MLA 2019: Creating New Job Pathways through Partnership and POP-UP Hiring Events

The session was presented by Jennifer Sippel, Minneapolis College, Deb Torres, St. Catherine University, and Amy McNally, Hennepin County Library, with Karla Tapia Vizcarra and Trish Vaillancourt from Hennepin County Library.

The POP UP hiring events were a partnership with Hennepin County Library, Minneapolis College, and St. Catherine University. Hennepin County Library brought in a consultant to do a review of their landscape. They identified disparity domains in their organization with employment; education; income; housing; transportation; justice; and health. This, they noticed, mirrored systemic racism and poverty. They saw that surface level changes would not be effective. They wanted to make systemic changes. This is how they began to look at hiring practices and created new pathways for underrepresented people and minorities by changing the class of two roles so they do not require an MLIS degree: Associate Librarian Substitutes and Specialist Substitutes.

HCL uses these two job classes broadly. The positions are limited, though. Associates can work up to 19 hours per week and there are no benefits. HCL saw these positions as a great way to partner with Minneapolis College’s and St. Kate’s library programs. This led to the POP UP events, which were held on each college’s campuses. Students commented that this made for a less nerve-wracking experience.

Karla Tapia Vizcarra was hired from a POP UP hiring event that occurred at Minneapolis College. Karla is the first to go to college in her family. She appreciated that the POP UP event was on campus and curated by the faculty. She knew the faculty and felt relaxed attending the event.

Trish Vaillancourt was hired from a POP UP hiring event that took place on the St. Kate’s campus. Trish was nervous about looking for a job as she had no library experience to support her degree. She also commented that she enjoyed the lightning round sessions, which did not make it feel like an interview. They had 15 minutes to say who they were and what they could bring to HCL.

Deb Torres noted that it was a fulfilling experience because many of the soon-to-be graduates were hired through the event. Having the events on campus rather than at HCL allowed the students to be mentored and encouraged throughout the process. It helped remove some layers to the whole process, which were critical for many of the students. Both Deb and Jennifer felt the events were beneficial are would welcome the opportunity to host them again.