Oh hey, it’s back! We had a couple months off but in this feature, which occurs every other week or so, I ask a question to a group of people who hire library and LIS workers.
If you have questions you think I should ask, if you’d like to be someone who responds to questions, or if you have any other thoughts and feelings please shoot me an email at hiringlibrarians AT gmail.
This week’s question was suggested by someone who hires librarians:
Are you able (and/or willing) to provide feedback to applicants who are not hired? Why or why not? What’s the best way for a candidate to ask for feedback? Is there a piece of feedback you give most frequently or if you are not able to give candidates feedback, what’s the number one thing you wish you could tell people?
Kate L Ganski, Library Associate Director for User Services, UWM Libraries UW-Milwaukee: It is rare for candidates to contact me for feedback. But if they do, I am able and willing to give them feedback. I do my best to give feedback that is honest, personable, and actionable. I don’t think it is helpful, for example, to say other candidates had more experience. Instead of speaking of the other candidates, I speak to their own strengths and weaknesses. I keep it simple though, and try to help them prepare for the next interview. Each position and candidate is unique, so there is no usual response or common area for improvement.
Donna Pierce, Library Director, Krum Public Library: Usually there is no way for me to give feedback. On occasion, when I can hire only 2 people and have 3 excellent candidates, I have reached out to the one that wasn’t chosen to let them know that “it wasn’t really them”. I have also told them that we could use them as a volunteer. Sometimes I hear back from them and sometimes I don’t. I have never had an applicant ask why they weren’t hired. (And I have never asked that question!)
Celia Rabinowitz ,Assistant Vice-President for Academic Engagement and Director of Mason Library, Keene State College: The university system within which I work coordinates searches through a set of shared recruiters. Each search is assigned a recruiter who support the process and also makes sure proper procedures are used. I will admit to butting heads with these folks on occasion. Even before we moved to this support structure, we have always been told by our Human Resources department to direct questions that come from candidates to HR during and after the search. This is primarily to insure consistency during the search, that is, to be sure that all candidates have the same information. So if a candidate asks a question and is provided information, HR reaches out to the other candidates to be sure they also have it.
Once the search is concluded, successfully or not, I assume the main reason HR does not want us to talk with candidates about why they were not hired is to minimize legal liability. It is possible that a candidate could reach out to the HR folks here who might then have a conversation with the search chair about what they can and cannot talk about. It is difficult because we know candidates truly would like to get some feedback about the experience that could help them, and we are for the most part not able to provide that. My advice would be to reach out to the HR department of the hiring library/institution if someone on the search committee says they are unable to answer any questions. That won’t guarantee a useful response but it might.
I know how challenging the job market is and how much work it takes to prepare for a phone or in-person interview, but my best advice is to be prepared. The candidates who often are not successful are less prepared, may use the same kind of presentation or sample class regardless of the type of library (thinking academic libraries here). Coming to an interview with some questions is a great sign of interest in the job. It’s not only about skill or experience.
I wish this situation could change so that interviewing could become more of a learning experience that can benefit every candidate.
Alan Smith, Director, Florence County, SC Library System: I’m almost always glad to provide feedback to people who aren’t hired, either by phone or email. I prefer email because it gives me a chance to word the feedback in a way that’s constructive without sounding harsh. I know some managers are reluctant to provide any feedback at all, due to the real or perceived risk of liability, but email gives them a chance to choose words carefully.
As for the type of feedback, it depends on what they ask for. Sometimes I get asked, “why didn’t you hire me?” Most of the time the answer is simply, “someone else was better qualified.” Either a current employee who applied for the position, or someone who had experience doing a similar job in a similar public library. If they ask, “how could I improve my interview?” I’ll answer honestly. A lot of times candidates just need to give us more information: their answers are too short, they’re worried about sounding conceited by talking about their accomplishments, or they didn’t give any real examples in response to a question asking for them. For example, we often ask, “tell us about a time you had a conflict with a co-worker and how it was resolved.” Some will give only a general answer — “if I had a conflict I would try to talk it out with that person” — or even, “I’ve never had a conflict with a co-worker.”
Also, it does reflect well on the candidate to ask for feedback. It shows us they’re trying to learn and improve, and importantly, that they can not only accept constructive criticism but will seek it out, which can be a difficult quality to judge during the hiring process. Frequently we hire someone after multiple applications or interviews, and people who sincerely ask for feedback often get another chance.
I said “almost always” at the top, because every once in a while someone makes this request in an accusatory way. I already know that every candidate we don’t hire thinks we made the wrong choice! But if someone calls and says, “you didn’t hire me because I worked with X,” or “you didn’t ask me about my experience at X,” or even “it’s illegal that you didn’t hire me,” there’s not much I can say to change their mind — and it makes me think we made the right decision.
Ben Van Gorp, Acting Deputy CEO, East Gwillimbury Public Library: After the interview process we notify all candidates of our decision, whether we decide to move forward with an offer or not, and part of that also is an offer to provide feedback or a debrief on their application. In most cases candidates are just happy to hear a response rather than being ghosted, but there are a few that take us up on the offer and it is very handy. I would say the majority of the feedback is identifying where there is a clear mismatch between an applicant’s expectations or assumptions about the job, and the reality of the posting. Having a clear mismatch, where say an applicant to a programming position speaks mostly about collection development instead of program planning, is usually a clear indicator of inexperience or someone who may be not as serious about a role as other candidates. If it is inexperience, that is an issue that can be fixed so they can be more successful in a later application. Biggest thing I would recommend is that if you have a chatty hiring manager during the process, feel free to ask clarifying questions in advance. Will this role be working with children or adults, will I be doing collection development? Do you have X partnership already. Shows engagement, lets you dodge some potential minefields if there is a touchy partnership and overall it will make your application better. If the hiring manager isn’t chatty, maybe reach out to some local groups or other people in your field/network that may be able to give you some insight.
Laurie Phillips, University Librarian for Information Resources, J. Edgar & Louise S. Monroe Library, Loyola University New Orleans: That’s tricky! There are times when I’ve been asked and I will, if it seems appropriate. Sometimes, it’s a really hard decision and a lot of people involved in the decision, and it’s hard for me to pinpoint exactly what tipped the balance. I guess, if a candidate emailed me, I’d try to write something, but I think it’s easier over the phone. I had an instance recently where I had two really good candidates, but one made it difficult for me to talk to appropriate references. If that candidate had asked for my feedback, I would have told them to straighten that out for the future. Your references need to be able to talk about skills and work that relate. If you use library school professors or friends/coworkers in other fields, they can’t speak to your job skills.
Anonymous Federal Librarian: I have and will provide feedback upon request. I think it’s important, particularly for new librarians. We hire all positions, both professional and paraprofessional, by committee; the deliberation process can’t be disclosed, but I am always happy to share how I graded each question that was asked, and anywhere I think the candidate can improve. The hardest part is when we have two very good candidates and I don’t have much feedback for the candidate to improve on. They gave a great interview, but another candidate was just slightly better. I have not been asked yet to provide feedback to a candidate who bombed the interview, but I must imagine that would be difficult feedback to give and receive. Finally, the federal hiring process can be so hard to navigate that I am also willing to schedule a time to talk to unsuccessful candidates to give them tips and tricks for not only improving their interview but also ways to position themselves to successfully get to the interview stage for other positions. The best way for candidates to ask for feedback is to email me. They should all have my email, so that’s the best way. I recommend the STAR method of preparing for an interview. Have a mental or physical (if online) list of scenarios that you have experienced and be prepared to plug those scenarios into your answers. For example, if you are asked about a difficult co-worker or patron, have an example of how you dealt with that in the past ready to pull out. Take a pause before diving into answering the question to make sure that you know which scenario you are going to use. Finally, there is a very good chance that I am in the minority in providing feedback upon request. I know another supervisor in my organization does not respond to requests for feedback from outside candidates.
Hiring Librarians 