This anonymous interview is with a 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:
Faculty librarians
This librarian works at a library with 10-50 staff members in an urban area in the Western 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”?
Meet minimum qualifications for job as stated in job description.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
We have a very structured hiring process with all questions, rubrics, etc. approved by HR before the hiring process begins. Applications are screened to see if they meet minimum qualifications and then are ranked based on scores on how well the applicants meet the requirements and duties of the jobs. Evaluation occurs at the librarian committee level and at the Dean level.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Do not meet minimum 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?
Read the job description and tailor your cover letter and resume/CV to our job. Also, proofread your materials before submission. There is nothing worse than seeing another organization’s name and job title on a cover letter.
I want to hire someone who is
motivated
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 10-50
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 1
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ Other: 0, but we are about to post 2
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time librarian positions at your workplace has changed over the past decade?
√ There are the same number of 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?
It depends on the position, but most no.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
It is a changing profession, but it isn’t dying. But you must be willing to always learn new skills and adapt to the changes in order to be competitive.
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 