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This column is designed to address library personnel issues. This particular installment seeks to discuss preparation for interviews, the interview process, and appropriate follow‐up actions after an interview.

The column is based on the author's substantial experience dealing with personnel matters in academic, public, and special libraries, including hiring for all types of positions. It is personal opinion, based on lengthy experience.

The column is intended to help people to deal with all types of personnel issues overall; this specific column is intended to assist people in the process of searching for and interviewing for a professional position.

The column is intended to assist people with personnel issues in general, and specifically, in this instance, with finding and securing a professional position.

Although the job market remains extremely competitive for entry‐level librarian positions, only individual, anecdotal stories of what hiring committees are looking for in the candidates they invite to interview currently exist; no formal studies have been conducted since the recession began in early 2008. This survey was created with the aim of allowing those with recent experience on hiring committees to provide advice to those on the market for entry‐level public and academic librarian positions and to answer what are, for many job‐seekers, burning questions.

This is an exploratory study designed to give librarians with hiring committee experience an opportunity to speak honestly about their preferences, explain how the interview process works at their institutions, and provide advice to job‐seekers.

The results of this survey provide guidance on what candidates can do to make the most of their abilities, knowledge and skills during the interview process.

Can a new library school graduate compete with those who have so much more experience? What traits are hiring committees looking for in an entry‐level librarian? While the literature does give some indication of best practices for hiring committees in libraries, the researchers of this study wanted to delve into what hiring committees really seek in entry‐level librarians now that the competition is more intense.

The purpose of this paper is to present a next step in Greta Foff Paules' groundbreaking analysis of control‐resistance in service work by exploring the work practices of restaurant servers in regard to ways they resist and reshape the tipping system that structures their work life. Specifically, the author explores how workers will attempt to manipulate the system to elicit higher tips from customers and when servers forgo an economic tip, so that they can exercise dignity and self‐respect. Central to this analysis is to highlight the space in between Paules' notions of “getting” and “making” a tip. In this space, servers can exercise resistance and still acknowledge the humanness of the customer.

The research methodology is participant observation and interviews.

Restaurant servers see their ability to manipulate the tipping system as routes to exercising agency and resistance in work interactions. Moreover, servers see their ability to earn tips (and even forgo tips) by both capitalizing on the organizational structures and capitalizing on the customers' human nature.

The research focuses on servers broadly, and not on distinctions within groups of servers (i.e. sex differences, age differences or restaurant types).

This paper furthers the understanding of the tipping practice, which is historically viewed in terms of status inequality and control. In contrast, the author highlight how workers in practice, are able to use the tipping system to resist customer and manager demands, assert their creativity, agency, and self‐dignity, and still treat the customer as a social being.

The purpose of this study was to examine how interview support materials provided on a company’s website would impact potential employees’ perceptions of organizational attractiveness (OA). This study examined the effects of interviewer, interview support and employee variables on employees’ perceptions of OA.

This study obtained data from 276 working adults. The participants were asked to visualize that they were selected for an interview, then were given one of four manipulations (with interview support, without interview support; informed participant interview would be with a potential peer, or interview would be with a potential supervisor) and post-manipulation measures (OA perception, trait anxiety, demographics).

This study’s results indicated that interviewer characteristics (peer or supervisor) were not significant; however, women and individuals with a lower socio-economic (SES) status found organizations to be more attractive when provided with interview support. There was an opposite effect on men and those with a higher SES.

This study recognizes that the lack of demographic diversity and realism were limitations that must be considered; however, this study also recognizes that these findings have several practical implications (considering offering interview support, potential ideas to increase OA) and social implications (increasing demographic diversity in the workplace by also aiding historically disadvantaged groups).

Knowledge of who would be conducting the selection interview potential future peer versus a future supervisor did not affect organizational attraction OA ratings. Interview support offered on a company website had a positive impact on perceptions of OA for women and individuals with lower SES; however, the same support had a negative impact on perceptions of OA for men and individuals with higher SES.

In addition to the social and practical implications this study holds, the authors of this study are not aware of any additional studies that examine gender and SES on organizational attraction.

Examines the reasons behind deciding to change career and is a personal account of the factors to consider when applying for a position in fields related to librarianship. Assesses skills, knowledge and experience gained within library and information work and applies them to sell to prospective employers. Gives advice on how to know when the time is right to make a move, as well as useful interview tips.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of an online peer-mentoring initiative for language students at the Open University, UK. The communities of practice (CoP) model (Wenger, 2010) was used as a theoretical framework within which to explore the nature and extent of mentor and mentee participation; and the impact of the scheme on student confidence and motivation.

Within a qualitative paradigm, multi-data sources were employed to collect and analyse data. Participation was measured from analysis of online interaction, while participant views were captured through interviews, forum posts and surveys.

Findings revealed that mentors were perceived by students who used the scheme to be instrumental in building confidence and motivation. In addition, varying participation patterns indicated that students used the online learning communities to meet their differing needs during their studies. These needs involved passively reading posts as well as actively posting.

Any direct statistical correlation between student confidence and motivation and online peer mentoring was beyond the scope of this study and could be the focus of future research. Additionally, research might also explore the impact of student mentors on student participation in wider CoPs.

Practical recommendations from the study include the importance of mentor training to develop effective communication strategies and to differentiate the role from that of tutor moderators, whose remit is to respond to academic content-related queries in module-wide forums.

There is little research into the nature and impact of online peer mentoring on student motivation and confidence. This study aimed to bridge this gap.

The purpose of this paper is to build upon the studies of journalism from an LIS perspective by exploring and differentiating the purposive behavior of newspaper reporters from their serendipitous encounters with information that lead to new story ideas. This paper also provides a path toward pedagogical improvements in training the modern journalism workforce in being more open to creative story ideas.

This study utilized semi-structured telephone interviews. Participants were recruited via e-mail after collecting contact information through the Cision database. The study sample was drawn from newspaper reporters who work at or freelance for the top 25 metropolitan newspapers in the USA, in terms of circulation size, based on data from the Alliance for Audited Media. A total of 15 participants were interviewed.

This paper provides insight into the story ideation process of journalists in that the study participants generally do not think about how they are coming up with story ideas as much as they are striving to place themselves in situations where, based on their experience and interests, they know they are more likely to encounter a good idea. Each encounter proved meaningful in some powerful fashion, which speaks to the historical importance of serendipity in achieving breakthroughs and discoveries in a wide variety of fields.

The sampling frame for this study was relatively small, representing 8 percent of the total number of working newspaper journalists from the top 25 newspapers in the USA, in terms of circulation size. Therefore, the findings are not generalizable to the entire population of journalists in this country.

The findings point to the importance of a prepared mind in facilitating serendipitous episodes. In the case of journalism, that means developing a heightened news sense and cultivating routines where they place themselves in trigger-rich environments. Pedagogically, journalism education must include courses in creative storytelling to help train the modern newspaper workforce in an ever-expanding and competitive media landscape. These courses, ideally paired with techniques and models from the field of information science and learning technologies, could help train young journalists in methods that enhance their ability to identify, seek and pursue serendipitous stories.

This paper fulfills a need in journalism studies in finding variability in news routines by utilizing an interdisciplinary approach that combines journalism studies and library and information science models to probe how journalists encounter ideas incidentally. Previous research in this area has focused on how news consumers serendipitously encounter information. This paper takes a fresh approach to explore how creative ideas are encountered serendipitously in the construction of news.

The purpose of this paper is to aim to help those in the learning and training community understand the potential applications and practicalities of mobile learning, and how it can be exploited to improve competitiveness – particularly important in this difficult economic climate.

Based on recent academic research and on piloted initiatives, the role of mobile learning in improving organizational performance is explored in a step‐by‐step guide.

In today's highly mobile and competitive world, organizations need to change the way in which they provide skills training for employees. As traditional forms of learning become less common, mobile devices, such as MP3 players and PDAs, will increasingly be used to help train and support the performance of staff.

This article is of considerable practical importance to learning and development managers, as it outlines the most important aspects of mobile learning and how it can be used to improve organizational performance.

The purpose of this paper is to examine the outcomes of a formal university mentorship program that paired junior and senior (third and fourth year) undergraduate student mentees with mentors from industry. Specifically, the researchers examined the effects of mentorship on mentees’ psychological sense of community at the university, and job search self-efficacy (confidence).

The researchers used a mixed-methods design that incorporated survey data and qualitative data from interviews and focus groups. Where relevant, mentees were compared to a control group of students who did not participate in the mentorship program.

The results demonstrate that the mentees accrued several benefits from participating in the mentorship program. For mentees (but not the control group), job search self-efficacy increased over time as a result of participating in the program. Mentees valued receiving practical career-related support such as opportunities for networking, resume development and job interviewing skills. Mentees also gained a more realistic view about the workplace and their potential career options, and received important psychosocial support from their mentor.

Results suggest that junior and senior undergraduate student mentees gained professional and career-related benefits including increased job search self-efficacy from participation in a mentorship program that paired them with mentors from industry. In addition, the qualitative results indicate that mentees reported psychosocial benefits including an increased sense of connection to the university. Altogether, results indicate that undergraduate students experience positive outcomes from participating in mentorship programs designed to prepare them for the transition from university to the workplace.