Wait a minute, maybe I can do that too?

Often you want to try something but you are just not sure, well please read the piece below from my colleague Padraic who was recently awarded Associateship of the Library Association of Ireland. His sentiments reflect a lot of what we as people often feel. We are often afraid to try because we are afraid of failure but in the words of John Wayne …
“Courage is being scared to death but saddling up anyway.” John Wayne
I hope at a later date to include in this blog some more stories from other people who have also been through this experience. In the meantime please read on ….

Jane Cantwell (centre) presented Padraic Stack and Regina Richardson with, respectively, Associateship and Fellowship of the LAI Photo: (http://bit.ly/1hNV9Yb)

***Posted on behalf of Padraic Stack, Digital Humanities Support Officer, NUI Maynooth***

I applied for the Associateship in 2014.
The application form itself is relatively straightforward, is similar to a job recruitment form and can be filled fairly easily from a recent c.v. It provides space to list your professional education / qualifications and your practical experience – essentially your professional career history. There is also a requirement to provide the names of two referees.
The rest of the application consists of a brief professional Development Report and “such other supporting documentary evidence as may be considered relevant”. I wondered what would be appropriate or required here and think I postponed applying a couple of times because I didn’t know. In the end I enclosed a list of continuing professional development activities I had undertaken since my graduation.

I would encourage others to apply – it gives you the chance to reflect on your career to date and to examine areas you might like to develop. It’s a slightly cringe worthy exercise talking about yourself and your achievements but that’s the worst aspect of the application process.