This anonymous interview is with an academic librarian who has been a hiring manager. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
Reference Librarian, Cataloger
This librarian works at a library with 0-10 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?
√ 51-75 %
And how would you define “hirable”?
MLS degree, can carry an intelligent conversation, positive work experience/skills
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
Applications are evaluated by the library director and a committee.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Inexperience, lack of required degree
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?
Practice interviewing
I want to hire someone who is
awesome
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: 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 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?
√ 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?
Information professionals are needed due to the information explosion.
Do you have any other comments, for job hunters or about the survey?
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 