Last Thursday there was a networking prayer meeting for those in education and childcare.  As a PhD student who does some teaching and marking, I help educate and am educated.


I ended up on the mailing list for this group about a year ago.  The CHTB department, where I volunteer on Sundays, sent me an email about it.  There was going to be a morning networking meeting sometime in October, but this got shelved because it wasn't very convenient, so they changed it to an evening in February.

As with all such meetings, during the prayer meeting itself you are asked to identify yourself and a few people pray for you.  I specifically mentioned that I was considering going into secondary teaching and issues related to my teaching of undergraduates.  At the networking meeting, I was rather worried that I would be the only man there apart from Nicky G, but there were a few others.  We went round the room saying what we all did.  There was a wide range from governors to people involved in adult education.  I think I was the only person there representing tertiary education.

I had gone to the meeting rather as an afterthought, and hadn't really expected much from it.  As I was walking over to the meeting I had a sense that here was a real opportunity to network.  I ended up having a conversation with the person next to me and this led onto one or two more conversations with a few things to follow up.  One person even took my contact details, although I think he got my email address wrong.  I was fortunate to get a lift home with someone who lives only a few streets away from me, so I didn't have to get on the tube or bus.  It was all very civilised and pleasant, and included some pastries.

I am trying to keep an open mind about what I might be able to do with my future.  In many ways I did the PhD because I didn't have a clue what I wanted to do with  my life and now, four years on, I am in precisely the same position.  Even without the PhD, I have a set of academic qualifications that many people would be proud of (not trying to sound too conceited).  However, I consider that I lack a lot of transferrable and life skills that employers would look for.  For most jobs I look at, I could find at least one reason why I would not be good at it, or I feel that I am hopelessly overqualified.

I really need a job offer by June-ish so that I can renew the contract on my flat without digging myself into a financial hole, even though my PhD is likely to be submitted in September.  If anyone who knows me (or maybe if you don't) has any suggestions of vacancies/jobs then please post them in a comment or contact me via my account page.

Happy St David's Day and Happy (British) Mothers' Day for tomorrow.