Here’s why.

When I recently hired someone, one of the first things I did was “google” the candidates I thought interesting. If I was to “yahoo” the aforementioned blogger, I’d see the blog, and realize that she/he is probably not the candidate for me. Discretion is necessary; professionalism is key. While he/she wasn’t whining, per se, it was clear that he/she didn’t absorb the lessons his/her boss tried to teach.

In another situation, someone I know of in a supervisory position has made some serious mistakes in speaking and acting before thinking. It’s one thing to vent with friends, it’s a very different thing to vent with staff. Or to share negative opinions about staff with staff. Or to be a brat about a staff member moving on. While I’d love to hang out with my new staff (they’re all fantastic and fun people) there must be some line between me and them, if only to protect myself (and themselves) if a supervisory issue arises.

Also, I think it is vital for new/inexperienced/unpracticed/etc librarians to recognize that Library Land is a very small world, and that a reputation of being indiscreet or irrational will haunt one’s career. I constantly have to remind myself of this when I go to meetings because I have a blabber mouth, and because my career is important to me.

Until tonight.  It figures that once stuff seems in place, I wake up with my heart pounding over something at work.  There are three potential solutions.  1: I did what I was supposed to do (and don’t remember doing it), 2: I didn’t do it (and thus am remembering correctly) but it’s an easy enough fix, or 3: I didn’t do it (and thus am remembering correctly) but I will spend another thousand of my library’s dollars to get it done.  Obviously I’d prefer the first scenario, but I have a feeling it’s #3.

It’s so hard to remember everything!  It’s a building maintenance issue, and we pay top dollar for the time technicians spend at the library.  This one guy is making a lot from us this year.

Ah, FY09 can’t come fast enough.

1) Read the ad. If it asks for the resume to be emailed, then email it. There’s a reason. Don’t fax it, don’t send it in. Granted, this is my personal opinion, but I’m the one hiring you and you didn’t follow directions. Not summarily axed as a candidate, but at the bottom of the pile.

2) Don’t send a seven page resume. I didn’t ask for a curriculum vitae; there are different formats for different positions. I’m not reading it. Especially for a position that requires 1-3 years of experience.

3) If you have no experience, tell me why I should hire you anyway.

4) If you’re applying from across the country, at least let me know that you’ve thought about the move. I won’t exclude you if you don’t, but I only moved one and a half hours away from friends and family once, and it wasn’t a fun time for the first year or so. I can’t imagine moving across the country without knowing someone. Tell me that you have friends here, at least, or that you’ve visited the area and know where you might like to live.

5) Don’t tell me that you want to learn from the position. Convince me that I should hire you without experience…don’t ask me to give you the experience. There’s lots of ways to promote yourself while you’re still in school.

6) Um, we’re in the detail business. If you spell Massachusetts incorrectly on your resume or cover letter, it doesn’t look so good for you. There’s a reason why that red squiggly line shows up. At least check it out before you email it.

6b) When you email stuff, you can shut off the grammar/spelling notification in Word. I shouldn’t really be looking at these marks when it’s sent to me. This is one of the problems with email…

7) Show some effort. If you’re applying for a job that requires a Master’s Degree (actually, any job for that matter), don’t write your resume and letter on the fly. I can tell, and frankly, I don’t want any underachievers working with me.

8) Appearance is everything. Take some time to make your resume visually appealing. No bells and whistles, or stars and stripes, but a few well placed lines or clearly intentioned white space makes a big difference. Make sure the font isn’t too small, nor margins too big (or small). Make sure the font on your cover letter mimics or matches the font on the resume, so I know that they go together in a huge pile of applicants.

9) Don’t address the cover letter to the wrong person. I know you’re applying for other jobs, but be sure that my name’s on there.

10) Make sure you address what I want. If the job ad talks about publicity, give me examples of publicity. If it asks for supervision, mention supervision (even tangentially). I’m salivating over a couple because they really hit on what I asked for…I know it’s part of the game, but I love me a good cover letter tailored to the specific job.

11) A cover letter is not the place to review your employment history–that’s what the resume’s for. Convince me to hire you! Show me personality! Show me examples of how I’ll be dumb to not interview you!

12) Don’t send letters of reference that are more than a year or two old. It makes me wonder why you don’t have more current references. Perhaps you do, but then why send the old letters? Especially since you’ve worked in other libraries since then. Better yet, don’t send references at all since I didn’t ask for them. Just a thought.

13) Remember that libraryland is actually very small, and I might know you, or your friends, or your former employers. Just be aware of this fact, especially if there are some “incidents” in your work history that might come out. Get involved in the field in some positive, public way. I TOTALLY understand taking the wrong job, believe you me, but you still have to have a positive (or at least neutral) reputation in the industry. BTW, I will google you.

After I’m done reviewing them, I’ll do resume raves.

First, the process:

1) Write a job description.

2) Get approval for said job description. For me, this meant approval from the Trustees, the town government, and the Union. The position is available because of a retirement, so there was no haggling over the need for the position. It was a little tricky because the job title and responsibilities are different from the person who’s retiring, so there was a bit of legwork to do first.

3) Write job ad. This includes a salary range. Tricky stuff. Luckily I actually have a range, so I put “starting at…” so as not to exclude highly qualified applicants. (I can’t really afford them, but at least I have a little wiggle room in salary if they’re fantastic but won’t take the low rate of pay).

4) Publish job ad. How very exciting it was for me to post an ad on two lines that I used for my own searches: Simmons College’s New England Jobline and the Massachusetts Board of Library Commissioner’s Job Database.

4) Set deadline for applications. Amongst friends, it is common to not look too eager and apply right away. Therefore, I wanted to set a reasonable amount of time so as not to look desperate to hire. I’ve been checking my email like crazy, though, so I’m not sure I’d extend a deadline far past three weeks.

5) Check inbox. Check inbox. Check inbox. Finally, an applicant! Create a filing system that works to keep multiple applicants organized.

6) Respond immediately to said applicants. I promised myself I’d remember the job hunt when I hired people, and now I get to follow through. It was so frustrating not knowing that my applications were received, so now each person who’s applied for me gets a quick reply.

7) Get hiring committee established. I’ve been given leave to set up the process however I want, and have decided to have two persons sit in on the interview. Me, obviously, and the other MLS’d librarian on staff. I will also invite any Trustees to sit in on the interview. I’m hoping, sort of, that they don’t bother, although my boss is a great judge of character since she hired me! (tongue in cheek, of course)

8) Weed out applicants. This is tough stuff. Of my pool, I have a few that do not have the required degree. Because it’s a largish pool, I have to find a baseline, and this is what I’m using. I wasn’t surprised to have a lawyer apply; I was surprised to have two of them, though. I’m still trying to figure out the next round. I’ve eliminated a couple of candidates because they didn’t follow directions or irritated me with their applications (see next post). Now I’m down to a still-too-large pool. I made a little chart and pulled out the number of years each candidate has worked in a public setting. (This is my resume review only; I haven’t read the cover letters in any depth yet. I skimmed them as they came in, but the resumes will help me weed first. )

I’ll include my further weeding process when I’ve narrowed down my candidates.

9) Schedule interviews (tbd)

10) Gather questions! (tbd)

11) Hold interviews!

12) Call references!

13) Hire!

14) Send rejection letters. Bummer.