It’s Staturday!
Welcome to a Stats and Graphs post, in which I examine survey responses through stats and graphs!
The survey that I am calling Return to Hiring Librarians opened on March 25th, 2022. As of today, May 14th, 2022, we have 180 responses. There are 23 questions in the survey. 13 are open-ended and 10 are closed-ended. Of the closed-ended questions, only one measures an opinion (it’s a grid which asks: How many pages should a cover letter/resume/CV be?). The others are primarily demographics but do also ask for things like when salary information is first shared and what materials/tasks are asked for in the application and interview process.
The survey is still open. If you hire library workers, please consider filling it out.
In the past, I’ve posted the stats for all questions. I’m going to try just looking at one question at a time, plus demographics.
I’m starting with the question “When does your organization first provide salary information?” The recent post Currently, we’re over 300% turnover since 2016 and cannot attract candidates garnered some discussion which blamed the lack of candidates on not telling folks salary info until after they’d made an offer. While I think that the responses indicated much larger problems than that, I thought I’d take a look at the answers to the salary information question in aggregate.
The good news is that the majority (70%) provide salary information as part of the job ad. In addition, many folks who chose “other” described their desire to make this information available up front, and talked about either successfully lobbying for the change or feeling stymied by their organization’s refusal.
This survey does not use representative sampling, so it would not be appropriate to generalize for our larger population of LIS organizations. However, if your organization does not currently provide this information up front, it might be worth opening a discussion with your administration about the message it sends to candidates when salary is hidden.
Now might also be a good time to mention – this blog collects salary information from currently employed folks. You can contribute yours here. These links, along with the Interview Questions Repository, are always available in the sidebar over on the right there ——–>
When does your organization first provide salary information
180 responses
It’s part of the job ad 126 (70%)
We only discuss after we’ve made an offer 19 (10.6%)
It’s part of the information provided at the interview 10 (5.6%)
Other 25 (13.88%)
- I usually bring it up at the beginning of our phone interview. As in, this is when I need you to work and this is the salary range, does that work and would you like to proceed? Our pre-screen from HR asks for a range, we can usually meet or beat it.
- Salary discussion is handled by the recruiter
- It depends, but at my current place of work, we now put it in the ad.
- Only when we make an offer, but I am hoping to change this.
- I always list it when I hire, but the library board usually lists none or a range when hiring a director.
- For most jobs it’s part of the ad, at least for the department I manage. There are some in the library who don’t want to include it, but I think it is an absolutely essential piece and I won’t post an ad for this department without one.
- Our department lists the salaries in the job ad. It is inconsistent across the institution.
- We list a range in the job ad, and that’s all I can speak to at the interview. HR determines their salary based on education and experience, and discusses specifics in the offer.
- A range is usually provided during initial HR screening.
- Pushing to put it in the ad, but it’s not always done
- My institution does not allow us to post salary information. For staff hires, I provide salary and works schedules at the interview. For librarian (faculty) positions, it can be awkward to have that conversation during the interview with the committee present. I typically do a follow-up to the first interview with candidates we’re interested in bringing to campus that opens the door to discuss salary 1-1 before moving forward as a candidate.
- We often mention in the ad that we need the states salary guidelines.
- Only brought up when there’s an offer or is asked during the interview. Would prefer to put
- We just started providing ranges or minimums in ads this year
- It’s usually part of the online job description. Faculty are members of a bargaining unit so starting salaries are set in the CBA, but can also be negotiated.
- The minimum is posted in the job ad (not a range) but is not discussed in detail until an offer is made.
- It’s a separate phone call with HR that occurs between the first and second round interviews — I hate this system, but we don’t have any say in it.
- the range is on the job ad, we can answer general questions, then HR makes their final after vetting
- Desired salary is a question in the HR screening interview and the HR rep can provide the salary range
- The salary range is provided as part of the interview and negotiated after the offer.
- Our institution does not post salary information in job ads (which I cannot get them to budge on). So I provide it as soon as I reach out to schedule interviews.
- Salary Range in job ad, specific salary with job offer
- As of April 2022, it’s part of the job ad
- For me, I didn’t find out salary until the interview. Since I started, the pay info is included in the job ad. we finally got our campus to share. As a state institution, there is one solid number. But it is uneven.
Demographics
What type of organization(s) do you hire for? (Check all that apply)
180 responses
Academic Library 55 (30.6%)
Archives 16 (8.9%)
Public Library 96 (53.3%)
School Library 2 (1.1%)
Special Library 16 (8.9%)
Other 14 (7.77%)
What part of the world are you in?
179 Responses
Midwestern US 38 (21.2%)
Northeastern US 42 (23.5%)
Southeastern US 32 (17.9%)
Western US 28 (15.6%)
Southwestern US 17 (9.5%)
Australia/New Zealand 5 (2.8%)
Canada 8 (4.5%)
UK 1 (0.6%)
Texas 1 (0.6%)
Other 7 (3.91%)
What’s your region like? (Check all that apply)
179 Responses
Urban 79 (44.1%)
Suburban 86 (48%)
Rural 43 (24%)
Other 16 (8.93%)
How many staff members are at your organization?
177 responses
0-10 23 (13%)
11-50 65 (36.7%)
51-100 29 (16.4%)
101-200 26 (14.7%)
201+ 27 (15.3%)
Other 9 (5.08%)
I hope you have found, and will continue to find, the statistics and the individual responses interesting and useful. I’m very interested in any feedback or observations you might have. You can communicate with me here via comment, on Twitter @HiringLib, or by email at hiringlibrariansATgmail.
Hiring Librarians 