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?
Newsgroups, gov jobs.com, LinkedIn, Facebook (ours, cal lib, other similar pages)
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?
√ Yes
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?
√ Yes
Does your workplace require experience for entry-level librarian positions? (Officially or unofficially…)
√ Other: If degreed, no. If in progress or no degree, yes
What is the current most common reason for disqualifying an applicant without an interview?
Putting “n/a” on supplemental question
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?
√ Depends.
How much of your interview process is virtual?
√ First round/Initial Screen
Do you (or does your organization) give candidates feedback about applications or interview performance?
√ If they ask. And we offer it.
What is the most important thing for a job hunter to do in order to improve their hirability?
Make up an answer. Dont just say “none” to a scenario question. They’ve had experience in life and they can’t extrapolate, then they aren’t likely to succeed long term (flexibility).
I want to hire someone who is:
Great with people. Everything else can be learned.
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?
Librarian – Spanish required
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?
√ 51-75%
And how would you define “hirable”?
Decent supplemental responses. Min qualifications.
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?
√ 50-100
Are you unionized?
√ Yes, at least some workers are union members
How many permanent, full time job openings has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 5-6
How many permanent, full time librarian (or other “professional” level) jobs has your workplace posted in the last year?
√ 2
Can you tell us how the number of permanent, full-time 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?
√ 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?
√ Other: Maybe. But the skills exceptional people bring is not.
Demographics
This section asks for information about you specifically.
What part of the world are you in?
√ Western US (including Alaska, Hawaii and Pacific Northwest)
What’s your region like?
√ Suburban area,
√ Rural area
What type of institution do you hire for (check all that apply):
√ Public Library
What type(s) of LIS professionals do you hire?
All.
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)
Do you have any other comments, for job hunters, other people who hire, about the survey, or for Emily (the survey author)?
Think service, think flexibility, think about industries outside the library world.