Fortnightnote 9th February
It feels like more than a fortnight since my last note yet it doesn’t feel like there’s lot to write about. I feel like I’ve done nothing but recruitment and apologising to people for not being able to do anything else, apologising for not being at meetings and apologising that if and when I did respond to messages, it was after a significant gap.
I’m going to continue the apologies here too — sorry to everyone that emailed me and are yet to get a response, sorry to colleagues that need me to get into the detail of things but are having to wait, sorry to people who could do with meeting me but have to wait now till I’m back from leave. There’s probably lots more to say sorry for. I’m sorry if I’ve missed any other apologies.
What I am not sorry for is focusing on this recruitment process. Its important to do that to ensure its a robust fair process and the best possible experience for candidates. They deserve my full focus, particularly given the time and effort that goes into applications and interviews and the pressure that can put on individuals and their lives. Thank you to all the candidates that applied, whatever point you got to in the process. Thank you for letting me hear about all the great work you have done and learn more about the user research happening outside of our organisation. And whilst we are on thank yous, the herculean effort from the UCD community and beyond in supporting this process needs to be acknowledged. Thank you to the panels of people that diligently sifted the literally hundreds of applications we have received for each role. Thank you to the people that joined the panels for what will by the end probably total a couple of hundred interviews for the 40 or so user research roles we have been recruiting to.
I can’t name everyone involved but I do want to thank John, Julie, Sarah and Keara in our recruitment team whose work goes unseen but we would all definitely notice if they were not there. The amount of time and effort they have put in to deliver a complex coordination of often thankless challenging tasks cannot be articulate and this isn’t the only campaign they are delivering. We’re not done yet with the recruitment but my involvement is likely to tail off whilst my colleagues pick up the baton and my brain is full of things I want to be getting stuck into when my time is freed up.
After the recruitment, apologies and thank yous I’m not sure what else there is to write about. I’ve been ducking into responding to procurement clarification questions and had the pleasure of chatting to a few more of the newly recruited user researchers that are about to join our organisation. I met with UCD folks working in the pharmacy first space to assess where we are and what we need to do next and wrapped up the current stage of re-org work I am responsible for. I also manged to get to our directorate face to face all hands in Leeds and catch up with colleagues in person. I have also tested my brain by working through the puzzle that is successful candidates, their role preferences and matching to vacancies. Considering adding matchmaker to my cv.
I did have a break from it all and spent a Monday night out in Harrogate listening to the historian Lucy Worsley talk about her new biography about Agatha Christie, who I’ve been a fan of since childhood. I also spent time viewing ‘And she built a crooked house’, an art installation in a house in Leeds exploring the fourth spatial dimension — had fun dragging the kids there but they actually enjoyed it in the end even if all our brains hurt a little bit after.
What’s coming up over the next few weeks
- Week off with my family to rest and reset
- Inclusive design lead interviews
- Getting together with the other heads of UCD
- Getting back into work outside of recruitment processes
