This anonymous interview is with a librarian working at a vendor who has been a hiring manager and a member of a hiring or search committee. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
cataloging librarians
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 or fewer
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 25% or less
And how would you define “hirable”?
1. met minimum requirements of the position; and
2. cover letter & resume gave evidence of attention to detail and genuine interest in the position
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
HR weeds out those that do not meet the minimum requirements.
Hiring manager reviews and further selects from applications that pass that stage.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Errors in the cover letter &/or resume
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?
Write a good cover letter & resume and edit carefully
I want to hire someone who is
flexible
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?
√ Other: don’t know (my dept. isn’t the only one that hires librarians)
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ Other: not sure (my dept. isn’t the only one that hires paraprofessionals)
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?
√ No
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level professional positions? If so, is it an official requirement or just what happens in practice?
Not required, but desirable
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 