This anonymous interview is with an academic librarian at a for-profit academic library who has been a hiring manager. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
Generalists
This librarian works at a library with 0-10 staff members in an urban area in the Midwestern US.
Approximately how many people applied for the last librarian (or other professional level) job at your workplace?
√ 25-75
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 25% or less
And how would you define “hirable”?
Meets minimum qualifications, wrote specifically to the job description (was actually focused on *this job* not any job), had realisitic understanding of how much librarians are paid. (no, sir, you will not get $55,000 for 32 hours a week)
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
Applications were reviewed by the Head Librarian. (We are a small, two-person library)
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Lack of a degree, poor writing/editing, did not address the job specifically in the cover letter, too focused on their accomplishments, but not on how those accomplishments could serve our library/students/faculty
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?
Show how your strengths/accomplishments have prepared you to fufill the needs of the library. Make it a no brainer – this person has what we need, let’s make sure we interview them.
I want to hire someone who is
skillful
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?
√ 1
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?
√ Yes
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 an official requirement, but our last hire had grad assistant experience. I did pass on a candidate once who had great grades, but had never had any intern/work experience in a library.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ I don’t know
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