This anonymous interview is with an academic 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:
Education services
This librarian works at a library with 0-10 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”?
2 years experience
‘Lis degree in hand
Good interviewing skills
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
Hr weeds
Sends to associate provost
Hiring committee discusses and ranks applicants
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Degree not complete
Lack of experience
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
Strong resume
Good cover letter
Thanks email,after interview
Sell themselves
Wait to discuss benefits until after 2nd interview
I want to hire someone who is
Compatable
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?
√ 3-4
How many permanent, full time para-professional (or other non-professional level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 1
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?
Yes, must have some experience for full time
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
Too much information to shift through, still need navigators
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.
“Wait to discuss benefits until after 2nd interview”. This drives me crazy. How am I to know whether I can afford to be a great librarian for you if you don’t want to discuss benefits until after 2 interviews?
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