The last time we visited summary statistics for the original survey was during the ides of March!  At that time, there were 101 responses, which had been collected in a little under a month.  After that initial response to the launch, responses had dwindled down to a trickle (which was fine, because I was trying to get those original ones posted).  Now the new survey has caused a spike, and there has been enough growth to give you some new stats and graphs.  Thank you, people who hire librarians!

Distribution of Responses Over Time

These stats are for responses collected between February 24 and September 20th, 2012. The charts and tables in this post are automatically generated by the Google Form.  So there are a few problems, including the truncation of labels on the charts.

Please remember the limitations of this project, which is more for FUN than for SCIENCE. The survey responses are a result of non-probability sampling so it is inappropriate to assume that the responses are representative of the entire population of library hiring managers, etc. I have no way of knowing that the people who responded actually have anything to do with library hiring – they are mostly anonymous, even to me.

As with most career sites, I think job hunters should completely disregard anything stated here when appropriate.

That being said, here are the aggregated:

RESULTS!

Applications

How many pages should a cover letter be?

 

 

Only one!		80	50%
Two is ok, but no more		41	26%
As many as it takes, but shorter is better		27	17%
As many as it takes, I love reading		1	1%
Other		11	7%

How many pages should a resume/CV be?

Only one!		5	3%
Two is ok, but no more		43	27%
As many as it takes, but keep it short and sweet		79	49%
As many as it takes, I want to look at every accomplishment		15	9%
Other		18	11%

Do you have a preferred format for application documents?

.doc		3	2%
.docx		2	1%
.pdf		48	30%
No preference, as long as I can open it		95	59%
Other		12	8%

Should a resume/CV have an Objective statement?

Yes		11	7%
No		82	51%
I don’t care		54	34%
Other		13	8%

If applications are emailed, how should the cover letter be submitted?

In the body of the email only		3	2%
As an attachment only		63	39%
Both as an attachment and in the body of the email		28	18%
I don’t care		49	31%
Other		17	11%

Demographics

What library/institution type do you hire for?

Academic library		72	45%
Public library		47	29%
School library		2	1%
Special library		15	9%
Archives		6	4%
Other		18	11%

How many staff members are in your library?

0-10		43	27%
10-50		60	38%
50-100		22	14%
100-200		19	12%
200+		14	9%

Are you a librarian?

Yes		146	91%
No		6	4%
It’s complicated		6	4%

Are you now or have you ever been:

a hiring manager (you are hiring people that you will directly or indirectly supervise)		137	87%
a member of a hiring committee		127	80%
human resources		7	4%
Other		6	4%

People may select more than one checkbox, so percentages may add up to more than 100%.

Thank you again to everyone who responded!

 I’d love to hear your thoughts! Over the last six months, have you noticed any interesting commonalities among the longer interviews? Is there advice you agree or disagree with? Did anything particularly surprise you?  Please leave a comment.

Thank you for reading!