Presented by CMLE Dr. Mary Wilkins Jordan Hiring in Libraries Presented by CMLE Dr. Mary Wilkins Jordan

Introduction Recruiting plan Writing the ad Application process Sorting applications Interviewing Making the offer Orientation

Recruiting Plan Think about what you need to get done Identify skills necessary to make that happen; write the ad Make contact with people and organizations to post the ad where it will connect with potential candidates Online resources Local newspapers Professional organizations Translate into languages spoken in your community in addition to Englis

Writing the job ad Put in required skills Have a longer section of desired skills – not all necessary Maybe a couple of “really nice skills” just in case Talk about your organization, what a day is like, what the culture is like Add color and life! If you can’t think of anything nice to say –maybe you need to be job hunting! Salary!! Don’t waste everyone’s time, or try to lowball

Quality check the application process I’m kind of passionate about this, as I was just on the job market and couldn’t even figure out HOW to apply for a few jobs! Have a procedure for candidates to follow Set up a website with information and an application or a direct link to it Put that direct link in any ad Giving a general link to your City’s or school’s website is appallingly bad TEST IT! And then have someone else, outside your organization, test to see if they can get through it all.

Sorting applications At the end of this stage: write everyone eliminated a quick postcard or email so they know they are not under consideration. Politeness goes a long way! Ideally, this is a High Class Problem You get so many great ones it’s hard to go through them all Eliminate the clearly terrible ones Not complete, not even close to required skills, written in crayon Eliminate the ones that are okay-ish, but not great The tough part: looking at the last maybe third of them to see which ones are the best Make piles: SO great, pretty darn good, nice enough That last pile is the group going on to interviews, so choose carefully

Interviewing Bring in three to five people as candidates Make a solid plan for the interview (see CMLE checklist!) Develop a standard set of questions to ask every candidate Be prepared Have a folder for each interviewer with the applicant material and questions for easy note taking of candidate answers Let the candidate answer how s/he wants, but give a little push if they are missing the point completely Thank them, tell them the next steps and time frame

Making the offer Yay!! One of them is just right! You might call or send an email to give a preliminary offer Mail paper documents to give formal offer Include a reply deadline; after that the offer is dead Include contact information if the candidate wants to ask questions Set a start day; send out all information about benefits

Orientation Have a plan! First day First week First month First six weeks Assign someone to be in charge and to answer questions Give them a list of all employee names, job titles, emails, and any other information they need Prepare your new employee to be great!!

Conclusion Are you a CMLE member? We are here to help you! Developing recruiting plans Writing job ads Sorting applications Interviewing We can take over the recruiting and hiring process for your library! For more information, see: https://cmle.org/resources/cmle- monthly-topics/ Links, templates, resources to read