I received this question from a SLIS student.

Hi Jill,

I am interviewing next week for a part-time reference position in an academic library. I was hoping you could direct me to a site where I might get an idea of some questions they might ask, and how best to prepare. I have studied their website (and databases since it is a biosciences library), but was wondering how else to prepare. The position will be staffing a reference desk as well as preparing on-line instructional tutorials and course guides and circulation work.

Thank you for any advice!

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Hello and thank you for your question.

First, it is great that you have been studying the company’s website. Use that information to your benefit to demonstrate that you took initiative to learn about the company and research the position thoroughly.

Secondly, I am including a link to the Interviewing section on slisweb that gives you detailed information on how to prepare for the interview, practice interview questions, and a sample of questions for you to ask during the interview.

http://ischool.sjsu.edu/career-development

When preparing for the interview, be sure to have your answers to these three questions absolutely nailed!

1. Tell us about yourself?
2. Why do you want this job?
3. Why should we hire you?

In addition, I highly recommend the use of Perfect Interview as part of your preparation. With the use of a web cam and a microphone, you can use this mock interviewing tool to practice your interviewing skills, save the results, and play it back to learn what you did well and what you want to improve on. You can use this site as many times as you like.

http://ischool.sjsu.edu/career-development

It sounds like you have studied the job description and understand the position. Use that knowledge and come up with examples from your experience that you can use to demonstrate your skill in areas that relate to the job description, like preparing on-line instructional tutorials and course guides, for example.

I hope that helps and best of luck.