Operations manager outlines hiring, onboarding and job-requirement changes

Jennifer Williams, operations manager, gave trustees a detailed briefing Tuesday on the library’s hiring and personnel processes, including outreach, application review, interviewing, background checks, onboarding, performance appraisal and union communications.

Williams said recruitment begins with a discussion about whether a vacancy should be refilled or reclassified, then moves to posting in the city applicant system (transcript reference: NeoLearn) and on additional platforms when appropriate. "I read through all of those applications to determine if they make our qualifications," Williams said when describing initial screening and her practice of reviewing every application.

She said interviews are typically conducted by the hiring supervisor and herself, offers are tentative pending background checks and references, and final onboarding includes department-level training. Williams described the city’s use of Performance Pro for staff appraisals and noted she coordinates with department supervisors and serves as the library’s point of contact with the union.

Trustees asked about whether job requirements unnecessarily exclude candidates. Williams said the library regularly reviews job qualifications; she cited a recent change that reduced the minimum education for the library-assistant classification from a bachelor’s degree to an associate degree. The board and staff said they are also reconsidering whether a driver’s-license requirement remains appropriate given changing applicant demographics.

Williams said the library conducts regular DEI work on job descriptions and has modified testing and screening instruments where they did not yield useful information. She also described volunteer screening and background-check procedures and said payroll and timesheets are handled centrally by her office. The briefing was informational and no board action was taken.