Presentation by Shirley Moloney, Library Staffing & Finance Manager UCD Library at Library Association of Ireland Career Development Group CV & Interview Workshop "On the Road to Success" on 14th April 2018 in Trinity College Dublin.

1. Leabharlann UCD
An Coláiste Ollscoile, Baile
Átha Cliath,
Belfield, Baile Átha Cliath 4,
Eire
UCD Library
University College Dublin,
Belfield, Dublin 4, Ireland
Getting to interview
Shirley Moloney
Library Staffing & Finance Manager

2. UCD in figures
1 Ranked within top 1% of higher education institutions world-wide
27 Percentage of international students
28 Percentage of international staff
29
Percentage of undergraduate students from under represented
cohorts
64 Percentage of non-Exchequer funding
133 Hectares making up the woodland campus
138 Number of nationalities within the student body
1,536 Number of PhD students
1,588 Academic staff (FTEs)
1,784 Support staff (FTEs)
8,857 Number of awards conferred each year
9,154 Number of graduate students
33,724 Total number of students
239,000 Number of alumni across 165 countries
1,700,000 Approximate number of annual visits to library facilities

3. • 7 locations
– Site libraries
• James Joyce Library
• Health Sciences
• Richview (Architecture and Planning)
• Veterinary Science
• Blackrock – graduate business
– Newstead – storage
– National Folklore Collection
– UCD Archives
• Opening hours
– 7am to midnight Monday to Friday (near exams)
– 8am to midnight Saturday and Sunday (near
exams)
UCD Library

4. UCD Library staffing
Grades/Titles Staff
University Librarian 1
Associate Librarians 2
Sub Librarians/Archivists 7
Operational managers (AL1A) 3
Assistant librarians/Archivists 26
AO1/AO2 2
IT/programmers 4
Senior Library Assistants 14
Library Assistants/EAs 47
Facilities staff 10
Technical staff 2
Casual/students LAs 19
Casual Facilities 8
Total 145

5. Recruitment
• 7 active or pending recruitments
• 52 competitions completed in last 2 years
• 732 applications
• 145 interviews
• So how do you get to be one of the 1 out of
every 5 applicants that we interview?

6. The job description
– About the employer
• Could I work for an employer like this?
• Does the subject area of the employer interest me?
• Does the physical location suit me?
– Principal duties/responsibilities
• Does the role interest me?
• Am I overqualified?
• Am I underqualified?
• What can I bring to the role?
• How could this role add to my current skills?
Should I apply?

7. – Mandatory requirements
• Red lines
– Academic qualifications
– Length/type of previous experience
– Practical skills – driving licence
– Desirable requirements
– Other
• Working hours
• Dress code
– Informal enquiries
– To call or not to call!

8. Curriculum Vitae
• CV
– Length of cv
– Clarity of presentation
– Use of fonts/colours
– Personal statement – Is it relevant to position?
• Attributes instead of statement
– Ensure skills outlined in the job description have
been mentioned where relevant
• Picture
• Length of positions
– why short term?
• Fixed term or just left?
– Full-time/part-time/while studying?

9. Letter of application
The most important element of your application
– Outline briefly why you fit the role
• Cover as many of the mandatory and desirable
attributes that you can
• Relate these to the post responsibilities if possible
• If important but little experience – transfer skills
• Don’t sabotage yourself
– Length
– Fonts/colours
– Proof read
– Proof read again

10. Delivery of application
• Read the instructions!
• If no clear instructions
– Online
• PDF always
– Post
• A4 if possible
• maximum one fold into envelope
• Feedback
– Ask for feedback

11. Questions