Respect and value a coworker even though that person might not hold a college degree

This anonymous interview is with a public librarian who has been a hiring manager . This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:

Reference, cataloger, children’s, YA

This librarian works at a library with 10-50 staff members in a rural 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?

√ more than 75 %

And how would you define “hirable”?

Held the MLS degree

How are applications evaluated, and by whom?

No.

What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?

Someone they’ve listed as a reference either refuses to give them one or gives them a bad or qualified one.

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?

I’m looking for librarians who are team players, who want to help people find information or learn to use the Internet effectively, who respect and value a coworker even though that person might not hold a college degree, who enjoy working with people, who are kind to others, and enthusiastic about their work.

I want to hire someone who is

People-oriented.

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?

√ Other: 0

How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?

√ Other: 0

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?

No.

Is librarianship a dying profession?

√ No

Why or why not?

Being able to find information fast is more important than ever.

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.