This anonymous interview is with an public librarian who has been a hiring manager. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
library associates and shelvers
This librarian works at a library with 0-10 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?
√ 25% or less
And how would you define “hirable”?
able to perform duties required
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
I evaluate all applications by reading them all and sorting those with potential to be called in for interview and actual test.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
poor resume writing
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 resume pop
I want to hire someone who is
passionate
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 0-10
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ Other: none
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ Other: none
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time librarian positions at your workplace has changed over the past decade?
√ There are fewer positions
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
√ Yes
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with para-professional workers over the past decade?
√ Yes
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level professional positions? If so, is it an official requirement or just what happens in practice?
none required
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
will always need librarians just have to be flexible to change to the requirements
Do you have any other comments, for job hunters or about the survey?
libraries are not quiet 🙂
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 