Doors, windows and jobs.

Have you ever heard the saying "God doesn't close a door without opening a window"?

Of course you have. It's one of the most overused cliches out there.

Right behind "everything happens for a reason".

And these cliches are probably very annoying to people who are going through a hard time. 

If you have an eye for the ridiculous, then click here and see what the Bloggess has to say about it.

And while it's fun to be all sarcastic and ironic and cool, this is where I'm going to reveal my Pollyanna tendencies to you all.

Sometimes when it seems that things are going to hell in a handbasket, it is just plain hell.

But I believe that often when things don't seem to be going quite right, another opportunity presents itself which turns out to be just as good, if not better, than your original plans.

This week I had a job interview. For a two year full time contract at the library I've been working at casually this year.

Those of you that have been following this blog for a while know that I have spent all year looking for permanent library work, desperately trying to launch my career.

Prior to completing my Masters in Librarianship, I thought long and hard about my goals and dreams when it came to work. I knew that I wanted to choose something that I'd find stimulating and challenging for the long term.

So, if you've read this far, you probably know what's coming.

I didn't get the job.

But I did get a call from the library manager offering me an extended period of three days a week work during the first half of 2012.

Which actually suits me better.

Of course I'm still actively looking for permanent, rather than casual, work. But three days a week is much more manageable for me right now with Josh still in primary school. And the fact that we are having an overseas holiday in the middle of next year means that it's nice to not be committed to work and needing to ask for leave.

 So what do you think about the old cliche? Do you believe in the concept of doors and windows?

Let's catch up!

How about I catch you up on what I've been up to, 'kay?

I have tickets to see The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn Part 1.

I told you I'm a sucker for the teen stuff! How about you? Are you on board for another episode of sparkly vampires and shirtless werewolves?

Alana and I have read the books and watched the movies. We've chosen our seats and printed out our advance purchase tickets. We're ready to go! Come on November 18!

The kids' passports arrived today.

And guess what? We've booked and paid for our round the world airplane tickets. No way! WAAAAY!

I made a photobook using snapfish.

I used to scrapbook, once upon a time. But then I stopped using film and started taking all my photos digitally. And got really lazy about printing them out. So all my family photos from the last few years are either sitting in a file folder on my computer or in a Facebook album or on this blog. For shame!

I'm getting together with some girls I went to school with in a couple of weeks time. We try to get together once or twice a year. Sometimes we make it a family affair and all bring our partners and kids, but this time we're just doing a girls-only lunch. 

One of the girls suggested that we should each bring along some photos of the kids, and that's what prompted me to get my act together and put together a little album.

I found snapfish easy to use and good value.

How about you? Do you scrapbook? Make digital albums?

I still don't have a permanent library job.

The whole looking-for-work thing is getting me down. I've done some casual work in a library and I loved it. I believe that I did a good job and that my employer would like to give me more work if it becomes available. I also know that if something permanent or some contract work comes up, I'll have to apply and interview along with everyone else. No guarantees.

Jobs that I'm seeing advertised are generally for librarians with a significant amount of experience.

I really don't mind starting at the bottom. I'm just more than ready to get up, get dressed, put my makeup on and go to work in the morning. I also have all kinds of ambitions for my career, and I can't really make a start on it until I have a job!

So there you go, you're all caught up! What have you been up to?  

In which I talk about work and my desire to have a house cleaner

I bet you've all been wondering what I'm doing for work these days!

For two years, 2009 and 2010, I was busy studying for my Master of Education (Teacher Librarianship). In fact, my studies were what led me to start this blog. If you're feeling all nostalgic, you can click here and read my very first post!

All the while, I was working from home, tutoring high school students in Mathematics and teaching Flute and Music Craft (music theory).

Once I finished my Masters, I started looking for work in a library. So what's been happening?

I recently starting working casually as an Information Services Officer at a University Library near me. Yay!

This is actually the real library in which I work!

The job involves sitting at the Information Desk and waiting for patrons to come and ask questions. It's pretty much my dream job, apart from the fact that I'm only getting one shift per month at the moment and have to wait for someone to go on sick leave/maternity leave/long service leave to get more work. Should that happen, there would certainly be more involved than just manning the Information Desk, but it would all revolve around helping to connect Library users with the information that they need.

I also have a job interview on Monday for a year's full time (maternity leave) work as a librarian in a smaller academic library. So things are progressing on the career front.

What would be lovely would be for me to become securely installed in a permanent position so that I could stop looking. That would be a relief. I'd also love to give up the maths tutoring/music teaching. It's not that I don't love my students. It's not that I don't enjoy teaching them. It's just that my work hours are between 4pm and 8:30pm on weekdays and I just don't enjoy working at that time. Firstly, I find it hard, after being at home alone all day, to get myself motivated and excited to start work when it feels like everyone else is almost finishing.

Secondly, I'd like to be able to have dinner with the family and then enjoy the evening. As it is, our family is awfully busy after school. The kids have activities and of course homework to complete. I'd like to just come home from work and wrangle with kids activities and homework like a "normal" mum, rather than having students trooping in and out of the house and having to leave Chris to deal with the family.

I also have a confession to make. If I got full time work, I'd feel entitled to pay someone to clean my house!

I don't think I'd need a whole team!

Wouldn't that be just bliss! I'm not very good at housework and I don't take pride in it, but I would looooove to have a really clean house. I think it would be divine!

So what do you do for work? Are you in your dream job? And do you have a house cleaner?!?



I am a Librarian... almost

Hi-ho, hi-ho, it's off to work I go...

Next Friday I'm going to a fabulous library for a training day, in the expectation that, all going well, they will have some work for me in the future. Yay me!

I am not superstitious, so I don't want anyone to point out to me that next Friday is Friday-the-13th!

The library manager rang to personally invite me to come in for a full day of training and is going to be looking after me on the day. She didn't give me much information about the upcoming work that might be available, just indicated that there would be some. I'm taking all this to mean that she wants to get a good look at me in the library environment before she employs me!

Needless to say, this is a great opportunity for me! And just a little bit daunting...

It's exciting to me that the library manager is prepared to put time and energy into training me. I'm thoroughly looking forward to a full day in a workplace that seems to be ideal for me. It will be wonderful to meet the rest of the team and see the variety of daily tasks involved in the job. It will be great to be in a busy, dynamic workplace meeting people. I'm also aware, however, that I will be "on trial". The library manager will surely be watching to see how suitable I am to be employed by her, so I do want to make a good showing.

I'm planning a recon trip to the library to get the lay of the land. I've only been there once before, for an interview, and I didn't see much of the library. I want to walk through the whole place so that I know where everything is. I'm going to watch the library clients to see how busy it is and how the library is used. I'm going to observe the library staff to see what sort of tasks they are undertaking and how much action the reference desk is getting. Can't you just imagine me hiding behind bookshelves eavesdropping on a librarian helping a patron? Just kidding, I would never invade a library patron's privacy that way.

I've also been trying to figure out what to wear.

Of course when I'm on my recon trip I'll check out what the other librarians are wearing. Beyond that, my main problem is that I have nothing that fits me! Having lost 11 kg over the past 12 weeks (yay!), my two pairs of work pants are falling off! I've been on a couple of shopping trips, but I don't want to spend money on nice clothes that might only fit for a short while. I'm still losing weight and figure that I'll drop another couple of dress sizes over the next few months. Advice please!

What else should I do to prepare to wow them next Friday? Any suggestions very welcome.

What does your future hold?

Have you got any big plans for the future?

Any big goals that you're working towards?

Big dreams that you hope to achieve?

At the beginning of this year, like every year, I wrote down how I was feeling about the year ahead and what I wanted to achieve. Funnily enough, losing weight didn't feature at all. That goal has just ambushed me out of nowhere!

I've had some time for my dreams to take shape and for them to solidify into goals. Here they are (in no particular order)...

Get a job

I want to find a job that is meaningful, enjoyable and stimulating to me. I want to work in a library and plan to find my job satisfying.

What have I been doing? I've applied for several library jobs and have had one interview. No success yet. I am getting a little bit discouraged, but not in the sense of feeling bad about myself. I know that it often takes a lot of unsuccessful applications before hitting the jackpot. I believe that I am well qualified and that I have a great combination of skills and experience that will make me a great asset to any library that is lucky enough to hire me. What is discouraging me is the amount of time and effort that goes into writing application letters and addressing selection criteria. What I'm lacking here is stamina! I'm finding the process tiring.

I'm thinking of finding a library to volunteer in to gain specific experience. Several people have told me that this tactic was helpful for them (not necessarily in library work). I've also considered looking for work in a book store. So far, however, I haven't made firm plans to do either of these things. I'm thinking that I should make a timeline for myself with a deadline to make some decisions about strategies. Otherwise I might float along sending off applications all year without success.

What do you think?

Become a writer

I guess I should explain this one. I enjoy writing. I write two blogs. I tweet. I facebook. I journal - on paper!

I enjoy the process of writing and I appreciate good writing when I read it. Often when I read something that makes me think, illuminates an issue for me or moves me, my immediate thought is, "I want to write something like that!" I want to produce meaningful and interesting content that engages and inspires my readers.

What am I doing about it?

Paradoxically, I've been writing less than usual this year. Perhaps I'm suffering 'paralysis by analysis', I'm overthinking it. Or maybe it's just that I spend too much time consuming the written word and not enough producing it. When I sit at my computer it's easy to be distracted by my twitter feed, facebook, or to spend hours visiting and reading other blogs. I think I need to set aside time specifically for writing when I close all the other windows and just have the one that I'm working on open (the horror!).

How seriously do you take your writing? I'm not suggesting that I want to only write about serious things. I love reading posts that make me laugh out loud. I'm just saying that I want to write well and I want to write things that people want to read. I could spend the rest of my life playing at it but I'd like to move up to the next level. How about you?

Travel

I'd like to experience more of the world. I want the excitement of planning a trip and having something big to look forward to. I want to meet new people and see different sights. I want my daily life to be different for a while. I want to escape the sameness of my regular existence and break out of my rut.

I'm thinking along the lines of a house swap. Airfares are enough to save up for without adding accomodation into the mix. Besides, I want to actually live somewhere, not just visit it from a hotel room. I want a couple of months to feel like I'm having an authentic experience of the country that I'm in.

What have I been doing about it?

I've had a half-hearted attempt at launching a house swap event on this blog. You can read about it here and here.

What's stopped me from making it official and moving forward? I've been focussing on the obstacles. The need to save up money for airfares and spending money. The need to get my house into a fit state for hosting another family. The difficulty in finding dates that would work for both my family and the swapping family. Having to organise time off work and a break from activities.

What I think is needed here is to bite the bullet. Make a commitment and work towards it. To that end I'm 'in discussions' with my husband about it. Stay tuned.

So what do you think about my goals? Have I bitten off more than I can chew? Am I trying to do too much at once? Am I too ambitious and simply expecting too much from life?

I'd love to hear what you think.

The post in which my ramblings turn into a rant...

There seems to be something wrong with my computer, so I'm attempting to compose this post from my iPhone. I'm not enjoying it nearly as much as I usually do from my laptop. Why? Because I can't see the big picture.

Because the iPhone screen is small and half of it is taken up by the keyboard as I write, I can only see a small portion of what I've written. I really hope that when Chris gets home from work he'll be able to take a look at my computer and work some magic. What a blessing to have a husband that can turn his hand to anything!

As I write, my TV is showing me round-the-clock Queensland flood disaster coverage. There have been so many pictures and so much video of rising water that I think I'm becoming desensitised to it. Every half hour or so the news anchor details new towns and suburbs that are being evacuated, new roads that are cut, new flood levels that are being reached, and it just doesn't seem real.

The flooding is hundreds of kilometres to the north of me, and it's difficult to feel connected to the people that are in the midst of the crisis. For me here, the worst of my trouble is the fact that I'm having dreadful trouble getting my washing dry due to the constant rain. Not much of a problem in the scheme of things, is it?

Today I sent off another job application. Yay me, woo-hoo...

Do you hear that I'm not feeling it?

Today I asked for some feedback from the last job that I applied for. It was for a General Library Assistant position, which is beneath my qualification level. It is more on an entry level position, requiring only the completion of high school, whereas I have sixteen years teaching experience and a Masters level qualification in Information Science.

Some of the typical tasks that the job would entail include assisting clients at library service points (checking out books), assist with collection and equipment maintenance and relocation of resources (cover books, move furniture) and maintain the clerical routines associated with this work (process overdue books, take bookings for computer labs). All of which I am perfectly able to do. I don't want to sound bitter, but all of which I could do standing on my head...with one hand tied behind my back...blindfolded. Uh oh, I think I sound bitter.

For the past ten years I have been managing my own small business providing Mathematics Tuition and Music Lessons to students of all ages and abilities. I promote my business, do all the lesson planning, do all the teaching, prepare my students for Examinations, do the books, schedule lesson appointments, evaluate my students' progress and communicate with parents.

It was a big decision for me to embark on a career change. It meant two full years of demanding study that had to be fit in to my already busy life of work and family. Now that I'm finished, I'm finding it very discouraging that it is so difficult to find a job.

The feedback from my application for the General Library Assistant position? There were close to 100 applicants, and though my application was on the right track, it didn't merit selection for an interview. The applicants chosen to be interviewed showed a deeper understanding and experience with regard to the selection criteria.

So what's the problem here?

Probably there were simply other applicants that had more experience than me working in libraries. Which wouldn't be hard, given that I have never had a job in a library other than my two weeks work experience during my study. I know that I don't have experience working in libraries, that's why I applied for the Library Assistant position, which is as low as you can go without being a volunteer...which doesn't pay...and I need to be paid. Is volunteering the only way I am going to be able to gain enough experience to actually find a job? Bearing in mind that I am going on 40 and have years behind me teaching and parenting and running a small business and generally being a responsible adult with a mortgage and living my life. You don't think that maybe I have enough life experience to cope with the work? Sorry, my bitterness is showing.

Probably I also need to work on the way I address the selection criteria when I'm writing my job applications. I need to find the words that will convince my prospective employers that I have the qualities and skills required to be a valuable asset to the library. 

I truly want to have a long term career in the information world. (I figure I've probably got 30 good working years left in me!) I see myself working in an intellectually stimulating environment in which I can provide a real and valuable service to library clients. I see myself as a dynamic member of my workplace team, a mover-and-shaker if you like, who shows enthusiasm for innovation and improvement. I see myelf writing papers and contributing at conferences...I'm dreaming big! But first I need to actually get paid to work in a library so that I can focus all my "work" attention in the one direction. If I have to continue to maintain my tuition business and volunteer at a library and search for a job all at the same time, I'm going to get exhausted pretty quickly. And I'm going to be tempted to give up. Which I really don't want to do.

Sorry for the ranting. I'll shut up now. Wish me luck with the job hunting...