Saturday, November 10, 2007

Communication Breakdown, It's Always the Same

Can I just say what an awesome time this is for the APA website to go down?

Update at 12:54: Okay, it looks like the APA's server hamsters are back in their wheels and running at a decent pace. Maybe someone could get them some carrots or something?

11 comments:

Anonymous said...

maybe someone who downloaded the pdf yesterday could post the thing? I have it on my work computer, but not at home :(

Anonymous said...

Hmmmm, looks like it's down again. Damn hamsters.

Anonymous said...

I couldn't get the page all day Sat., and it's still down today. Can anybody else access it?

Anonymous said...

someone please post the latest jfp pdf online somewhere and post the url here. someone reading this has got to have it. thank you for being fair.

Anonymous said...

I too would appreciate it if someone could post the latest jfp. I am a member, but the site seems to be down.

Anonymous said...

Here it is:

http://jfp176.googlepages.com/home

Anonymous said...

Thanks SO much!

Anonymous said...

Hey, I just noticed something about the recent JFP. A number of departments have adopted a new method of writing job descriptions. Rather than telling you what they want you to send, and where to send it, they say go to the following very long URL and that page will tell you where to send it. You go there, and there's a sentence "send to the department" or "send to HR". No c/o or who to address the letter to. Then you go to the department's main page, or HR's, and maybe if you're lucky find a general-purpose address. I suppose this is a method of weeding out casual candidates: guess how to apply, and if you're right, we'll consider your app. Should I mention this is a pain in the ass?

Oh, and some departments seem incapable of punctuating ads. Consider the following: "Preferred Qualifications History: Ability to teach Philosophy of Education, Philosophy of Law or American Philosophy. Ethics/Social & Political: Ability to teach Philosophy of Education, Philosophy of Law or American Philosophy". I mean, what the hell is that? You might guess that "preferred qualifications" and "ability to teach" both mean AOC. You'd think maybe they just don't know the conventions of the field, but they've already used the phrase "Area of Competence" earlier in the ad, and listed different areas! That school's going to get 500 applications, because nobody knows what the hell they want, and they'll get pissed off "here's another guy who shouldn't be applying for this job. He should have figured out that we really want a Heidegger specialist. After all, it's the only field that wasn't listed somewhere in our ad."

Anonymous said...

That add is particularly frustrating because they're actually advertising for TWO positions. However, the add is tagged with just one position number. And they continually go back and forth between the two positions, about the AOS/AOC, preferred qualifications and such. Badly written.

I think that this the same school that sent out computer generated rejections THIS August for LAST years search.

I KNOW that it's the same school that, AFTER I applied last year in the way stated by the add, the department sent out a mass email to all applicants saying that the school now required that everyone apply online and ALL applicants must now do that, even those who already sent in the paper app. Like hell. That cost me time and money.

Anonymous said...

Today's a holiday. I guess the APA folks are taking a 3-day weekend, and won't realize the site's been down until they come in Tuesday morning.

Now, how many grad students take 3-day weekends? Ever

Anonymous said...

I see that Salem State reposted one of their two ads (the one I quoted from the other day). Is that a sign that someone there is reading your blog? (Yeah, I named names this time.)

Or maybe they got my application and said "shit, we need better applicants."