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Rank: Newbie
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I am currently in the process of applying and interviewing for various library positions, some interviews taking place across the country. I am treated wonderfully, and feel like I have made some great associations, even if not offered a position. But, for one library in particular, I feel like I spent three days of my time getting to know not only a new city, but the people involved, only to later receive a rejection letter that simply made me feel quite awful. Sometimes it feels like so much is expected (and should be) from prospective applicants, but simple courtesies are not made in kind once someone else has been selected.
I then wrote a curteous letter asking if any feedback could be provided to help me improve my interview skills, and they unfortunately were not willing to provide any feedback.
Is this normal behavior, or am I simply being too sensitive? It isn't the rejection part I mind, but the manner in which it is conveyed.
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jmorton wrote:Sometimes it feels like so much is expected (and should be) from prospective applicants, but simple courtesies are not made in kind once someone else has been selected.
I then wrote a curteous letter asking if any feedback could be provided to help me improve my interview skills, and they unfortunately were not willing to provide any feedback.
Is this normal behavior, or am I simply being too sensitive? It isn't the rejection part I mind, but the manner in which it is conveyed. First, you never know what dynamics already existed, what unwritten expectations each employees directs to the position to be filled, or what past situations drive an organization's decisions. Second, many organizations have a written policy to not provide feedback. It is a consequence of the lawsuits happy society we know live in. Finally, many organizations have strict rules on who can make contact and what can be said. The result is often a standard letter that only adds salt to the wounds of rejection. Your experience is probably more common, than not.
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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When I was interviewing for library positions a couple of years back, I actually kept the rejection letters, and divided them into two categories: 1) the empathatic ones, 2) the non-empathatic ones. I wanted to be able to reference how to effectively write a rejection letter in the future, and be sensitive to true talent that for one reason or another might not have landed the job.
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Also, as far as not being willing to give you feedback -- honestly, none of the libraries I have worked in made a practice of doing that, partially because of legal concerns and partly because, as one supervisor put it, providing feedback would just open the door to an argument he didn't want to have.
Rachel Singer Gordon / rachel@lisjobs.comFind a library job: http://www.lisjobs.comThe Liminal Librarian: http://www.lisjobs.com/blog
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Rank: Advanced Member
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While in library school, I got my rejection letter in the form of a phone call from the library that I had done a phone interview. Not to mention that library called my home before calling me at my school dorm number. (I was attending school out of state) It was uncomfortable having my parents find out. 
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I agree with the others about the reasons why they might not have been willing to provide feedback; it may have been a legal issue preventing them from doing it.
However, I remember looking for my first job out of library school and there were a two cases in which I was treated rather shabbily at interviews I flew across the country for. I wonder if people just forget what it was like to be in that same position (because we were all there at some point). I think at some places the rejection letters are standard and aren't even written by the people who interviewed you. I love that at my library, the head of the search committee personally calls each person who interviewed in-person for the position. After they put so much effort into coming to visit, I think it's only right to do that. But people at larger institutions are often hampered by rules that take all the humanity out of the process.
One day you'll be interviewing candidates and will be able to ensure that people are treated better. I was on a search committee last year and it was a pleasure to be the sort of search committee member I wish I'd had.
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Location: san francisco, ca
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mgfarkas wrote:I agree with the others about the reasons why they might not have been willing to provide feedback; it may have been a legal issue preventing them from doing it.
However, I remember looking for my first job out of library school and there were a two cases in which I was treated rather shabbily at interviews I flew across the country for. I wonder if people just forget what it was like to be in that same position (because we were all there at some point). I think at some places the rejection letters are standard and aren't even written by the people who interviewed you. I love that at my library, the head of the search committee personally calls each person who interviewed in-person for the position. After they put so much effort into coming to visit, I think it's only right to do that. But people at larger institutions are often hampered by rules that take all the humanity out of the process.
One day you'll be interviewing candidates and will be able to ensure that people are treated better. I was on a search committee last year and it was a pleasure to be the sort of search committee member I wish I'd had. I don't know about calling. I was once rejected via phone and didn't much like it. Especially because I initially got a message from them, and immediately thought "OMG!! I got the job!!!." But no, not so much. I mean it was a very nice rejection, but still a phone call sets up an immediate expectation of good news to me. So I think a nice email or written letter is actually better.
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jac wrote: I don't know about calling. I was once rejected via phone and didn't much like it. Especially because I initially got a message from them, and immediately thought "OMG!! I got the job!!!." But no, not so much. I mean it was a very nice rejection, but still a phone call sets up an immediate expectation of good news to me.
So I think a nice email or written letter is actually better. I agree, overall, except that over the phone they might be a little more forthcoming with information they would never put down in writing, such as: you were competing with an internal candidate who has been doing the job in an "acting" capacity for some time.
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