This article is from the May 2004 issue of Update.
Working as an intranet officer for the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), I was relatively content with my career. The Information Centre is often a dynamic, challenging and rewarding place in which to work, calling on the traditional skills of librarianship, through to more modern competencies such as database development and intranet management. Yet, I was restless, and felt the need to test myself in a different working environment, and in a different country.
Then I came across Libex — the International Library and Information Exchange. Its website provides a forum for information professionals across the world who share the aspiration of exchanging jobs.
Before I signed up with Libex, I needed to convince my manager that such an arrangement would benefit, not just me, but also the Information Centre and the DWP as a whole. As I researched the subject, it became clear there were many tangible benefits for both parties.
Benefits of a work exchange to the employee:
- learning new skills from a different culture and information sector enhances the individual’s professional development;
- adapting abilities to a new environment brings a tremendous professional boost to the individual’s knowledge and experience;
- temporarily moving to a new country might prove to be one of the most inspiring and exciting challenges that you ever experience, personally as well as professionally.
Benefits of a work exchange to the employer:
- the exchange partner, who would be selected on the merit of their professional experience, will bring their own fresh insight and unique skills to the job;
- no additional costs would be incurred by the employer, since salaries are often retained;
- such an exchange often captures the public imagination. Through the local press, and word of mouth, the profile of the organisation will be raised. In short, it is great publicity for your library, and the profession as whole;
- the exchangee will return professionally reinvigorated, with new ideas and knowledge gained from their secondment, strengthening their commitment and professional abilities.
Looking for the right person
So having convinced my manager of the virtues of a professional work exchange, and signed up to Libex, I set about looking for the right person to swap jobs with. This took time, and some degree of patience. After months of organisation my first exchange partner was forced to withdraw for personal reasons.
After further communications, a number of likely candidates responded. My first priority was to select someone who would have the skills to benefit the DWP Information Centre, and who would be committed to the exchange for the duration of its planning and organising. One candidate stood out from the others — Anne Buchanan, a librarian and cataloguer from Paraparaumu, New Zealand, who was helping to manage the transfer of the library to a new purpose-built premises.
Having gained my manager’s approval of Anne’s professional credentials, I then had to organise the details of the exchange. This proved to be the most time-consuming stage. After months of negotiation we came to the decision that it would be best to retain our own salaries, which avoided further paperwork and visa complications. To offset the financial costs of surviving on a New Zealand salary in London we also agreed to swap accommodation, while I continued to pay my London mortgage, bills and Underground Travelcard.
Finally we agreed on a timescale — when we were going to carry out the exchange and how long it would last. Six months seemed a suitable period, long enough to settle into our new positions, but not so long as it feeling like we were emigrating. Contracts were then drawn up between our respective human resources (HR) departments, finalising the relevant points, and establishing our respective line managers, hours of work, etc.
The exchange itself was managed smoothly, thanks to our respective colleagues at the DWP and Paraparaumu Library. To get the most professionally from the exchange, my objectives were measured against a specific set of criteria — the DWP Competencies Framework.
These professional values would be helpful to any organisation considering the merits of a professional work exchange and include:
- planning and organising;
- using information;
- communicating with customers and others;
- developing people;
- leading;
- delivering to customers;
- working together;
- improving and learning;
- embracing change.
My professional work exchange met these criteria in the following ways:
Planning and organising
Planning within given constraints, looking for ways to work round them.
Since there was no precedent at the DWP for a professional work exchange, an entirely new contract was negotiated between me, HR and my exchange partner’s organisation. Obstacles were resolved successfully over time, with good communication and perseverance on my part, and the help of colleagues.
Communicating with customers and others
Putting views across with enthusiasm and commitment; and selling the benefits of proposals to persuade others.
I kept up my enthusiasm and commitment to the process, and in doing so convinced the DWP and my fellow information professionals.
Throughout my secondment, I regularly informed library users, verbally as well as through the Kapiti Observer newspaper, of the virtues of an international work exchange. On the exchange, I met many local people, as well as an international range of independent travellers, and talked to them about the benefits.
I kept up communication with my colleagues at the Information Centre while on secondment through a series of regular emails. These were published on the Communications Interactive Database, which was distributed around the Communications Directorate, with an audience in excess of 1,000 per month, sharing the benefits of a work exchange to a wider professional audience.
Developing people
Acting as a coach/mentor to others.
While developing a network of professional contacts through looking for a suitable exchange partner, I provided coaching for others keen to pursue their own work exchange. Since returning to the DWP I have been fielding questions and giving advice about organising professional work exchanges for colleagues in the UK and overseas.
Leading
Using initiative to solve problems.
One major setback in the organisation period was the withdrawal of my first exchange partner. Instead of giving up, I took the initiative to expand the number of people I was contacting, writing an advert for the Library Association of New Zealand and the Australian Library and Information Association to try and get more interest from overseas colleagues.
Delivering to customers
Adapting approaches to suit each customer’s circumstances.
Learning a host of new skills, as well as adapting existing information skills to my new clients at KCDC (Kapiti Coast District Council), I managed to demonstrate a flexible working approach.
While on secondment, I had two sets of ‘customers’— the library team, in which I had to fulfil my responsibilities, and the library users. Reference enquiry work provided an excellent opportunity to adapt my information skills to each customer’s needs, from schoolchildren to the elderly, from a variety of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds.
Working together
Tackling problems jointly to achieve agreed solutions.
Working closely with my exchange partner, colleagues and HR contacts, I have tackled many problems in order to realise this work exchange, for example agreeing the timing of the exchange and wording of the contract.
During my stint at Paraparaumu I showed I was willing to help others, through my participation in National Maori Language Day, where I helped encourage library usage and raise awareness of New Zealand’s cultural and ethnological history.
Embracing change
Looking for ways to overcome obstacles.
Despite the support of my manager and colleagues, there were considerable obstacles to overcome — not least that, while the DWP had supported secondments to other organisations in the past, there was no precedent for an exchange of staff. Working with HR over several months, I persuaded them of the merits of this exchange, and we discussed via email and through meetings the content and wording of the contract. We have paved the way for others to embark on similar professional exchanges, since the groundwork has been done, and the contracts agreed can be used by DWP employees in the future.
Extraordinary professional experience
Having returned from the exchange, I can honestly say that it has been an extraordinary professional experience.
I was able, in consultation with the District Libraries Manager, to use my web design background to give advice and recommendations for a new website, as well as utilise my online search skills to assist library customers. Despite a lack of cataloguing experience, I was able to adapt quickly and tackle these new responsibilities efficiently. On returning to London, I have tried to help fellow professionals keen to pursue their own exchange, and have been temporarily promoted.
My exchange partner, Anne Buchanan, agrees: ‘Working in such a large government department gave me new insights into how information is valued, stored, retrieved and shared in a very different environment.’ She was able to bring her knowledge and skills to the DWP, to reorganise the folio section, and set up a new video and multimedia area. On returning to New Zealand, Anne has taken on new and more challenging responsibilities, with the added experience and confidence that the exchange gave her.
Until this exchange, I don’t think I had appreciated quite how transferable our professional information skills are, how with a little effort they can be moved successfully to a different sector, or even a different country. The opportunity to learn new skills and adapt existing ones is an eye-opening professional experience, where barriers become benefits and opportunities, not only for the individual, but also for the wider organisation, and ultimately the customer.
I would recommend any fellow information professional with an interest in improving their knowledge and skills, and perhaps a dash of adventure in their spirit, to speak to their manager, tell them how a work exchange can benefit everyone involved, contact Libex — and explore the wider professional world.
Jonathan Tindale is an intranet officer at the Department for Work and Pensions. Libex, run by CILIP, can be contacted by email (angela.frampton@cilip.org.uk).