A quick survey of the current Scottish jobs market

 Last time I looked at how processes have changed in job applications since the 90s. What follows below is a quick run-down on the state of the job scene in Scotland for library and information jobs in the last few months.  It doesn’t remotely hold itself out to be based on anything other than subjective observation. No great particular order for what follows.

Are There Jobs Going In Scotland?

Yes, there are. A fair amount in fact. I was in fact pleasantly surprised at the amount going and the frequency with which new ones were advertised.  Obvious caveat on this is that what I don’t know is what the proportions are between jobs advertised and sheer numbers of folk seeking and applying for them.  So all I can really say is that there recently have been a range of jobs to apply for out there at least.

What’s the sectoral coverage?

There’s a big variety, again, a really surprising amount of variety in some ways. So a quick basic run-down would include various school library / resource centre posts, lots of university academic library posts (especially in Edinburgh), lots of public library posts (though tending to be paraprofessional level or entry level professional, and often very limited fixed hours or ‘casual’ contracts), some health jobs, some commercial company ones (tend to be Aberdeen), some charity jobs,  the odd National Library of Scotland one, rare legal information ones.

There’s been an utterly astounding level of some very subject specialist jobs though (e.g. two art librarians in Edinburgh), Media Librarian…  Trying to think of what I haven’t seen at all...  Further education / college jobs actually.  I’m assuming that’s to some extent at least down to the major changes going through that sector just now with an awful lot of big mergers allied to the (now traditional just about everywhere) lack of cash.

What’s the geographical coverage?

Again, it’s really quite broad and better than I expected.  Though the extent is better than the depth really.  Overall there’s a lot more jobs in Edinburgh and Aberdeen than anywhere else that I’ve seen, and everywhere else is patchy or slim. In the last week or so for example islands and coastal locations have been very popular with lots of public library assistant jobs in the Highlands.

Geography is an interesting one jobs-wise.  The basic rule on it goes it’s not the distance it’s the accessibility that matters.  It’s the logistics of could you actually get there for the start time and get home again after the end time, how long does all that take, how much of your own time and expense are you prepared to spend on it, what proportion of salary would it actually cost to do it. Is there public transport that is feasible?  If you drive then is there parking there and how long would it take in rush hour?  So it’s not the distance, it’s the logistics.

What level of jobs / hours / salaries are going?

Public library tends to be mostly library assistants, mostly part-time. Though there are some more entry level professional librarian roles and library assistant roles that are full-time. The charity jobs are often fixed-term and may be ‘x’ number of days a week rather than full-time and have tended to be professional level. Health, again, has been mostly fixed-term and some part-time hours.  The academic library jobs tend to be full-time open professional level contracts. The school librarian / LRC Manager ones are often term-time only and may involve more than one school (depends on the local authority policy on and how they’re organised or if it’s a private school). Other sectors, bit of a mix between full-time open contracts and fixed term appointments.

More library assistant roles in public sector, more professional level posts in academic, and there’s been a fair amount of senior roles in academic sector compared to any other sector too. Schools and health bit of a mixture of professional and paraprofessional roles going. Salaries, as you would expect, kind of depends what level of role in what sector and how many hours. So some very basic salaries to some high ones for Scotland and everything inbetween.

Career Prospects

I was reading one particular Job Description the other week and came to the wonderful line near the end of ‘Career prospects – none’.  Most Job Descriptions are not as blatant as this (quite possibly a good thing!). But it did get me thinking about a few things.

I tend to take the view that in the last five years or so most places have been restructured and felt the impacts of straightened financial circumstances. It’s not news to anyone that times are difficult. I would suspect what this means in terms of individuals is that a lot of people’s c.v.’s will no longer go in straight linear upward trajectory and / or expected ways, but might well take more diversions, cul-de-sacs, and changes of direction than would otherwise be expected to be the case.

I don’t see anything wrong in any of that.  I’d call it being pragmatic and realistic. I think folk have to be fairly flexible and adaptable and it’s good to decide what you are willing to compromise on and what you aren’t early on. But I do suspect it’s easier to sell the wish for a change of direction currently than it might have been several years ago.

Changing Sectors

Obviously it still needs backed up with reasonable prospect that you can also fulfil it mind, which is the less easy part! Changing sectors has been one of those eternally debated issues within the profession. I don’t think the answer on it has changed any. It’s possible to do it, but it isn’t easy to do it, and you have to be able to demonstrate why you should be employed to do it, what experience you have that is relevant and what else you can bring to it someone else could not, or someone else with more closely aligned experience will get it.

But I don’t think there’s enough jobs going that just waiting for one very specific dream job to come along is hugely realistic. It never was in Scotland. If you can wait year upon year for it then all well and good, if not, well, maybe look a bit wider, see what else is interesting and do’able and make of it what you can.

Conclusion

There are jobs going, and in a variety of sectors at a variety of levels. But there’s not huge amounts doing any one particular thing or in any one place mostly. So all in all be prepared to be flexible and diversify and think through what is essential and what can be compromised is probably good advice.

Next time, I shall muse on the content of Job Descriptions and Person Specifications and the common elements. This appears to be becoming a mini-series (yikes!!!) (grins)