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, Data Management Librarians
This librarian works at a library with 100-200 staff members in a suburban area in the Southern US.
Approximately how many people applied for the last librarian (or other professional level) job at your workplace?
√ 25 or fewer
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 26-50 %
And how would you define “hirable”?
Possessed all of the required qualifications, some of the preferred, and had no red flags in their application (positive recommendations, no disciplinary/criminal issues).
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
Applications are weeded by HR if they don’t contain all the required components. The search committee is 4-5 faculty and we use a rubric based upon the requirements listed in the job advertisement.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
They lacked the recommended qualifications.
Do you (or does your library) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
√ Yes
What is the most important thing for a job hunter to do in order to improve his/her/their hirability?
Make sure that each qualification is addressed, there are no typos or errors in the essay, and that the applicant treats it seriously and professionally.
I want to hire someone who is
curious
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 100-200
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?
√ There are more positions
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
√ No
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?
No experience required.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
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 