You’ve raised a family, just travelled the world, been working in another field, or been looking after a dependent. Now you want to take up your career again and you’re concerned that developments have left you behind. Well there are things you can do to enhance your employability. Here are some ways of keeping in contact with the profession:
- You can work part time. Perhaps even voluntary work in a school or charity library, or you could do casual work at a public library, if this fits in with your other commitments. These may not be the sectors you want to continue in but would be useful in being seen to be involved with the profession.
- Attending short courses. The Chartered Institute, its special interest groups and other professional bodies run specialized library and information short courses. CILIP has a brochure of its courses and the groups advertise in their own periodicals and notices are placed in the Library and Information Gazette. These might be more useful when you are just about to start applying for posts. The more recent the course the fresher it will be in your mind and the more relevant it will appear to employers.
- Events. Conferences and special seminars are run by Branches and Groups. You could attend these at any time as they can be on issues of constant interest and concern. Being an active member of a Group or Branch is a good way of maintaining your profile in your sector or region.
- Periodicals. Reading certain publications can be a useful way of keeping up with concerns in our profession. Update has news and articles, which help current awareness and letters which show the concerns of librarians and information professionals. Other useful journals would be The Bookseller, Times Higher Education Supplement, Times Education Supplement, IFLA Journal, and Information Development, Knowledge Management. Also useful are the Journal of Information Science and the Journal of Librarianship and Information Science. There are many other journals in the areas of literature and Information and Communications Technology, which you should be able to find at your local library and, for members of CILIP, at the Information Service at Ridgmount Street.
- CILIP's recruitment agency, Infomatch, is a good way of updating your experience. Also our professional advisers have put together a great deal of information which you may find useful, in particular the resources used in the Getting Back to Work Day.
Once you start applying for work, certainly go for the jobs that interest you most, but spread your net wide. If you’re in the right place at the right time you could find yourself in line for that perfect post.