Please note: This is an anonymous response to an online survey; I do not have any way of contacting the respondent or verifying responses. Their answers may reflect good, bad, or middling hiring practices. I invite you to take what’s useful and leave the rest. If you are someone who hires Library, Archives or other LIS workers, please consider giving your own opinion by filling out the survey here.
Current Hiring Practices and Organizational Needs
These questions are about your current hiring practices in general – the way things have been run the last year or two (or three).
Where do you advertise your job listings?
local job boards-state, surrounding states, city
Do you notice a difference in application quality based on where the applicant saw the job ad?
no
Do you include salary in the job ad?
√ No
Do you use keyword matching or any automation tools to reduce the number of applications a human reads while considering candidates?
√ Yes
Do you consider candidates who don’t meet all the requirements listed in the job ad?
√ Other: For librarians, we consider time to degree completion and equivalent degrees
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level librarian positions? (Officially or unofficially…)
√ No
What is the current most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Total lack of qualifications
Does your organization use one-way interviews? (Sometimes also called asynchronous or recorded interviews)
√ No
Do you provide interview questions before the interview?
√ No
Does your interview process include taking the candidate out for a meal?
√ No, and I don’t think we ever have
How much of your interview process is virtual?
√ Other: We prefer live interviews but will do virtual based on the needs of the candidate.
Do you (or does your organization) 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 their hirability?
Understand the job they are applying for and sell their ability to do it.
I want to hire someone who is:
competent
Is there anything else you’d like to say about hiring practices at your organization or in current trends?
We are constrained by our HR department in many of our practices. They so not allow us to post salaries, and they pre-screen candidates.
Your Last Recruitment
These are questions about the last person you hired (or the last position you attempted to fill). This person may not have been a librarian, and that’s ok.
Think about the most recent time you participated in hiring someone (or an attempt to hire someone) at your organization. What was the title of the position you were trying to fill?
Library Assistant
When was this position hired?
√ Between six months to a year ago
Approximately how many people applied for this position?
√ 25 or fewer
Approximately what percentage of those would you say were hirable?
√ 10% or less
How did the recruitment for this position compare with recruitments in previous years?
about the same
Your Workplace
This section asks for information about your workplace, including if you have lost positions in the last decade.
How many staff members are at your library/organization?
√ 0-10
Are you unionized?
√ No
How many permanent, full time job openings has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 1
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other “professional” level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ None!
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time 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?
√ No
Have any full-time librarian positions been replaced with non-librarian, lower paid staff positions over the past decade?
√ No
Is librarianship a dying profession?
√ I don’t know
Why or why not?
The LIS schools overproduce. There are not enough positions, and there won’t be. Libraries are reducing their staffs.
Demographics
This section asks for information about you specifically.
What part of the world are you in?
√ Southeastern US
What’s your region like?
√ Urban area
What type of institution do you hire for (check all that apply):
√ Academic Library,
√ Archives
What type(s) of LIS professionals do you hire?
whichever of our limited positions is open
Are you a librarian?
√ Yes
Are you now or have you ever been:
√ A hiring manager (you are hiring people that you will directly or indirectly supervise),
√ A member of a hiring or search committee
Source link