Asian

Libraries Selecting your team: how to

6,1/2 find the right people
Alison Jago
14 Instant Library Recruitment, Loughborough, Leicestershire, UK

This is the first of a series of four articles under the heading “Selecting your
team”, which will provide library/information managers with a practical guide
to all aspects of recruitment and selection. The series is intended for
library/information professionals with little or no previous experience of
recruitment and selection, as well as more experienced managers who wish to
polish up their skills. The strategies outlined are well-established management
techniques adapted for the library/information field, and are applicable to the
recruitment of permanent and temporary staff at every level.
Recruitment and selection of staff is a professional skill in its own right and
should form part of the portfolio of management skills of every senior
library/information specialist. Recruitment and selection equals other
important management activities such as strategic planning, budgetary
control, and marketing of the service, and the results usually have an immediate
impact on the quality of the library/information service.
A successful library/information team depends on the right blend of
professional expertise, interpersonal skills, and service orientation to achieve
organizational objectives and meet the needs of individual users. The
effectiveness of the service is largely dependent on the ability of the manager to
select the right people to make up the team. At worst, poor selection can lead to
an inefficient service, dissatisfied users, low morale within the team, and lack of
professional credibility. Furthermore, recruitment mistakes can be costly and
time consuming to remedy.
Selecting a successful team is no mean feat for a library/information
manager who is usually operating against a backdrop of continuous change
throughout the organization as a whole, and within the department, as staff
come and go, and new demands are made on the service.
The need for new staff, whether temporary or permanent, arises for a
number of reasons which may include:
• the most obvious first – someone has left and needs to be replaced;
• maternity leave cover;
• a special project, perhaps for a limited period and requiring specialist
skills not currently available in your team;
• holidays or sickness leave;
Asian Libraries, Vol. 6 No. 1/2, 1997, • a backlog of work needs to be cleared;
pp. 14-19. © MCB University Press,
1017-6748 • a new library/information post has been created;
 • cover while you recruit a new permanent team member and/or wait for Selecting
approval to recruit. your
The basis on which you employ people may vary according to your different team
needs. Staff might be full time, part time (whole days, part days, or job share),
temporary or permanent. They may be employed directly by you or by a
recruitment consultancy. If the post is temporary, the contract could be
indefinite, fixed term, or subject to renewal at specified intervals. 15
Ideally, everyone who is new to recruiting and selecting staff should attend a
practical training course on interviewing and selection of at least two to three
days, to learn and practice the appropriate techniques before starting on “the
real thing”. It is always very difficult to “unlearn” poor interview technique
later on.
So how do you find the right people for your team?

The first questions to ask yourself

When someone leaves your department, first consider is there a vacancy? Do
you need to replace that person at all? Change equals opportunity, and this is a
chance for you to review the situation. As manager, you can decide whether to
involve all your team members at this stage, to discuss with key team members
only, or to reach a decision on your own. Whatever your approach, allow
yourself time to think things through before you take action.
The alternatives you consider may include:
• Not replacing the person at all. This might save you money in the short
term, but in these days of leaner, meaner departments, with limited
headcount, it is a less practical option than it once may have been. If
individual workload in your department is already heavy, the prospect of
taking on additional duties is unlikely to be workable or welcome.
• Promoting internally (within your team, or from elsewhere in the
organization). Promoting a team member can be an excellent way to
motivate and encourage good staff to stay. However, over reliance on
internal promotion can lead to cultural stagnation, and a lack of fresh
and different ideas from outside. Many organizations have a policy of
advertising any vacancy internally before, or at the same time as,
recruiting externally. Recruitment from other parts of the organization
can work well for junior level positions where professional library/
information skills are not required, but unless your organization is large
enough to have several library/information units, it is unlikely that the
specialist skills you seek will be available.
• Redesigning the job. Rethink the job content and the sort of person
required to do it. This is a good opportunity to update the job
description, even if no major changes need to be made. Take note of any
comments the previous job holder has made (perhaps at an exit
interview) and if appropriate redesign the job accordingly. Consult with
other team members, especially if the changes impact on their jobs. A
Asian temptation is to recruit a “clone” of the previous job holder, especially if
Libraries that person was successful in the post, but a healthier approach is to
6,1/2 think objectively about the skills and qualities you need, and consider the
value of transferable skills from other sectors as well. It will also make
your job easier if you bear in mind that there is no correlation between
the age, sex or colour of an individual, and their ability, energy and
16 flexibility.
• Leaving the job the same. Having thought about it you may decide no
changes to the job are necessary.
• Employing temporary help while you review the situation and/or take the
time to find the right permanent candidate. Many temporary employees
are also seeking permanent work, so taking on a temporary employee
can be an excellent way to recruit a new permanent team member. Both
parties can benefit from this approach, and subsequent permanent
appointments have proved to be cost effective and highly successful.

Job descriptions
The job description is the starting point of the recruitment process and forms
the basis of every step that follows. It also clarifies thought and helps prevent
any misunderstanding about the job. There is sometimes confusion about the
difference between a job description and person specification (not helped by the
fact that these documents are often called by different names). A job description
describes the requirements of the job (not the person who will do it). Every post
should have a job description, whether permanent or temporary. In the case of
a temporary post, this need not be elaborate. A simple list of key tasks may be
all that is needed. For permanent positions a job description should be
organized under six headings:
(1) Job title. This can be as specific or general as you like. Several posts in
your team may have the same job title, although the content of the jobs
might be different. The job title chosen should reflect the level of
seniority and expertise, follow any house style, and be meaningful
outside your organization.
(2) Responsible to. The job title (not the name) of the person to whom the job
holder reports.
(3) Responsible for. The number, and titles, of any team members the job
holder supervises or is responsible for.
(4) Main purpose. Two to three lines summarizing the overall objectives of
the job.
(5) Specific responsibilities. A list of the key tasks that make up the job.
(6) Additional information. To include any other important details that do
not fit under the above headings.
A sample job description is given in Appendix 1.
Person specifications Selecting
This describes the qualifications, professional expertise, and other attributes your
required of the person to do the job. It is easy to get carried away here and end
up seeking a multi-skilled paragon who does not exist. So take account of how
team
much you can afford to pay, and adopt a disciplined approach. Using the job
description as your working document, and starting from the top, work through
and analyse under the five headings below, the essential and desirable 17
characteristics you seek from the person needed to do the job. Essential
characteristics are those without which the job could not be adequately carried
out. Desirable characteristics are those you would like the job holder to have,
but are not essential. Identifying desirable as well as essential characteristics at
this stage will help you select the best candidate later in the recruitment process
– especially if you have a strong field to choose from. But be selective, it is not
necessary to have desirable characteristics under every heading. You decide.
The five person specification headings include:
(1) Physical makeup. This relates to appearance and health. Appearance and
professional image may be important in a senior or front-line role
involving user contact. Health can be a factor in attendance, as well as
affecting ability to do the job. It is always worth checking the previous
attendance and health record of each candidate you interview. Obviously
a job involving lifting or carrying of heavy books or equipment is
unlikely to be suitable for anyone with certain medical conditions such as
back trouble.
(2) Attainments. This refers to professional and practical experience. You
may wish to stipulate the level of professional qualification, and if
Library Association Chartership is required. It is usual to quantify the
minimum number of years’ experience required for the job, and if
appropriate the type of experience sought but bear in mind that if you
are too specific, you may exclude good candidates with valuable
transferable skills.
(3) Special aptitudes. Could include for example, IT or language skills. You
may wish to specify a working knowledge of particular IT systems,
although in practice these are usually quickly learned by anyone with
average IT ability. If you need language skills be clear about the level of
ability sought, whether basic level or total fluency, or something in
between.
(4) Disposition. The personality of the candidate you seek should fit the
culture of the organization, your library/information team, and the
requirements of the job. However, beware of the “clone” mentality –
recruiting candidates of different personalities, age, and background can
add zest, variety and strength to your team.
(5) Circumstances. This does not mean probing into someone’s private life,
but you do need to be sure that the requirements of the job will not
conflict with domestic commitments, for example if longer hours must be
Asian worked at short notice, that this would not be a problem. Smoking has
Libraries become more of an issue in recent years. If yours is a non-smoking
environment, you need to be sure that each candidate is happy to comply.
6,1/2
A sample person specification is given in Appendix 2

Summary of key points

18 The following are the main points to consider in selecting your team:
• The effectiveness of every library/information service is largely
dependent on the ability of the manager to select the right people to make
up the team.
• Recruitment and selection of staff is a professional skill in its own right.
It should form part of the portfolio of management skills of every
library/information specialist. It is recommended that anyone
responsible for this activity attend a practical short course on
interviewing and selection. Two to three days’ training is the minimum
you need to learn and practice the appropriate techniques. Reading
around the subject should supplement rather than replace practical
training.
• When someone leaves your department, allow yourself time to think
things through before you take action. Do you need to replace that
person at all? Consider all the options available to you.
• It is essential to have a job description. This is the start of the
recruitment process and forms the basis of every step that follows. The
job description describes the requirements of the job (not the person who
will do it). It clarifies the purpose of the job and helps to prevent
misunderstanding about what is required.
• The person specification is based on the job description. It can be
organized under five headings and describes the qualifications,
professional expertise and other attributes required by the person to do
the job. It identifies the essential and desirable characteristics of the
candidate sought.
“Selecting your team: how to find the right people” is the first in a series of four
articles exploring the practical aspects of recruiting library/information
specialists. The next article in the series will discuss “Where to find the right
people”.
Appendix 1. Sample job description
Job title: Deputy Library Manager
Responsible to: Library Manager
Responsible for: Supervising one Library Assistant
Main purpose: To assist in providing and developing an efficient, cost-effective and proactive
library/information service to around 300 London-based financial staff (and to
Madrid office when required) using online and hard copy sources.
Specific responsibilities Selecting
• Responding promptly and efficiently to requests for business information from all levels, your
using online (Knight Ridder, FT Profile, Maid) CD-ROMs and hard copy sources. This
includes both quick enquiries and more in-depth research. team
• Developing a proactive understanding of user information needs.
• Assisting in promoting library services and user education.
• Compiling a weekly current awareness bulletin. 19
• Obtaining publications on request.
• Maintaining a database (Soutron) of library holdings.
• Supervising day-to-day work of the Library Assistant.
• Liaising with Madrid office when required. Providing and/or requesting information as
appropriate. Handling Spanish and English documentation.
• Deputizing for the Library Manager in his/her absence.

Additional information
The company has a no-smoking policy.
Hours of work: 37 hours per week, but occasionally during busy periods, evening work may
be required at short notice.
Salary: £18,000-20,000
Benefits: private health insurance, mortgage subsidy, season ticket loans, staff restaurant.

Appendix 2. Sample person specification

Job title: Deputy Library Manager

Physical makeup
Must have smart, business-like appearance.

Attainments
Essential: Professional library/information qualification, plus two to three years’ post-
qualifying experience.
Desirable: Two to three years business information experience preferred.

Special aptitudes
Essential: Strong online and database skills.
Fluent or near fluent in Spanish.
Desirable: Experience of Knight Ridder, FT Profile, and Maid an advantage.

Disposition
Essential: Should have a confident, outgoing personality.
Must be able to communicate at all levels within the company and be a good team player.

Circumstances
Essential: Must be a non-smoker or happy to work in a non-smoking environment.
Must be able to work evenings at short notice when required.