This anonymous interview is with an academic librarian who has been a hiring manager. This person hires the following types of LIS professionals:
Public and Technical Services
This librarian works at a library with 75-100 staff members in an urban area in the Middle East.
Approximately how many people applied for the last librarian (or other professional level) job at your workplace?
√ 75-100
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 25% or less
And how would you define “hirable”?
Meets the minimum qualifications and follows the application instructions.
How are applications evaluated, and by whom?
A rubric is created based on the job description and typically the chair does a first pass and then shares the list of qualified applicants with the committee members. The committee then reviews and ranks the remaining applicants.
What is the most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
does not meet the minimum requirements of the job.
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?
Read through the application thoroughly, follow the instructions and make sure to tailor your cover letter to the job you are applying for.
I want to hire someone who is
Enthusiastic
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?
√ 3-4
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 more positions
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with part-time or hourly workers over the past decade?
√ I don’t know
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, it is an official requirement. The experience can be as a paraprofessional or through experience gained as an intern.
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ No
Why or why not?
It is evolving to meet the needs of our communities.
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 