Coming of age - Thing 21

Image credit

Whatever happened to 21 being a big deal? You don't get anything exciting when you turn 21, other than, for some reason, a lot of cards with a key on them. It's a bit of a cheat, really - all the good stuff happened at 16, or 18. Hopefully, Thing 21 won't be like that.

Oh. It's about promoting myself. I hate that. I think I'd rather have a card with a key on it, to be honest...

Anyhoo, I'm meant to be compiling a list of my interests, my strengths, and examples of when I've done things demonstrating a skill that stemmed from an interest. And then update my CV database with those. And share interview tips or experience I've had in my career.

Well, it's been a long time since I was last interviewed and (fingers crossed), I'm not planning to need to be interviewed in the near future, so any tips or experiences are in the distant past. Although the HR manager who kept accidentally playing footsie with me under the table whenever he stretched to relieve the boredom for him of sitting in an interview for a position in a department he obviously had no understanding of, or interest in, that was a...highlight...of when I was last doing the rounds of interviews. All he could tell me about the role was how much my next of kin would receive if I died while employed by the organisation. Cheery!

So, my interview top tip - make sure you're being interviewed by someone who knows why you're there, and what the job would entail!

And it's been over 6 years since I applied for any position, so my CV has become somewhat dated...but this is where the Revalidation process has been very handy. Lovely Beth has been working with me via our wiki, to give me impartial feedback on updating my tired old CV, and incorporating some of my professional achievements into. Being traditionally British, I'm not very good at this, but when I got going, I found I had enough to make it tricky to stick to the 2 page, self-imposed limit! The wiki also helped, as I've been using it to dump lots of info on things I've done over the last few years onto, and this allowed me to easily see exactly what I'd been up to, and meant I wasn't forgetting any relevant activities. So I now have a swishy CV that makes me look awesome. Which is, obviously, cos I am ;)

So, although I have no recent interviewing or job application experiences, the Revalidation process has actually prompted me overhaul my CV and professional achievements, so if needed, I can now demonstrate exactly how busy I've been on the professional front, and exactly what I have experience and skills in.
Which was nice.