What Went Right: A Case Study of a Successful Hiring (Part 1) by Ellen Mehling, Career Development Consultant, METRO

When the right person is hired, there is a story...
Well, actually, two stories: the employer’s story of the search for the best applicant, and the new employee’s story of his or her job search.
These stories begin apart and can cover weeks or even months with multiple steps and behind-the-scenes activities before converging in the new hire’s first day, when a new story begins.
This month we’re interviewing Krissa Corbett Cavouras, a recent hire at the Brooklyn Public Library, about her experience applying for the position of Engagement Manager in Marketing & Communications.

Ellen Mehling: Where did you go to school? What degrees and/or certificates do you hold?
Krissa Corbett Cavouras: I attended Sarah Lawrence for my undergraduate degree and earned my masters from Pratt School of Information and Library Science (SILS) in 2011.

EM: Were you employed elsewhere when you applied for this job? For how long had you been job hunting?
KCC: I was working for a small e-commerce company, as a knowledge manager on their marketing team, for two years prior to starting at Brooklyn Public Library. I had probably been actively looking for about three months when I had my first interview here.

EM: How did you learn about the position? Did you have any connections via your network to that workplace?
KCC: I heard about the position on a couple of fronts -- first, because I’ve had Brooklyn Public Library’s job page bookmarked for years, ever since I graduated from library school! Second, my manager Robin and I have several mutual friends from our early days as bloggers, so I saw the job shared around that mutual circle on Facebook. (I do think that’s how I knew it was in serious recruitment, because sometimes you don’t know from a website job posting if it’s a really open position.) I also have several library school colleagues who now work in the system, although I don’t think I saw this specific posting on my library school listserv.  read more...

How to Land a Library Job

The library job market may finally be heating up, but so too is the competition for those jobs

By Brian Kenney |

Aug 02, 2013

Comments

I don’t claim to be an expert in much, but when it comes to securing a library job I’ve got hard-won advice worth sharing. For much of my career I suffered from a kind of librarian wanderlust, switching jobs every two or three years, which pretty much means that I spent my first 20 years in this profession engaged in a continuous job search. But I’ve also put in plenty of time on the other side of the interview table, having hired scores of librarians while managing libraries large and small, as well as hiring librarians as editors, back when I worked in publishing.

Although the economy is slowly climbing out of its sinkhole, don’t expect finding a library position to get easier any time soon. State funding is under pressure, and local funding—which now makes up nearly the entire budget of your typical public library—remains flat at best. Although there are more job openings in 2013 than in previous years, there is also more competition for those positions. Jobseekers, especially those looking for their first librarian positions, need to have their game faces on. Read article...

PW contributing editor Brian Kenney.