Library Roots
Way back when I had the careers progression 'chat' with the progression coach at school I first wanted to be a vet (this quickly changed when I found out I would need to be good at Biology) then I wanted to pick subjects which appealed to me so I did a BSc in Environment and Development. For all the school provideed a progression coach the idea of a career was never discussed, all he wanted was to get as many people as possible to do A levels and go on to university, what happened after that was never discussed. Consequently I was so focussed on doing Geography and doing well in that subject that everything else was stuck firmly in the background, I was aware that at some point I would need a job as I wanted to buy a house and have nice things in it, but that was something that 'grown ups' thought about.
That magical time of the end of the first degree was looming and I had no idea what I was going to do with my life, noone at uni discusses careers, they want you to pay the money on time, hand in assignments on time and that was my experience of university, they didn't care what you did after you left as long as you could tick a box saying that you had either went on to postgrad education or got a job so that they could say that a high percentage of students were engaged in something worthwhile after graduating so they looked good.
At this point I was really fortunate to be talking to my aunty who happens to work in a library, she got me a temp job here to finish the book move and RFID the books. Until that point a library was one of two things to me (both happy things!) there was the public library which provided the means to escape into different worlds with different characters and then there was the academic library which was full of knowledge and wonderfully knowledgable staff. I had never considered a career in librarianship, I wasn't even aware that being a librarian could be a career, how I wish I'd known this when I was having my career 'chat'.
Library Routes
I think I'm making progress in my career, still waiting for that break though I am prepared for when it happens. After gaining a permanent position here I realised that I was happy and that this was something I could actually spend my life doing (happy times!). I started looking at job adverts for higher positions to see what experience I needed to move up the career ladder. The first thing that struck me was the need of a qualification, after completing my BSc I could not afford to then do a second undergrad course, nor could I face another 3 years of lectures and assignments, fortunately Northumbria offers a distance learning MSc. This seemed perfect, my employer was willing to part fund it which made it even better, it would fit around my work so I could still afford to live. First step achieved (I'm on the right ladder, below).
After completing the MSc I then began applying for jobs, after a failed interview a senior member of staff noticed that I wanted to move up but was lacking the experience and so arranged some volunteering opportunities for me, therefore adding experience to qualifications (I'm now on the left ladder).
I hope to soon be on the centre ladder! I'm almost ready to submit my application to Charter, adding the professional body qualification to an educational qualification and experience. One thing that does worry me, though I am confident that I have done everything I can to professionally develop, is the jobs market. It is one thing to be ready to move up but when that dream job presents itself I am always aware of just how many people are going for it due to the current economic climate.
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