope to train for my QTS. However I am also checking out Sheffield Hallam University School of Education in case a PGCE is the way I decide to go. However, as I already have a postgraduate diploma…

This may fly in the face of the news that teachers are leaving the profession in their droves, leaving a Crisis in the teaching profession allegedly, but I have worked in schools long enough to know the downsides, to be aware of the red tape, the constant belittling by the media and the struggles to meet data demands and ever-changing goalposts… but I also know the camaraderie, support from a good management team, joy of feeding learning into the sponge-like brains of the young and the sheer FUN that it can be.

So, no promises, no firm plans. I’ve one new career starting with another potential, and that, for now, is enough.

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September 30, 2015 · 7:22 pm

Common Courtesy – where have good manners gone?

So – I am now on the seemingly endless treadmill of looking for work. Whilst there are many job sites which make this very easy for you, by retaining your information/CV and enabling you to click and send an application with a directed cover letter or supporting statement, many jobs still require the completion of an ACTUAL application.

I find a job I like the look of, so the homework starts. Research the company, adapt experiences to prove ability, overcome innate modesty to really try to sell myself, then email/click send and wait….

and wait…..

waiting

and wait…..

after a while if an interview invitation is not forthcoming then I accept I have not been successful, although why remains a mystery. Perhaps in days gone by the rising cost of stationery and a stamp could excuse such discourtesy, but nowadays a simple email would be lovely, just to acknowledge effort and a polite, ‘not at this time’ sentiment. At least then I would know the application had been received!

What is worse is attending an interview, making a real effort to look the part, overcome the nerves, try to sensibly answer questions and not sound like a gabbling idiot or a fawning fool, to leave and then hear nothing.

I am at the early stages of looking and am happy to have secured two interviews so far. I only apply for work I really feel I could deliver well and that appeal to me, so either of these jobs I would have been delighted with. The first was a definite drop in status and wage, but the interview seemed to want someone with a masters in ancient history and reams of teaching experience. This meant I had to try and convince that I was not so overqualified for them to think I would be bored, yet answer knowing a person would have to be at my level to be able to answer them. This coupled with my nervous waffle at my first interview in years and one of the interviewers exuding ‘I hate you’ vibes meant I knew I had not done well. However I can only assume I did not get the job because I have not heard anything at all 1 1/2 months later!

I did not achieve the job at my second interview either, which I was gutted about because I instantly loved the firm, and they seemed to really like me. This time I had a lovely telephone call 2 days after the interview (for which I had also had to prepare a 15-minute presentation emailed prior) explaining that I was pipped by someone with more direct experience, giving me positive feedback and asking if they could contact me if any relevant vacancies arose in the future. As a result I am searching their vacancies at any given opportunity and would take a wage cut to work for them, to work for such a supportive environment.

Having no job is soul destroying and worrying. Maintaining enthusiasm for the search, and the confidence to sell oneself over and over, is vital. But if a response is not even worth a quick email by the company to whom I am making the effort… this is so hard to maintain. Is this really too much to ask?

To me, it is simply good manners, I shall go back to waiting… As of today I have applied for 39 jobs, most through online agencies, but still quite a few via old fashioned applications… Less than a quarter even acknowledged receipt.

waiting_for_phone_call_by_sahiru

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September 28, 2015 · 7:33 pm

Don’t worry….. be happy….!

They say that once all life changes have happened, that your body relaxes and that’s when you can become ill. I am living proof. I am finally coming out the other side of the worst bout of tonsillitis I have had in my life.

Which has led me to some concern that I have not been active enough regarding my job searching. On reflection I think this does not matter. I have, since learning redundancy was an highly likely event at the start of the process in mid-June, managed all pre-redundancy booked family commitments, applied for 15+ jobs, had two interviews and got married. All within 3 months. I think my body may have decided I need a break!

So the lesson learnt over this time is to try not to worry. There will be the right job out there for me. I have received excellent feedback from the one interview I had that actually bothered to contact me afterwards (more on good manners another time), having lost out only on having less direct experience than another candidate. So, the searching and selling myself is back on.

I know my bright, fresh, new challenge is out there, there is a company waiting for me that just does not know it yet!

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September 25, 2015 · 8:14 pm

Starting all over again… unexpectedly…

I am in the position of rebooting my career, due to a recent redundancy. And am realising exactly how stereotypically British I am. I know I am wonderful, brilliant at many things and can network better than any train line. But how to persuade potential employers, particularly those outside of the industry within which I have worked for the past 18 years?

I could bemoan my lot and decide to see if work will come to me. But that has never been my way. So, I swallow my false modesty and call on family, friends and former colleagues to proof-read, edit and swell my head. After all, I need to get my foot in the door before I can meet and really charm the socks off my future bosses don’t I?!

When one has spent 18 years in the same industry, the last 15 in the same job, it can be frightening when change occurs. Whether by choice or by redundancy, any life-change of such a magnitude is unnerving and needs careful handling. Amongst my many concerns was the fear that I had no idea what roles in the big wide world may be suitable for someone with my skill-set and experience. How do I prove they are transferable?

But I was lucky. My most recent employers ensured the careers service were involved so, as I knew my role would be one of the first to go (school libraries are not statutory, not audited, have no minimum requirement and the provision of one has no bearing on a school’s OfSted score, and therefore a qualified and chartered librarian is easy prey, evidence of efficacy notwithstanding), I set up an appointment. The result? An entirely revamped CV and a skills health check that gave me insight in a subjective manner into what I could, and what I may want, to do.

The National Careers Service. I cannot recommend them enough. I am looking into fields I would never have considered but for which I have all the skills required. It meant I left my role enthused and excited about all that is now open to me.

Network – I asked around my colleagues for recommendations of websites which may have work for me. My CV Library has proven invaluable and I have been contacted already by one who provide schools with supply staff, for whom I could work in the new term, utilising my many years experience in this field.

Research – I guess this is where I am lucky in that my career, my profession, is all about ferreting out information. I am happy to sit and search until I find a potentially useful job site, and then assess it for relevant value to me.

Just a few actions I am now taking. I am genuinely excited to find out where my path may now be going. One piece of advice however – I maintain a far-too-long and detailed CV with every little piece of information going back to my first qualification, which means I can cherry pick and adapt as necessary, as I have all relevant dates, all details of work roles available, referee choices etc etc to hand. Saves so much time!

And above all things… I am trying to maintain a

positive attitude

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September 24, 2015 · 9:33 pm

I’m baaaaaaaack!!!!

I got distracted by keeping up the Save Doncaster Libraries blog. That finished ages ago. Then I got family distracted and losing job distracted and… and…
No more excuses. I am back and I shall try to keep up my waffling more regularly. I am going to put some more blogs up, lifted straight from my Linked In page and about job hunting… There may be other stuffs too. I am but a common middle-aged left-leaning feminist ciswoman.

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March 20, 2012 · 1:12 pm

I’m scared… why aren’t you?

My latest two tweets sum it up:-

Lynne_GALs So, we all have ‘responsibility’ in Big Society to ‘volunteer’ as public sector,but no right to benefit as everything is privatised? #condem

Lynne_GALs #olympics2012lies rescind Sunday trading ‘for benefit’ yet in London businesses have been advised to close. London hit again?

The condems, who were not voted in and exist to govern only via a dodgy coalition, the smaller ‘half’ of which has forgotten all its’ promises, seem determined to fracture and break the UK. Under the guise of ‘The Big Society’ we are urged to volunteer to cover public service roles as this will ‘save’ money from our pockets (hardly, once we’ve paid privately for those self-same services!). Yet we are not considered sufficiently members of society to benefit from the remaining public-owned functions and these (roads being the latest) are to be sold off to private companies. But it’s okay as cutting the top rate of tax will ensure all those people who have given so generously to their local communities previously and not at all dodged tax and invested offshore, will definitely start paying up… yes?

Roads being privatised will, inevitably, decrease the options for the vast majority of people (who do not have tracts of disposable cash) regarding travel. This makes a mockery of the demand by job centres to consider work within 50 miles of residence! Hence decreasing work prospects against a background of increasing unemployment. But no matter, one can pull ones socks up and self-educate, apply for loads of jobs by finding them online as everyone has internet at home! Except they don’t, but never mind – go to your local library, what do you mean it’s now closed or run by ‘volunteers’, therefore opening when it can be. Still, at least the professional, discrete and courteous assistance required will be available still? No – those staff are stood next to you having been made redundant and replaced by volunteers, after all, all a library staffer need do is stamp a book.

It’s enough to give one a coronary – oh dear, need an ambulance? Do you have enough money in your personal NHS pot? No – have you enough to pay the mortuary at least, well, that’s another job opened up anyway. Oh – you DO have enough, okay, well providing the ambulance crew have enough change to pay the tolls on the newly privatised roads you should get there in time.

And don’t get me STARTED on education!

So – as the above is not beyond the realms of reality – why are YOU not scared?

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October 4, 2011 · 9:02 pm

They were never EVER going to listen.

On the 12th October the DMBC cabinet are meeting to discuss the results of the consultation and consider ‘alternative ways’ of delivering the 14 libraryservices that were originally propsed for closure 1 year ago.

The earlier Council decision was to fund 12 of 26 libraries and to ‘improve and develop’ these ‘to ensure they are sustainable, high quality, fully maintained libraries that are significant community facilities;.  65,000 questionnaires were sent out to people living near the 14 libraries (not those who work or are educated in those areas as the 1964 Public Libraries and Museums Act includes).  Following feedback on the 7,000 returned, a thorough impact assessment and discussions with volunteers, community groups and library action groups the proposals drawn up are:-

Expected community-led provision at Bawtry, Intake and Warmsworth.

Expected community-led provision in a different venue at Valby, Bessacarr, Edenthorpe, Wheatley and Sprotborough.

Expected self-service supplemented by community volunteers co-located with another council service in Moorends, Rossington, Stainforth and Scawthorpe.

Enhanced Mobile/Outreach at Carcroft and Denaby (ie they will be closed).

Currently libraries cost £5.26 million to run not including money needed to maintain and invest in the buildings.  Keeping all 26 in current form not a option.

My initial reaction – what impact assessment?  Who are these groups with whom they consulted?  What other formats were the questionnaires provided in?  How did this adhere to the 1964 Act?  What costings are expected to be met by the community groups?  What support and training and provisions are the Council going to provide?  What if no community-led groups are found?  What about the current staff of the 14 – and indeed the whole service?  What is the time-frame expected to be met?  Have they considered the impact on literacy levels and education?  What about the employment market, eg Barnsley Council only accept online job applications so if you cannot access a local library to do so, how are you going to compete in the job market fairly – and against those who used to work in those libraries!? etc etc

The Review should be here:- http://www.doncaster.gov.uk/db/chamber/default.asp?Nav=Meeting&MeetingID=5515,  if that link doesn’t work it’s the DMBC home page, select Council Chamber, select Agendas, Minutes and Reports, selectCalendar of Council Meetings and Event, then choose Cabinet on the calndar date of 12th October 🙂  As Jon’s just said “Easy to find”!!!

The Mayor – defending decimation of services on Radio Sheffield Drive time – here  at about 59:23. He says one sentence basically which is the council will put in some books, refresh them regularly and give as much support as they can without ploughing money into it, and that if people want a library putting in one or two hours per week ‘isn’t too much to expect’. NOT A CLUE!!!!!

There is more of his interview at 1:05:32. In summary – His usual line blaming the cuts on the government. Preferring 14 libraries open via other means such as volunteers or schools. Says opponents seem to think there’s a magic tree to get money from. Says opponents invented his saying he will close a library. He’s asking people to talk to him about opening the libraries, and that’s it, the plan. Schools can take them over… Great, my kids school has just closed theirs! Says more libraries per head of population (“I think”) than any other borough “a mighty number” and had little interest in some for keeping them open – BECAUSE WE CAN’T any council funding? He says putting books in, refresh them regularly and as much support again but money. happy they can be run by volunteers? Yes in Warmsworth – they have an army of volunteers it seems. Is suspicious in one or two cases as to whether people actually want a library, Librarians are professionals – hes laughed! Says all sorts of trades and jobs need training but what;s needed for stamping a book and letting them out an in “Things are made mysterious” Admits he doesn’t know and that libraries are in the state they’re in means not had good librarians in over the recent years! NO BECAUSE YOU (AND OTHER EQUALLY GUILTY FROM ALL PARTIES) CUT THE FUNDING AND STAFFING IN DMBC OVER THE LAST 5-8 YEARS YOU UNEDUCATED AND ILL-INFORMED PERSON Sorry, typed as listened.

The responses – First up is Phil Bradley ( ♥ ) A very polite response, far more than Mayor Davies deserved, says doubts many agree with {Mayor Davies}, shame when think can get rid [of libraries], it’s part of community and without one not really a community, disrespectful to community and also to CILIP members, talking about common misconception, assistants wonderful, but like comparing receptionist to a Doctor, explained training time and that [Mayor Davies] interpretation a typical ignorant idea…. now some examples…. What about closing if not got volunteers, can you keep it this simple? A basic book service? Yes, they’re extremely valuable… but costs money to train and support… working with children therefore need CRB checks. Helpful to running but not running it themselves.

Another response came from Dave of Mexborough via text who agreed that the Mayor’s Librarian comments were an insult and he should be taken to a library, stamped, but not returned!!!

So – with the amount of support to Save Doncaster’s Libraries and the total lack of flexibility shown over the last year to change their stance in any way, despite MANY alternatives being given, how are we to think that the wholesale decimation of our libraries is anything but a political stance to dumb down our population any further.

The proposed referendum regarding a Mayoral system in Doncaster could not come soon enough, lets get rid. The possibility of electing a moron by accident is too great a risk.

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July 18, 2011 · 2:43 pm

Thing 4 CPD23. The dawning realisation that procrastination is not always your thing…

Wow! This Thing (4) is about Twitter, RSS Feeds and Pushnote. For the first time I’m not behind in the game!
I’ve had Twitter for my personal/professional use for quite some time, although did neglect it a while. I do minimal personal tweeting (I have facebook for that) and predominantly professional. I find it truly invaluable as I get many links and leads from contacts and often have upwards of 20 tabs opened as I click on links to check and sort once I’ve scrolled through twitter. I have a personal rule to never scroll back more than 24 hours of tweets if I’ve not been online a while. I would certainly recommend skimming and scanning to the newby – see, cross-resource information literacy skills are relevant.
I have another Twitter account too, for my driving instructor school (a grand phrase for just me!) which is the Glam School of Motoring.

I confess I have not used it lately. I am planning to tweet once per day from that account with some pertinent piece of driving news or advice, but am waiting for my Glam School of Motoring website to be updated before starting that! I am also one of the twitterers for Danum School‘s account.
So, I guess I’m okay with Twitter!

What else? Oh yes, RSS Feeds. Once again I’m ahead of the game *boast boast*. I have set up my own RSS Feed within my google ID. Once again the concentration tends to be professional blogs or friends who enter into discourse or offer considered opinion with which I can engage. I think there is one humourous one but… I tend to keep them professional. Here are my current feeds:-

Between the RSS feeds and the tweets I am more current with ILS innovations and news than I have ever been before.

Pushnote – I cannot access this at the moment as I cannot use it at work. I have read other comments about it and am not sure what use it may be initially as the websites shared by fellow professionals tend to be recommendation enough, but I will have a look-see later.

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June 28, 2011 · 1:51 pm

CPD23 Thing 3 – My Personal Brand

Hmmmm…   Suggested issues to consider 1) Name Used 2) Photograph 3) Professional/Personal Identity 4) Visual Brand.  The activity within my online areas… What happens when you google my name!

1) Name Used – in my blog.  Well, this has changed for personal reasons.  Unfortunately I cannot change the blog URL (although according to libwig I can, and may do…), which I chose because it marries the main factors that make me, me.  My forename, vocation, original family acronym and my being a twin.  My family make-up has altered but as my self-employed business is called this so it remains.  But my posting ID is now my first name and my new family acronym, the first initials of me and my daughters.  It was unusual enough to be unique but identifiable as me by those who know me.

2) Photograph – easy, it’s a really old one that, again, people will know is me IF they know me but isn’t instantly identifiable for those who haven’t ever met me physically, and vanity finds it flattering 🙂

3) Professional/Personal Identity – am putting this last, it’s the longest one…

4) Visual.  I just chose one that was simple, not girly, and not too busy, in colours I like.  Not a lot more thought went into it than that!  I may need to look for a meaningful wallpaper as I feel it is a bit boring but…  Time… just not got the time!

Back to 3).  Well.  My blog started off as a place to have a rant about whatever was bothering me at the time.  I did not intend it to be a particularly professional sphere of communication although saving libraries is both one of my issues and a professional concern so it actually does marry both.  I thought about starting a new blog and separating the personal from the professional but… I can’t!  If my profession was simply a place I went to in order to earn a wage then maybe, but it’s not, it is personal so…  I just hope those reading my blog don’t do so to see if they want to work with me, and think that what they see there is truly representative of my conduct in professional circumstances!  My blog is intended as a place to have considered moans, that’s probably the best way of putting it!

Googling my name.  Of COURSE I’ve done this!  I’ll just do it again and see what occurs…  Oooh, my first result is the Write Path ID that I have as a project undertaken in the Day job, then a Guardian article from when I was interviewed annually over 3 years as the school librarian representative of 50 different public sector jobs (and proving my salary has gone DOWN), next GLAM School of Motoring within a Driving School Directory – this is my business; 4th is Linked In… then sites in which my name appears, blimey, the first sites actually refer to me! Benefits of an unusual surname? The first 25 results are me, often from sites in which I have no control over the content, the 26th links to someone with my name in Second Life, and the 27th lists a Librarian in Erdington Library, Birmingham with my name!!!!  OMG!!!  Exciting!!!!  Am going to be stalking her!  Oh, it’s me in a list underneath which is Erdington Library.  *sigh*.

Online Presence.  I have 6 email addresses, all used for different reasons.  My main work one used in my day job; my GLAM School of Motoring one used for that sphere of work; my older personal yahoo one I primarily use for SLN; my hotmail one which I use as an alternate to the day job, for my NVQ assessing and ebay-type online IDS; My Save Our Libraries Doncaster ID which I use for trying to save Doncaster from itself and FINALLY my personal google one for friends and family and chitchat.  I have a Facebook account which I LOVE and use both personally and professionally insofar as I use it for my driving school and also for interest groups.  I also have a bebo account that I only set up to keep in touch with certain younger friends of mine such as nieces and Godchildren and rarely look at.  I have a Linked In account for my driving school and may set up a separate one in order to connect in the library world.  I have two twitter accounts, my personal one which I actually use more for the Library World than personally, and my driving school one, and I am also a tweeter for my day job on their account.

So there is very little I can do about the information already out there, and I simply need to ensure that areas where I do separate personal from professional has clear and obvious delineations.  On the whole I am pretty happy about the representations of me out there, on a professional level perhaps they could be more serious but that’s a niggle, not a concern.  

I wonder, is t’interweb perhaps a little oversaturated by me???

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