"The More I Practice, The Luckier I Get" : LLAMA Hiring Webinar

I attended the LLAMA webinar "How to succeed in an entry-level librarian interview: Research and experience-based tips". Here are some of the points they made in the presentation that I thought were particularly interesting and useful:

• They recommend practicing for the interview, and to put as much time into practicing as you might for writing your resume and cover letter. Preparation can include things like 'getting to know the organization/library' ahead of time.
• Personality, fit-with-organization, attitude, enthusiasm, flexibility were named as key by many libraries and organizations, moreso than skills.
• Important competencies for most organizations and libraries are overwhelmingly communication and customer service. Familiarity with any given technology is typically more important than expertise with any given technology.
• They also named important character traits as rated by various libraries and organizations. Intelligence, enthusiasm and cooperativeness were ranked the most important for entry-level hires.

 They also spent some time discussing things applicants did that made them stand out. Being passionate was one, and asking a lot of questions about the library, such as 'what is the culture like' was another.

I enjoyed this webinar myself, and thought it was very useful for anyone seeking to enter into the library field and anyone else seeking to master their interview skills.

If you would like to view the webinar yourself, a recording is available at: http://www.ala.org/llama/7-25-12-llama-webinar