Are you excited by the opportunity to support our whole library staff to be the best they can be, promoting learning, development, and career progression?
Are you self-motivated with excellent teamwork and communication skills?
Can you create and maintain effective working relationships and influence colleagues and other professionals to gain their trust and respect?
If so, then this could be the perfect role for you!
We're looking for a Principal Librarian to work across the library service and lead on workforce development!
Salary: £37,336 to £40,221 per annum
Contract Type: Fixed Term Contract until 25 October 2025
Working Pattern: Full-time (37 hours per week)
Location: Countywide, with a base location in either Power Place (23 Terminus Road, Chichester, PO19 8UJ) Crawley Library (Southgate Ave, Crawley RH10 6HG) or Worthing Library (Richmond Rd, Worthing BN11 1HD).
Interview Date: 14 May 2024
You will work Monday to Friday with occasional Saturdays. You'll work in line with the libraries core hours (09:00am to 5:00pm). You will need to be able to travel independently around the county, including to areas that may not be easily accessible by public transport. Pool cars and pool bikes available. Final arrangements will be confirmed with successful candidate.
Internal candidates wishing to apply for this role will be considered for a secondment position. Please can you therefore discuss and agree this with your manager before applying for this position.
The Opportunity
As a Principal Librarian, you will be responsible for creating, and accountable for the delivery of, effective library staff training and development plans across the county. This will include working within the county and service strategies to implement an appropriate service plan which supports corporate initiatives.
Reporting to a Lead Manager, you will play a key role in coordinating recruitment efforts to attract highly qualified candidates to enhance our service. Your passion and dedication will be crucial in delivering high-quality training at every level to uphold our exceptional service standards.
You will have the have the crucial responsibility of communicating and engaging staff to ensure that every individual has the chance to make vital contributions to the service's continuous improvement. The successful candidate will passionately promote staff development and play a vital role in implementing best practices to support the overall wellbeing of the staff.
For more information on the Key Skills as well as the Qualifications and/or experience required, please refer to the Job Description attached.
About You
The ideal candidate will be able to foresee potential issues, devise solutions, and make practical problem-solving decisions. Specifically, you will be able to evaluate services to support continuous service improvement.
You will be able to demonstrate excellent communication and interpersonal skills, communicating on several different levels with multiple stakeholders and adapting your style accordingly.
Alongside this, you have excellent literacy, numeracy and IT skills. You will be confident maintaining records, producing reports, presentations and spreadsheets.
If you are a proactive individual with excellent communication and pragmatic Negotiation skills, we want to hear from you!
Rewards and Benefits
Along with a generous holiday entitlement of 27 days plus opportunity to buy additional leave).
Upon joining us you will have access to a range of benefits including the following:
- A excellent local government pension scheme
- A range of flexible working options, depending on your job role
- Maternity, paternity, dependency and adoption leave
- volunteering opportunities
- Training and development opportunities, including coaching and mentoring
- A range of discounts giving our staff access to hundreds of offers; groceries, travel, cinema tickets, days out, leisure activities, high street retailers and the opportunity to save over £1,000 a year through our West Sussex Choices benefits platform (see our Staff discounts page if you are a business looking to offer a discount)
- Health and wellbeing benefits including access to our Employee Assistance Programme, Mental Health First Aiders and Voluntary Health Cash Plans.
For a full list this can be found at our Rewards and Benefits page.
Further Information
The reference number for this role is CPP00917.
Does this sound like the opportunity for you? Click apply below, upload your CV, and complete the application form, explaining how you meet the key skills in the attached job description and experience you can bring to the role.
Please ensure all that any gaps in employment are covered in your CV.
Please ensure you have saved the job description attached to the main advert on our website as, once the job has closed, you may not have the opportunity to download again.
We are committed to safeguarding and promoting the welfare of children, young people and vulnerable adults. This post is subject to satisfactory referencing and a health check.