Promoting yourself in job applications and at interview #cpd23

Part 1: Identifying your strengths; capitalising on your interests
I feel very lucky to have two part time jobs that I love in the same library, one in the mornings and the other in the afternoons. It may not be for everyone, but it suits me very well. I like variety in my work, and that is exactly what I get! I really enjoy enquiry work, both face to face and via email, and I get to do a lot of that. I enjoy the satisfaction of successfully troubleshooting an electronic resource, the detective work involved in tracking down that obscure book that someone wants to obtain on inter-library loan, or the government report that a user is having difficulty finding, and my jobs involve all these aspects. But it's also nice to have a break from dealing directly with customers to do some cataloguing, check ebook availability for ordering, or update the website and I get to do that too. I think two of my strengths are customer service and prioritising while dealing with multiple tasks, and I love to tick things off a to-do list!

  by  bark 

Part 2: Applying for a job
One of the most useful pieces of advice that my university careers centre gave me was to be very clear when demonstrating that you meet all the criteria when applying for a job. Employers may have lots of applications to sift through, so clearly spelling out that you meet each criteria rather than leaving it up to the employer to read between the lines will be helpful for them (and your application!). Also, if there is a criteria that you don't quite meet, you can at least show how you partially meet it or are working towards it, instead of just not mentioning it at all.

Part 3: Interviews
The CAR (context, action, results) structure for answering competency-based questions is a good one to remember, thanks cpd23! I often get nervous at interviews, so I try to remember that an interview can be a two-way thing - a chance for employers to find out if the candidate is suitable for the job, and for the candidate to find out if they would enjoy the job and working for that employer. Of course, preparation is key, so you can usually find out answers to most of your questions about the job and the employer before the interview (from their website or by speaking informally to the recruiting manager), but thinking of it as a two-way interview makes it much less nerve-wracking!