Chartership Progress - September 2012

I've been working on my chartership portfolio for over 8 months now and at last I feel like I am making some real progress. Over the last week I have made a list of the evidence I want to use, made notes on how each meet the criteria and started collating it all in a folder. I also have a near completed CV, my job description (haven't read that for a while) and an updated PPDP which sort of relates to the evidence I have decided upon. I am struggling to get hold of a organisational structure but that's just because the current restructure means it is constantly changing.

As someone who has worked professionally since completing my MA six (seven? - I should probably know that) years ago I could have backed dated my portfolio evidence. However I made the decision early on that I wanted to go through the full year of chartership and really commit to my CPD. Even though doing chartership has been difficult at times, especially with work and home life hectic, I haven't regretted that decision at all. 
Throughout I have enjoyed the process of chartering but recently it has dawned on me that my attitude to chartership itself has really changed in those eight months. When I first started I saw it as a box ticking exercise. I thought I would go through the year as I had gone through previous years with the only difference being that I would keep better records. 

This hasn't been the case at all, I am more reflective, I actively seek out opportunities to improve my knowledge and most of all I am more confident in myself and my skills as an information professional. I have started using learning logs, I make public commitments on this blog (not all of which I keep but I do try) and I engage actively with the profession through Twitter. Best of all I have met (both physically and virtually) people from other sectors who I might never have crossed paths with otherwise. I now see chartership and CPD not as an exercise to satisfy someone else's requirements, like an exam or a test, but as something much more personal and self rewarding.

Doing chartership has created a sort of momentum that has seen my professional development snowball over the last few months. I hope that once I complete in a few months I will be able to keep this momentum going. I like to think I will, it certainly helps that I'm in a stable job that I enjoy and that I have this blog to update regularly. I find it acts like a sort of virtual conscience nagging me to put something out there.

In the mean time I'm going to press on with the hope that I will be able to submit my portfolio before Christmas. I still have a bit to do, not least organising a NW Chartership meet up, but I hope I will get it done this year and that it will be good enough for the board.