Happy Birthday

[Wendelin of Trier]

Kate o (according to this site)

Are you still living in that lovely looking 'castle grounds' type place you posted a photo of? Its probably not in a castle grounds, but I imagined it was.

Happy Birthday anyway. (If it is your birthday).

[Wicker Man]

I used to like having Kate O Potato around. She could be a bit spiky, sometimes, but I view that as a positive. I'm sure there used to be a lot more teachers and librarians round here in general, I wonder where they've all gone.

Actually, I recently found a compilation Kate O made for me back in the days when we all used to do that for each other - it was good, though I expect you, Wendelin, would've found it a bit wussy in places. Anyway, I've lost it again, now.

Next winter, I might revive that thread we had going about knitting and jumpers, maybe that'll tempt her back.

Bloody hell - is it home time, yet?

[Wendelin of Trier]

Yes, I liked her a lot.
Jumpers - Good. Vey Good.
I would have found it wussy? You really shouldn't take my forum 'persona' at face value WM.

[Wicker Man]

I know, but it had Camera Obscura on it (possibly twice).

[Wendelin of Trier]

I know, but it had Camera Obscura on it (possibly twice).

Oofph.

[tonight_we_fly]

I'm sure there used to be a lot more teachers and librarians round here in general, I wonder where they've all gone.

Interesting to see those two professions linked together; I've been a librarian for the past twenty years, but I'll be chucking my chartership overboard in September when I begin a new career as a trainee primary school teacher. I'll do my best to cover both bases here as far as I can.

[Wicker Man]

I'm sure there used to be a lot more teachers and librarians round here in general, I wonder where they've all gone.

Interesting to see those two professions linked together; I've been a librarian for the past twenty years, but I'll be chucking my chartership overboard in September when I begin a new career as a trainee primary school teacher. I'll do my best to cover both bases here as far as I can.

It's all down to you, now, Tonight We Fly (one of my favourite songs ever, incidentally).
Did your library get shut down, or did it just feel like the time for a change? Good luck with the new career, anyway. I was (briefly) a librarian myself, but never quite had the guts to go into teaching, beyond a few classes of German exchange students whose English was better than mine.

[tonight_we_fly]

Did your library get shut down, or did it just feel like the time for a change?

My library still exists, but the situation's been toxic there for some time now. Whenever someone leaves I always have a massive fight on my hands to secure permission to replace them (which I don't always win), and my line manager is now somebody vastly underqualified that used to actually be a subordinate in my team a few years ago. It's difficult to generalise the vast range of office politics involved in a decision like that, although it wouldn't surprise me at all if they were actually paying her a lower salary than me.

Two years ago I cleared my desk, took my plants home and vowed to take the next library job which came along. But two years (and fourteen job interviews) later I'm still there. The problem is something which has been apparent when I've been recruiting as well; the field is so overwhelmed with people who have been made redundant or are underemployed nowadays, that vacancies are typically flooded with applications from candidates who are overqualified, and most people's career trajectories are now leveling off or going downwards. So I came to the conclusion that whilst I don't think law librarians will still exist in twenty-five years time, primary school teachers definitely will. It's sad to be leaving the profession, but more because of what I've put in over the past twenty years rather than what I feel I might be missing in the future.

Next month, I've had a proposal accepted to present a seminar on recruitment, selection and job hunting at the annual conference of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. What most people aren't yet aware of is that at the end of the session I'm going to drop the bombshell, and tell them all that the situation has become so futile for me that I'm leaving the profession. Nothing quite like going out with a bang sometimes.

[kate o]

Hello! How very nice of you to remember!

It's been a while since I've popped round this way, mainly due to the fact that teachers have no spare time whatsoever. Don't blame the disappearance of the teaching profession on the forum; blame it on Gove. I don't even have time to knit (gasp!), so I hope you're ready to have no leisure time and to be blamed for everything by parents, politicians and certain parts of the media, tonight_we_fly. And don't even start me on the shitty pensions and performance related pay scale.

As for the 'Castle', it's merely an almshouse (http://www.ideal-homes.org.uk/bromley/a ... almshouses), and I could only afford to buy it because everything was covered in a sticky brown film that came from 40 years of smoking. Six months after buying it, the smell has finally gone!

Anyway, thanks for remembering me guys, and if anyone is at End of the Road this summer, let me know, and I'll happily meet up for a chin wag about jumpers.

[Revol_T]

Happy birthday, Kate O.

The problem is something which has been apparent when I've been recruiting as well; the field is so overwhelmed with people who have been made redundant or are underemployed nowadays, that vacancies are typically flooded with applications from candidates who are overqualified, and most people's career trajectories are now leveling off or going downwards.

Ditto. A couple of years ago I was applying for jobs as a library assistant and as a youth worker (two things I used to do, albeit only for a few years) and the competition was unreal. In one case, 170 applied for one part-time post as a library assistant. In another, a lowest grade part-time youth work job went to a former senior manager at the organisation I'd just left. I've gone into teaching now as well (albeit in further education) but even then finding a full time job locally is proving to be a bit of a bugger, so I'm picking up hours here and there.

[Wicker Man]

Ditto. A couple of years ago I was applying for jobs as a library assistant and as a youth worker (two things I used to do, albeit only for a few years) and the competition was unreal. In one case, 170 applied for one part-time post as a library assistant. In another, a lowest grade part-time youth work job went to a former senior manager at the organisation I'd just left. I've gone into teaching now as well (albeit in further education) but even then finding a full time job locally is proving to be a bit of a bugger, so I'm picking up hours here and there.

It's a terribly depressing trend, and I do hope there's going to be a sea change before it's too late. In the meantime...

Next month, I've had a proposal accepted to present a seminar on recruitment, selection and job hunting at the annual conference of the British and Irish Association of Law Librarians. What most people aren't yet aware of is that at the end of the session I'm going to drop the bombshell, and tell them all that the situation has become so futile for me that I'm leaving the profession. Nothing quite like going out with a bang sometimes.

Superb! Wish I could be a fly on the wall for that.

[pomfob]

It's a lot of 20-somethings with odd names birthday today, according to the front page.

[gtw]

Happy Birthday Kate O. I'll be at end of the road THIS year, if that's any good?

Did I ever do a compilation for anyone? I wouldn't have the tech to burn a CD now. I did do a few random competitions over the years. I think Martin Pravda won a copy of Sulk by The Associates, if memory serves.

[Wendelin of Trier]

Its not her birthday (according to this site). This is a thread from April 2013.

[gtw]

I simply live in hope that, one birthdayday, she will look at this thread and see our collected birthday wishes and her heart will glow.

Happy birthday to you as well, Wendy, while we are at it.