Woohoo! I spent a good-sized chunk of the last few months working on my e-portfolio for a Uni subject, and today I received my marks - a High Distinction! The lecturer's feedback was great too: "Excellent portfolio, well done, the best by far". Squee!

Alright, I'll stop showing off about it now ;). But it was great to hear that the work that I put into the e-portfolio paid off. Unlike most other Uni assignments, the e-portfolio involved a great deal of self-reflection about my past and present employment and achievements. So there was a lot of "me" in the final product.

There were some restrictions applied to the e-portfolio for assessment purposes. For example, I had to align my experience and artefacts (documents that demonstrate experience) with the values of my professional association. That certainly wasn't a bad thing - in fact it was very useful in defining the areas in which I'd like to gain more experience or become more professionally involved.

But it made it difficult (well, impossible) to pull in my experience and achievements from my previous career in the public service. It's something that I've found a bit frustrating in other areas too - some people and employers are only interested in the work I've done since becoming a librarian. I have lots of valuable experience, skills and ideas from my previous career which are applicable in the library world, especially in management areas. But I guess it's up to me to continue to find ways of demonstrating that.

Anyway back to the e-portfolio. As well as reflecting on past activities and achievements, it was also a very useful tool for career planning. I now have firmer ideas about what I want to do next and what kind of work I want to move towards. I've also joined ALIA's Professional Development Scheme to help me monitor my progress towards my career goals.

I've been keeping a watchful eye on job advertisements in Darwin. Because of their scarcity, it's tempting to apply for any and all jobs, and take whatever comes along first. But I've decided to be more strategic. The next job doesn't need to be 'the perfect job', but I do want to move forwards, or at least sideways, rather than backwards or into sectors I'm less interested in.

My criteria for applying for positions are: a proper librarian job (or a job that effectively utilises librarian skill sets); in a sector that I'm interested in; with duties that I'm interested in and which align with my career goals; and no reduction in pay level.

I'll be sending off my first application this week, but it could be a while before I'm successful in winning a job that meets my criteria. But at least I know that I'm well-prepared for the job hunt :)