This anonymous interview is with a job hunter who is currently employed (even if part-time or in an unrelated field), has not been hired within the last two months, and has been looking for a new position for less than six months. This person is looking in special, government, corporate, and firm libraries at the following levels: branch manager and director/dean.
This job hunter is in an urban area in the Southern US and is willing to move to select locations.
What are the top three things you’re looking for in a job?
positive working environment attributable to excellent management (fair supervisor who enables direct reports by providing great IT and/or human resources, rewards for excellent work product, room to grow and possibly advance if appropriate, secure and pleasant office/facility)
Fair compensation (don’t expect a librarian who has earned 2 or more degrees costing well over $50K to work for less than that–especially if the librarian also has experience and can add value to your organization)
Interesting, challenging work that has a positive impact
Where do you look for open positions?
AALL Career Center, SLA jobs list, usajobs.gov, simplyhired.com, inalj.com, lawlib listserv
Do you expect to see salary range listed in a job ad?
√ Other: i don’t expect it for any job except a government job would LOVE to see a range for every job
What’s your routine for preparing an application packet? How much time do you spend on it?
I spend hours tailoring a resume and cover letter and ask friends to look it all over to make sure I don’t have typos, grammatical errors, or poorly written sentences
Have you ever stretched the truth, exaggerated, or lied on your resume, or at some other point during the hiring process?
√ No
When would you like employers to contact you?
√ To acknowledge my application
√ To tell me if I have or have not been selected to move on to the interview stage
√ To follow-up after an interview
√ Once the position has been filled, even if it’s not me
√ Other: I’ve hired others so I know it’s time consuming to communicate at all stages but it’s important and should be done
How do you prefer to communicate with potential employers?
√ Other: email for simple notifications like “we got your application” messages; phone for scheduling and good news; email for bad news
Which events during the interview/visit are most important to your assessment of the position (i.e. deciding if you want the job)?
√ Meeting department members/potential co-workers
√ Other: tell me all you can about the job and what you expect so I can tell you what I can and cannot do– no surprises for either of us and we both make an informed decision
What do you think employers should do to get the best candidates to apply?
know what you want in an employee and state it clearly; succinctly describe the position in the advertisement; clearly list educational and experience requirements and don’t put in wide ranges for either; include a salary range and state which candidate qualifications merit higher pay; list benefits (generally); state whether relocation costs might be paid; include anything unusual or unexpected or about the position
What should employers do to make the hiring process less painful?
communicate! communicate! communicate!
Both candidate and employer have the same goal–get the right person in the right job. Just like you wouldn’t want to find out after hiring that the employee didn’t complete that degree or have that much experience with a task, the employee shouldn’t find out that thirty days of travel are required each year or nights and weekend hours area must.
What do you think is the secret to getting hired?
only apply for those jobs which you are qualified to get and which you are likely to accept
Do you have any comments, or are there any other questions you think we should add to this survey?
Great survey! Thank you for gathering this information and dedicating yourself to promoting the profession and assisting colleagues.
Are you hunting for a new LIS job? Take the survey! http://tinyurl.com/hiringlibJOBHUNTERsurvey
This survey was co-authored by Naomi House from I Need A Library Job – Do you need one? Check it out!
Hiring Librarians 