If the applicant doesn’t have direct experience for the job posted, and he/she is trying to use previous skills, do a better job linking what you have done to the job posting

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

Subject liaisons and specialist, technical services staff.

This librarian works at a library with 100-200 staff members in an urban 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?

√ 25% or less

And how would you define “hirable”?

Meeting at least 75% of the qualifications of the position.

How are applications evaluated, and by whom?

Search Committee

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

Lack of an ALA accredited MLS.  After that, lack of experience in the desired area.

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?

If the applicant doesn’t have direct experience for the job posted, and he/she is trying to use previous skills, do a better job linking what you have done to the job posting.  “I am willing to learn” or “I want to know about this area” is not a good enough response to get an interview for a job that requires specific experience.

How many staff members are at your library/organization?

√ 100-200

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?

√ 3-4

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?

√ Yes

Does your workplace require experience for entry-level professional positions? If so, is it an official requirement or just what happens in practice?

No, but it helps.

Is librarianship a dying profession?

√ No

Why or why not?

Not dying, but there will be fewer opportunities in the future.

Do you have any other comments, for job hunters or about the survey?

Not sure that the people responding will be the people you need to get an accurate assessment of the workplace.

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.