Hi folks, i’m just in the process of conducting a SWOT analysis of my skills and development so far in my current employment, as part of the my CILIP chartership. Hopefully, this will go someway towards my portfolio, as the plan is to conduct another one in six months time before i submit my application for chartership.
It’s really hard to think objectively about yourself! I found that looking at my original PPDP helped, as I could simply assess each item and place it in the appropriate place on the SWOT analysis. It is really helping me to stand back from my everyday work and assess just how much i have done towards acheiving everything that I set out to on my PPDP, and just what I still have to do. I think that I am doing okay in most areas, although, i could improve more. As always! But i feel that I have come a long way in the six months I have been here - although it just does not feel as long as six months! - particularly in the everyday type skills of the library - such as my abstracting and enquiry work. My subject knowledge also seems to be improving to a certain extent, although i do feel as if i have much to learn in this respect - the topics we cover are so broad and detailed that i guess i can’t expect to know everything in just six months, but i do feel as if it is becoming easier to choose what is relevant for inclusion and what is not, and what subjects things should come under and so forth. Again, i think the best way for learning about this is through reading the material that comes in to stock when selecting items for inclusion, newspaper scanning in the mornings and abstracting. I have also noticed having a more general awareness of relevant things occuring in the news, such as on the bbc website, which also increases my knowledge and understanding.
Areas in which I am lacking seem to be management skills - there just isn’t any requirement for me to ‘manage’ someone in the traditional sense in this role - so i will have to make up for that through readings and training. You would think that a degree in HRM would also help to some extent, but I think that it was so long ago now (or at least, it seems to be!) and so theoretical that it doesn’t really provide me with any really practical guidance. Oh well, better keep an eye out for those courses then!
One thing that is in my favour is that the company have a very good stance towards training etc. and are very supportive of this. So, there shouldn’t be a problem in that area.
I will forward my SWOT on to my manager as it may also be useful to get some objective feedback about it, in case i have misjudged anything or left anything out!
