This anonymous interview is with an academic librarian who has been a hiring manager and a member of a hiring or search committee. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
subject liaisons, department or branch heads
This librarian works at a library with 200+ staff members in a suburban area in the Northeastern US.
Approximately how many people applied for the last librarian (or other professional level) job at your workplace?
√ 25-75
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ Other: 10
And how would you define “hirable”?
Met all the required qualifications.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
There are rubrics based on the required job qualifications and the search committee reviews all the applications.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
They don’t meet all the required qualifications.
Do you (or does your library) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
√ No
What is the most important thing for a job hunter to do in order to improve his/her/their hirability?
Make sure they address every single required job qualification, using the same language as what is in the job ad, in their resume/cv and/or cover letter.
I want to hire someone who is
qualified.
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 200+
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 5-6
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 7 or more
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time librarian positions at your workplace has changed over the past decade?
√ I don’t know
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
√ I don’t know
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with para-professional workers over the past decade?
√ I don’t know
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level professional positions? If so, is it an official requirement or just what happens in practice?
We have very few entry-level professional positions, but when we do, we don’t require experience.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
Information will always need to be organized, made accessible, and users taught how to find it.
Do you hire librarians? Take this survey: http://tinyurl.com/hiringlibjobmarketsurvey or take other Hiring Librarians surveys.
For some context, look at the most recent summary of responses.
Hiring Librarians 