{"id":73383,"date":"2014-06-02T08:00:41","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T13:00:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=73383"},"modified":"2014-06-01T16:45:16","modified_gmt":"2014-06-01T21:45:16","slug":"applying-for-public-library-jobs-in-the-u-k-what-to-expect","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/?p=73383","title":{"rendered":"Applying for public library jobs in the U.K. \u2013 What to expect"},"content":{"rendered":"

by Suzanne Schultz Pick, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ UK<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n

Applying for public library jobs in the U.K. \u2013 What to expect<\/span><\/h3>\n

\"Suzanne<\/a>There are lots of fellow librarians on social networks such as Twitter, and Facebook. Plenty\u00a0of librarians can give you insight on what hiring libraries may be looking for in a new\u00a0employee.<\/p>\n

I asked public librarians on Twitter to give some advice about what essential criteria makes a\u00a0candidate stand out.<\/p>\n

Here are the results:
\nICT experience
\nCustomer Service and Customer Care experience
\nEnthusiasm
\nResiliance
\nConfidence
\nPeople-people
\nLove of books and literacy and the ability to portray that to their patrons.<\/p>\n

Some public library jobs are internal, and many jobs may have limited hours. Any job that\u00a0can get your foot in the door gives you more and more essential experience.<\/p>\n

I was also given the advice that even if a job requires more years experience than you\u00a0currently have, it’s best to apply for the job anyway. Some librarians claim that many jobs\u00a0their library posts will have little to no applicants just because potential candidates are put off\u00a0by the personal specifications for the position.<\/p>\n

Checking job sites such as INALJ, or having job alerts sent to you via email is a great way to\u00a0look through local council jobs that post jobs for your library.<\/p>\n

Some positions do not require a degree or will only offer a few hours a week. This should\u00a0not deter you from applying for the position. Again, this can be an exceptional way to gain\u00a0experience that a future job would require.<\/p>\n

Many jobs posts require personal statements. They are essential in getting you that interview\u00a0after the hiring staff has gone through lots of applications.<\/p>\n

For example, the Surrey County Council asked the following on their application for a\u00a0Library Assistant:<\/a><\/p>\n

In order to help us short-list for this position please use this section to provide details of\u00a0how you meet the criteria outlined in the Job Profile. Please make reference to your career\u00a0history, skills and experience in support, and provide detailed examples of how you meet the\u00a0criteria. Please do not use more than 2000 words.<\/em><\/p>\n

The above job listing indicated, once again, that their potential new hire would \u201cenjoy\u00a0meeting people as much as you enjoy reading and talking about books.\u201d The emphasis is\u00a0on experience and the love of books that we all share – that\u2019s why many of us go to library\u00a0school in the first place, so make sure explain that in your personal statement.<\/p>\n

Aside from computer skills and good communication skills, the public library may ensure\u00a0that you have a \u201cpositive attitude towards training and personal development from induction\u00a0onwards.\u201d Make sure to mention how you love learning in webinars, scholarly articles, and\u00a0workshops. If they know you are keen to be a lifelong student in the world of public libraries,\u00a0the more your application will stand out among other potential applicants. There will be a\u00a0section to list and professional development training you have done.<\/p>\n

Sometimes public libraries also need volunteers – it’s just a matter of investigation. Some\u00a0libraries thrive on volunteering by those who can help out an hour in the building, or even by\u00a0making deliveries to patrons who are homebound. All of this experience counts!<\/p>\n

Here is a list of libraries in the UK that are volunteer run. If one is near your home, it can’t\u00a0hurt to enquire about helping out in order to gain experience.<\/p>\n

http:\/\/www.publiclibrariesnews.com\/about-public-libraries-news\/list-of-uk-volunteer-run-<\/a>
\nlibraries<\/a><\/p>\n

A word of advice about contacting establishments via email – it’s convenient, but many, many\u00a0times the email can get lost in the shuffle. Many times establishments would much rather see\u00a0you in person, so dropping in to ask about volunteering is the best option by far.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

by Suzanne Schultz Pick, Head Editor,\u00a0INALJ UK Applying for public library jobs in the U.K. \u2013 What to expect There are lots of fellow librarians on social networks such as Twitter, and Facebook. Plenty\u00a0of librarians can give you insight on what hiring libraries may be looking for in a new\u00a0employee. I asked public librarians on…<\/p>\n

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":[5346,69,3592,5900,3950,6254,5902],"class_list":["post-73383","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-articles","tag-applying-for-jobs","tag-article","tag-blog","tag-inalj-uk","tag-public-library","tag-public-library-jobs","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-j5B","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73383","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=73383"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/73383\/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=73383"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=73383"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inalj.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=73383"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}