Job Hunter’s Web Guide: The Library Career Centre

The website profiled here is run by a person who hires librarians, a regular contributor to Friday’s Further Questions posts.  I’m always impressed by her thoughtful, nuanced answers.  I’m pleased to present The Library Career Centre, run by Nicola Franklin.

What is your website all about? Please give us your elevator speech!

The Library Career Centre offers recruitment and career coaching services for library and information professionals. The website is centered around a blog, where I post new articles several times a month. The site also includes pages detailing services for candidates/jobseekers and for clients/employers, information on positions clients have asked me to source people for, information about me and contact details.

Posts generally fall into one of three categories:

• ideas and tips to help with job hunting (CV/resumes, interviewing, etc);
• discussion, comment and opinion on library issues (use of volunteers, role of library associations, etc);
• advice and guides to commonly needed skills (marketing, planning, presentations, etc).

When was it started? Why was it started?

The site began in August 2011, immediately prior to the founding of The Library Career Centre Ltd in September 2011. I decided to centre the site around a blog so that it wasn’t just another static ’brochure-ware’ website, but would offer useful and current content.

Who runs it?

Nicola Franklin, who has worked in the recruitment sector for twenty years and has been supporting library and information professionals with their career development for over fifteen years. Nicola has worked at several different firms that specialise in this area over that time in the UK, including Informed Business Services, PFJ and Sue Hill Recruitment, and now runs The Library Career Centre from a base in California, USA.

Are you a “career expert”? What are your qualifications?

In addition to twenty years experience, I also hold a Diploma in Recruitment Practice from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation and am a Fellow, and have also studied for an MBA at Henley Business School in the UK. I have written many articles for library trade journals (eg SLA ‘Information Outlook’, CILIP ‘Update’ and IRMS ‘Bulletin’) and also spoken at conferences such as BIALL, CILIP, IRMS and Internet Librarian International.

Who is your target audience?

Anyone who works with information – whether they are a librarian, information manager, knowledge manager, records manager, archivist, content manager… the list goes on!

What’s the best way to use your site? Should users consult it daily? Or as needed? Should they already know what they need help with, or can they just noodle around?

I generally post about new blog posts on the site on Twitter and LinkedIn, so the best way to be alerted to new content is to follow me on one of those sites.

Does your site provide:

√ Job Listings     √ Links    √ Coaching     √ The opportunity for interaction

√ Advice on:

√ Cover Letters    √ Resumes   √ Interviewing    √ Networking
√ Other: Marketing your library service, giving presentations, managing staff, strategic planning and other ‘transferable skills’. Also application forms and giving presentations as part of the interview process, and doing skills audits and working out your career goals.

Should readers also look for you on social media? Or is your content available in other formats? 

√ Twitter: @NicolaFranklin
√ LinkedIn: www.linkedin.com/in/nicolafranklin
√ Book(s): Librarian’s Professional Practice: What They Don’t Teach You on Your Library & Information Masters Course, ISBN 978 1480245624, (forthcoming).

Do you charge for anything on your site?

For candidates/job seekers, I post hints & tips, ideas, advice, etc, up on the site, and those are free content for anyone to use. I also provide for-pay services where I work on a one to one basis with someone (writing their resume, doing a skills audit, reviewing an application form, doing mock interviews, working on career goals, etc).

In terms of my recruitment services, I do not charge candidates/job seekers (I charge employers who engage me to find library staff for them).

Can you share any stories about job hunters that found positions after using your site?

The feedback page of the site includes comments and feedback from several people who have secured interviews after having resume or application form reviews, or who have found a new role through my services.

Anything else you’d like to share with my readers about your site in particular, or about library hiring/job hunting in general?

The best advice I can give is – be positive! Being enthusiastic (about your own skills, about the organisation you’re applying to and about the position itself) is the No 1 best way to make a hirer warm to you and to stand out from other applicants.

If you’ve got questions for Nicola about The Library Career Centre, please go ahead and put’em in the comments section.

If you run a job or career website for librarians (and archivists and info professionals etc. etc.), and you want to share it here, get in touch with me at hiringlibrariansATgmail.

Thanks for reading!