It’s now been three weeks since I handed in my dissertation, and- kind of to my surprise- it’s been a very busy time. I’m used to being self-employed and juggling lots of different jobs, but it seems like lots of work has come in that I’ve found it very difficult to say no to. This has meant that, so far, I don’t feel like I’ve had much of a rest, but it’s been good to be earning a bit more and to feel like my brain is recovering slightly from the intensity of dissertation writing.

Since finishing, I’ve started a small job helping out a primary school with their year 6 leavers’ show, ran several workshops at City for visiting school groups and worked front of house at a theatre festival in Stratford. I’ve taken my last BSL (British Sign Language) level 2 exams and I’ve been prepping for my upcoming (SLT) job interview. I’ve been to Rotterdam (see pic of the amazing cube houses) for a baby shower, am heading to Dorset for a wedding at the beginning of June, and then onto Croatia for my first proper holiday in a long time.

The main thing that is taking up my brain space is preparing for the job interview. This has involved a number of things, like looking up the values of the trust and researching information they give their clients. I’m looking back at my application and making sure I know about assessments and interventions that I have mentioned. Our tutors have been really helpful in providing us with a list of questions that might be asked in band 5 (the NHS pay level we start at as newly qualified SLTs) interviews, so I’ve been going through them and drafting some potential answers I might give. They include knowledge based questions (“what is X”) and competency or scenario based questions (“what would you do if X happened when you were with a client”). As it’s my first go, I’ve also booked in for a mock interview with the careers service at City, which gives me an opportunity to get some feedback about how I answer questions and how I present before I go for the real thing.

Depending on the outcome of the real thing, and a couple of other applications that I’m waiting to hear about, plans later in the summer are flexible at the moment. For now, I’m trying to make sure that I make the most of my free time; See my friends, cuddle the cat and make sure my down-time really is just that.