I hope 2019 has started well for you. I’m reviewing events and training opportunities that I can take up as I’m working on my CILIP Chartership (as yet uncompleted, long story) and I thought that I would share some prospects that I considered were of potential interest to library returners.

This is not an extensive, exhaustive list of the great and the good of what’s out there at the moment (as there are already great blog posts doing such things, e.g. see an events list for school librarians in the UK by Barbara Band here). Instead I’m focusing on achievable training opportunities that don’t cost very much or indeed may be free and don’t need you to travel far or, if truth be told, even leave your house.

Since I don’t know about you, but I’ve found the cost of some CPD opportunities prohibitively expensive when you add up the registration fees, accommodation, travel and refreshments.

(I really missed attending conferences while on my career break for the chances they offered for networking and development. But they did feel like they were the preserve of the permanently employed. Face-to-face conferences and training events truly will need to become far more inclusive and accessible to attract career returners.)

However, if you do find a great library conference that you certainly don’t want to miss, make sure you research the web for tips on how to successfully secure scholarships to attend. NLPN’s Top Tips: Bursaries (UK), Aisha Conner-Gaten’s Traveling While Broke: Library Conferences and Scholarships (US) and Angela J. A. Kent’s Paying Your Way Through Conference Season (US) are great places to start.

Cost is not the only reason for non-attendance too of course. There are a wealth of other reasons library returners may be unable to be present.

Childcare, eldercare, the list goes on.

But now it is possible to attend events over the internet in the comfort of your own home. Having been out of circulation for a while my first taste of a webinar took place last October (2018). Hosted by the CV and Interview Advisors, consultants on all things related to finding a new job, and free to attend for CILIP members, the webinar revealed the seven biggest mistakes that new professionals were making when applying for jobs. Despite the initial pitch being at the new professional it was clear from the discussion at the end that the actual participants were roughly split between new and seasoned professionals and some of the more experienced were career break library returners like me.

Webinars like this, those permanently uploaded to the CILIP VLE and the upcoming events organised by the Women Returners Professional Network may help you discover some innovative strategies that will help you to get potential employer interest, obtain more interviews for higher paying roles (fingers crossed) and find more job offers at a better salary. Now wouldn’t that be nice!