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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/21/2008
Posts: 17
Points: 51
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I go on a reasonable number of job interviews every year - 5+. Mostly I interview for management jobs -- say being head of public services. In every case for the last year or so every time I get through the on-campus interview the end result is my being told "We've decided to cancel the search and not hire anyone. In your case the reason we didn't hire you was your lack of formal management experience. Otherwise we thought you were great, you interviewed wonderfully, etc ect. Call us in five years when you have that management experience we require."
Can anyone give me insight on this? They saw my vita, they did a phone interview, I was really clear that, although I had management type experiences, I was not, at this time, a person with a formal management title and direct responsibility for a department.
Is it me or them? To my way of thinking I haven't really been rejected for a job as much as the job has just disappeared. Is it unreasonable/unfair for a potential employer, who is well aware of what my situation is, to drag me through the interview process only to tell me they don't want me because, horrors, they suddenly realize that I'm not currently a manager. Is this my fault for not selling them enough on my management ability or is their fault because they, evidently, are confused about what they want? What does someone do in this situation? One would think that, being invited to campus, meant, somehow, they were flexible on the issue of experience, but, evidently, that's not the case.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Management - Moderator
, Member
Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 236
Points: 641
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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You have hit all the potential possibilities. From an organizational perspective, they may not know exactly what they want. New administrators may have arrived during the search and made drastic changes in organizational direction. The budget may have suffered a major set back. From the view of identifying candidates, they maybe required to interview a certain number of people. As you accepted, there is no reason that they feel they are "dragging" you through the process. An interview is your chance to sell yourself and you may out shine someone with more experience. Also, when they tell you do not have the experience, they are comparing you against the other candidates probably. You may still be a better overall candidate than others in the pool, but they are helping you by narrowing down your weakness. They probably like you or they would not even offer any advice to you.
Brian C. Gray Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University http://blog.case.edu/bcg8bcg8@case.edu
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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
, Profdev Moderator
Joined: 11/18/2007
Posts: 14
Points: 42
Location: Barre, VT
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Wow, that's awful. It's a shame that these places couldn't make a leap of faith, but at some places, they are legally bound to stick to the listed criteria. You'd think they'd know that you didn't have what they were looking for pretty early on in the process. We canceled a search at our library several months ago, but just after the telephone interviews. You can tell enough by reading resumes and interviewing people by phone to know that your candidate pool won't meet your needs. But I think it happens too often that while search committee members know they have to stick to their formal criteria, they end up inviting at least one candidate whom they really like, but who doesn't have the experience they're looking for. That is a terrible idea because it wastes that person's time when they really don't have a chance. So, on the one hand, I guess you could be flattered that you keep getting invited in spite of your lack of qualifications in that area, though, like you, I'd be rather annoyed that my time is being wasted. What it sounds like is that you need to look for an intermediate step between what you're doing now and these head of public service positions where you can get that formal management experience. My Director knew that I really wanted to move up into a management position and she created a position that allowed me to have more responsibility, someone to manage, and people to coordinate. Of course, not everyone's Director would be so understanding and supportive.
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Rank: Member
Groups: Member
Joined: 4/21/2008
Posts: 17
Points: 51
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I would guess my point in this is: If an institution, regardless of what the legal criteria are, has invited someone for an interview who doesn't meet those requirements, they have sort of, by implication anyway, sort of agreed to waive that requirement. To then show up saying "gee, you don't meet our stated requirements for the job" seems sort of wrong. It almost seems, in that instance, that the person was invited as a place filler and/or to provide some in-service training for them rather than being there as a legitimate candidate. My point stands: If having actual hands on formal management experience (with title) is a dealbreaker they should admit that up front and not waste their time (and mine) on some fool's errand.
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Rank: Advanced Member
Groups: Management - Moderator
, Member
Joined: 1/2/2008
Posts: 236
Points: 641
Location: Cleveland, Ohio
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I doubt many search committees waste time by bringing in "place holders" for "in-service training". Being on a search committee is time consuming and can be very stressful for some. I see little reason that people would put themselves through extra work. Search committees are often asked to identify X number of candidates to interview. The fact you are getting interviews means you are either putting out strong written materials, doing strong phone interviews, and/or people see your potential. Organizations give people interviews to add more to the resume and try to sell themselves. There is something about you they liked, or you would not have been invited to interview. Also remember, we are in the age of lawsuits. They can only judge you by the criteria put in the ad, which in this case was the management experience. There may have been other reasons they were not comfortable with you but the safe conversation now a days is to point out that one weakness that you had based on the job description. Do not get discouraged and keep trying! The right fit and opportunity awaits everyone to find.
Brian C. Gray Head of Reference & Engineering Librarian Kelvin Smith Library Case Western Reserve University http://blog.case.edu/bcg8bcg8@case.edu
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Rank: Newbie
Groups: Member
Joined: 9/28/2008
Posts: 1
Points: 3
Location: Illinois
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Most recently (before my current position) I worked at an academic library which seemed to cancel searches in the middle of things quite frequently. The cancellations came down from the University Librarian's office and they were never clear to the rest of us (even the search committes). It typically had nothing to do with the candidates interviewed. In fact in one search, an entry-level librarian had so impressed the University Librarian that he recommended her to me when I needed part-time help.
At least two libraries at this institution have gone without Directors for over two years and one started and stopped a Director search at least 3 times.
I have been on search committees that started anew when the candidates interviewed weren't acceptable. In that search, the candidates who were interviewed were given clear reasons why they hadn't been chosen and they were told that the search was reopening. In that particular case, the candidate pool had shrunk because the search process took too long (over 6 months) and the best candidates had already found jobs. The search should have been aborted before bringing in the candidates that were interviewed but for mysterious reasons it wasn't.
All of the other academic libraries where I've worked throughout my career, I don't recall a search cancelled in mid-stream or after interviews.
On the candidate side, I was interviewed and offered a position with a federal government agency (I was working as an Administrative Librarian at another federal agency at the time). They clearly did not know what they wanted. It was clear during the interview and clearer with follow-up discussions on the phone that they were changing the job description as they went along. I decided not to take the position. I don't know if they hired anyone or if they reopened the search.
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