{"id":66460,"date":"2014-03-28T08:00:04","date_gmt":"2014-03-28T13:00:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=66460"},"modified":"2014-03-28T11:13:25","modified_gmt":"2014-03-28T16:13:25","slug":"academic-library-job-applications-what-to-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=66460","title":{"rendered":"Academic Library Job Applications &#8211; What to Expect in the UK"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><em>by Suzanne Schultz Pick, Head Editor,\u00a0<a href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?page_id=57295\" target=\"_blank\">INALJ UK<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n<h3 style=\"text-align: center;\"><span style=\"text-decoration: underline;\">Academic Library Job Applications &#8211; What to Expect in the UK<br \/>\n<\/span><\/h3>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Suzanne-Schultz-Pick1.jpg\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\" wp-image-60449 alignleft\" alt=\"Suzanne Schultz Pick\" src=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Suzanne-Schultz-Pick1.jpg\" width=\"202\" height=\"150\" \/><\/a>Many library jobs are posted through universities or colleges in the UK. Many of these jobs require\u00a0applications rather than a CV\/resume submission. So how can we make sure that our\u00a0applications stand out?<\/p>\n<p>Let\u2019s look at what the applications ask for. I tend to search for jobs through further education\u00a0jobs in the North East, and Newcastle University has lots of library jobs listed frequently.\u00a0In their application, the main subjects of information are listed as:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>main details,<\/li>\n<li>education,<\/li>\n<li>qualifications,<\/li>\n<li>courses,<\/li>\n<li>work history,<\/li>\n<li>application questions,<\/li>\n<li>additional information,<\/li>\n<li>references,<\/li>\n<li>equal opportunities.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>The information you provide must be specific. <strong><em>Any<\/em> gaps in employment must be addressed.<\/strong>\u00a0Even breaks from work while caring for children, long holidays, and changes in career that\u00a0lead to unemployment phases must be accounted for. Generally, the requirement is to list the\u00a0last 10 years of employment history.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Applications will ask for specific details such as:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Please give full details of any relevant courses you have attended. If the course\u00a0was assessed please indicate the result, or if the course was not assessed please\u00a0indicate &#8220;completed&#8221; or &#8220;attended&#8221;.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Please list current and all previous employment. Indicate whether it was full-time,\u00a0part-time, vacation work or an industrial placement and provide details of specific\u00a0responsibilities, experience and knowledge gained. Please give reason for leaving.<\/p>\n<p>Many times, in lieu of a cover letter, the application will ask some questions. These are\u00a0created for you to show the library hiring staff how you stand out over other candidates.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Please confirm how you meet the essential criteria as set out in the person\u00a0specification for the position, and address any gaps. Please describe how, and to what\u00a0extent, you meet the desirable criteria. Please provide any further information that is\u00a0relevant to the position for which you are applying e.g. details of work experience,\u00a0achievements and interests. If you have little work experience you may wish to\u00a0include details of holiday or weekend jobs, or any unpaid\/voluntary work you have\u00a0undertaken.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Briefly describe your experience of working in an academic or commercial print\u00a0environment, including include dates. (No more than 50 words)<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 Please state what skills you have in digital print production and how you have used\u00a0them, including dates. (No more than 50 words)<\/p>\n<p>I contacted Wayne Connolly, Dir of Academic Services and University Librarian at\u00a0Newcastle University Library, and asked him what exactly the library is looking for on a\u00a0candidate\u2019s application for any library position, and what kind of advice he could provide for\u00a0job seekers.<\/p>\n<p>This was his response:<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <strong>First important thing is to pay close attention to the person specification<\/strong> \u2013 meet the\u00a0stated criteria, and then see where you can add value.<\/p>\n<p>\u2022<strong> Second is to do your research on the organisation you are applying to<\/strong> (that will also\u00a0help to see where you can add value).<\/p>\n<p>\u2022 <strong>Thirdly (maybe most important) is that experience of customer service<\/strong>, and\u00a0a demonstrable understanding of customer service and its role in library and\u00a0information services, are crucial.<\/p>\n<p>There are plenty of job posts out there, and many of them are through college or university\u00a0libraries. It\u2019s definitely worth taking the time to look through any you come across and\u00a0make sure you can meet the necessary requirements. When you see a job you know you\u2019d be\u00a0perfectly suited for, take the time to really answer the questions to the best of your ability.\u00a0Show your strengths that are specific to the job role, and be thorough in your training and\u00a0employment\/unemployment history.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>by Suzanne Schultz Pick, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ UK Academic Library Job Applications &#8211; What to Expect in the UK Many library jobs are posted through universities or colleges in the UK. Many of these jobs require\u00a0applications rather than a CV\/resume submission. So how can we make sure that our\u00a0applications stand out? Let\u2019s look at what the&hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"more-link-p\"><a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=66460\">Read more \u2192<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":60449,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[145],"tags":[4937,5096,69,3592,5900,4963,5902],"class_list":["post-66460","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-academic-libraries","tag-applications","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-uk","tag-job-applications","tag-suzanne-schultz-pick"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/01\/Suzanne-Schultz-Pick1.jpg","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p1WoMK-hhW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66460","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=66460"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/66460\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/60449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=66460"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=66460"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=66460"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}