We would welcome some assistance

‘Don’t Ask’

We need someone to coordinate and help deliver a series of local engagements to inform, but not to dominate, our design process

Initially the focus is primarily on projects across London, though other opportunities are likely to arise in areas around the UK where we are working on more than one project.

We think that, over the next three months or so (July – September and possibly beyond), the hours required will average 15 to 20 a week. But some weeks there will be nothing much to do - and others, rather too much.

Some work will be in the day, some in the evening. There is no escape from the need for evening work. A significant aspect of the task involves hanging around out of doors, no matter what the weather. An ability to not look overly suspicious is therefore an advantage.

Other aspects of the work include setting up meetings for, and provoking conversations with, local residents of all ages. Attendance at meetings is likely to vary between 3 people and 20/30. Whatever the number, such encounters are generally described as ‘consultation’.

We do not know in any precise way what qualifications are required for this work, apart from a capacity for independent thought, enjoyment of people in their various guises, and sympathy with PLAYLINK’s values and understandings. Reading at least some of the articles on ‘consultation’ that appear on PLAYLINK’s web site will be useful in helping you to decide whether to contact us. They should give you a sense of what PLAYLINK is about.

By ‘engagement’, we mean precisely that. PLAYLINK comes to each engagement with a point of view that it is our responsibility to articulate and about which we aim to be persuasive. Here we distinguish between a general view about play and play opportunities, and the process of translating broad understandings into designs that respond to, and enhance, actual local areas. At no stage, however, does the task reduce to simply collecting opinions, still less to the distribution and collection of post-it notes. Use of flip-charts, however, is not too frowned upon. We ourselves plead guilty to bouts of flipchartomania, a malady for which no effective treatment has yet been devised.

Having said all this, we are clear that those who live in an area know many things about it. That knowledge is invaluable and needs to be deployed to inform any design. Equally we know, because our engagements are with real life in ‘real time’, that what is said to be ‘known’ may be the subject of contrary views and sometimes a matter of hot contention.

Should the vague description of the work given here be of interest, we would like you to contact us and tell us why you think you are qualified for this work. An email or file attachment containing around 500 words or less will do. One thousand words will not disqualify, though is likely to be over-egging the pudding. Or you could first phone Phil on 07734837323, have a chat, and then write a few words. Paper qualifications, certifications of various kinds, will not of themselves confer any advantage. Note we are aiming for a July start.

Simply reply to this notice, email Phil directly phil@playlink.org or telephone 07734 837323.

The remuneration offered is likely to be, from your perspective, abysmal. At which point your negotiating skills might usefully be deployed. So far as job descriptions, hours worked etc are concerned, we’d like to secure agreement with our new colleague about the broad outline of the tasks to be undertaken, agree an amount of money (remuneration) that we will part with and give it to you at regular intervals or as a one-off fixed fee.

Finally, although we require someone who can manage their own work, can respond to difficulty and last minute changes of plan, we shall be working with you. We like to think that is a benefit, but….

 
We would appreciate your help in circulating this notice.

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