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BL SMALL ACADEMIC LIBRARY
24,2 PERSPECTIVE LIBRARY LEADERSHIP
Directing the personnel search
110 part III: preliminary interviews
Accepted April 2011 Gary Fitsimmons
Bryan College, Dayton, Tennessee, USA
Abstract
Purpose – This article’s purpose is to outline what goes into a well-done library personnel
preliminary interview.
Design/methodology/approach – The article discusses the elements and considerations involved
in orchestrating preliminary interviews and then gives a suggested outline for them.
Findings – The article finds that preliminary interviews can be designed to run smoothly and offer
both the interviewers and interviewees the chance to elicit the information they need.
Originality/value – The value of the article is to help the leader design preliminary interviews that
are constructive and move the search process along.
Keywords Job search, Interviews, Hiring process, Employment
Paper type Conceptual paper
In the last installment we discussed in general terms the contacts with applicants as
you move them through your search process. Here we will offer specific suggestions of
ways to structure preliminary interviews that will help you to decide who to invite for
an on-site interview. By this point in the search you should have weeded out all of those
who do not meet your minimum criteria as listed in the position announcement. But
besides just meeting a list of minimal requirements, the finalists you wish to invite for
onsite interviews should have specific additional qualities that justify the expense in
time and money of bringing them to your library. To get to that point you must have
not only established their qualifications, but also a certain amount of rapport with
them; hence the preliminary interview.
Preliminary interviews may be done by telephone or two way video services such as
Skype now offers. Some institutions even bring preliminary interviewees to a local
off-site location, but for most this is prohibitively expensive. Once again, the important
thing is to use the method that best fits your specific circumstances, which will
determine the primary goal of the preliminary interviews.
For instance, if your search thus far has left you with a large pool of qualified
applicants, your primary goal will be to substantially narrow the field. If the pool is
excessively large, it might be necessary to apply some sort of filter before even
The Bottom Line: Managing Library deciding who to contact, such as one or more of the preferred qualifications listed in the
Finances announcement (incidentally, such a situation might indicate that more of your
Vol. 24 No. 2, 2011
pp. 110-112 preferred qualifications should have been listed as prerequisites, since such a
q Emerald Group Publishing Limited circumstance is unlikely except under the most severe economic conditions). The idea
0888-045X
DOI 10.1108/08880451111169142 is to decide how many you can reasonably interview preliminarily and apply

2. additional requirements in order of their importance to the position until the number Directing the
left is within the limit. Then you will use the preliminary interviews to narrow the list personnel search
further to the finalists who will get an onsite interview.
On the other hand, (and far more likely, especially in smaller institutions) if you are part III
left with very few qualified applicants, your goal is probably to prioritize them. In this
case you must decide if you are going to invite all of them to onsite interviews, just a
few of them, or invite them to onsite interviews one at a time until you have a candidate 111
who accepts your offer. For the first option, of course, there is no need for preliminary
interviews and you should be reasonably sure that you will feel comfortable in making
a job offer to at least one of them. Using the second option means that you want to
invite only the number you can afford and you naturally want them to be those most
likely to win a job offer from you. The last option would generally be employed only if
there is already a clear difference in the priority levels of each of your finalists, such
that you are hoping the first one you invite turns out to be everything you think he or
she is and that he or she accepts your offer.
At this point in the process it is necessary to decide what you need to know from
each interviewee and structure the interviews to elicit that information. Start with
selecting or creating a standardized form used by all interviewers so that the same
information on each interviewee is available from each interviewer in the same place on
the form for easy comparison. Though the form should have standard questions for all
interviewees, it is more important that the form have a place for each piece of
information you want to know as it is often difficult to predict which question will elicit
a specific piece of information. The form should allow for collecting information from
follow-up questions that were not scripted beforehand. The less writing the
interviewers have to do the better, meaning that the form should offer a variety of
check boxes, scales, and other measures with which to quickly rate each interviewee on
the specific qualities for which they should be looking. There should, however be
adequate white space for explanations as well.
When scheduling the interviews, try to have them reasonably close together, but
with enough time after each one for interviewers to finish forming their impressions on
the forms. They can be back-to back, or spread out over two or more days, but keep in
mind that the applicants will have some time constraints as well, so flexibility is a
must. If you schedule too many interviews back-to-back you run the risk of falling
behind and giving an unfavorable impression. Keep in mind that the interviewee is also
evaluating the potential of your position being fulfilling to him or her as well. Be sure
to allow time to inform them of things they should know at this point and to answer
their questions.
Some institutions will have a set committee do the interviewing, but if this is not the
case, select those who will have the most day to day contact with the successful
candidate, keeping the number to five or less. More than this encumbers the process
unnecessarily. Although it may be tempting to just do the interviews yourself, the
buy-in from involving your staff and possibly others is well worth the sacrifice of their
work time as they will choose candidates they can be productive with later. Let each
interviewer have a specific question or possibly two of their own to ask and make sure
they each ask it of each interviewee. Be sure to look at these beforehand to make sure
that they are all appropriate interview questions. Your function during these queries
will be to note the interaction, looking for the kind of rapport alluded to earlier that will

3. BL be a primary signal as to whether or not the interviewee should be granted an on-site
interview.
24,2 Here is a suggested outline for the preliminary interview, with notes on each section:
.
Introductions. Welcome the interviewee, announce his/her name, current position
and have each member of the interviewing team introduce him/herself with
his/her job title.
112 .
Guidelines and summary. Summarize for the interviewee the sections of the
interview and explain briefly how the interview will proceed to minimize
awkward silences and help the interview to move forward without too much
intervention.
.
Questions. Start with an ice-breaker such as, “Tell us a little about yourself.”
Have each interviewer ask the same questions in the same order for each
interview as much as possible to help everyone keep up with their notes on the
form.
.
Introduction to the institution, the region, and explanation of terms and benefits.
Keep this as brief as possible, only giving information that is not easily found by
the applicant on the institutional website.
.
Questions from the interviewee. Ask the interviewee to specify to whom each
question is directed, and be ready to assign the question to the appropriate
person if they do not readily volunteer to answer, again to keep the discussion
flowing. Also be ready to cut off the discussion if an inappropriate question is
asked either way.
.
Explanation of timeline for the search. This does not need to be very detailed, but
should give the interviewee some idea of when he/she can expect to know if they
have an onsite interview and how quickly you intend to move from this point
toward making a job offer and having someone hired. Setbacks are always a
possibility, but you can at least share your intentions as realistic estimates.
Remember that you may have to stop and reevaluate the process and possibly start
over at any point where it becomes apparent that a step has failed to garner the
required results (such as no adequately qualified applicants to interview). Be flexible
enough to recognize reality checks when they come. Next time we will discuss the
onsite interview.
Corresponding author
Gary Fitsimmons can be contacted at: gfitsimmon5590@bryan.edu
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