Friday, August 12, 2005
Cheeky buggers....Here's something almost worthy of a Tuesday Twat.
A few weeks ago I applied for a postdoc position at a well known University. Now truth be told, I wasn't expecting much. The job was very different to what I currently do, but they were offering training etc. I ummed and ahhed for a while then thought "sod it", and applied anyway. The main attraction being the large number of new skills that I would learn in the post. I figured that I could always come back to my current field in the future, complete with a whole load of new and applicable skills that I feel that I am lacking. I filled in the application forms etc and sent thm off. By email, as requested.
Now, first of all, this University - like most to be fair - puts a caveat at the bottom of the form
"Due to the large numbers of applications that we receive for each position, we are unable to acknowledge receipt of your application. If you have not heard anything within 4 weeks of the closing date, you can assume that your application was unsuccessful".
Now this really pisses me off. I can understand that in the days of paper-based applications, sending a reply to each applicant by mail would be a time-consuming and expensive business - but just how much time and effort does it cost for the secretary receiving an emailed form to hit "Reply to" to acknowledge receipt of the form? I mean really? For all I know, the application form could be sitting in the Junkmail folder of an overzealous Outlook. I know that my Outlook automatically quarantines anything with an attachment that contains more than one period in it eg Sanescientist.application.doc would be quarantined as a potential virus. Fortunately I'm wise to that and don't include additional periods in my filenames.
But anyways, 4 weeks pass and I hear nothing.
5 weeks pass and an email arrives.
"Thankyou for applying for the above position. In accordance with the University's Equal opportunities policy, we are required to monitor all applications. We would be grateful if you could fill in the attached monitoring form with your ethnicity and details of any disabilities which you may have. This email does not imply that you have been shortlisted for an interview. If you have not yet heard from the University, you may assume that your application was unsuccessful."
Two points:
1) I already filled in the equal opportunities form - it comprises the last 2 pages of the standard application form.
2) You can't be arsed to hit reply on outlook to let me know that the application was received, but you can be bothered to go back through the application form to extract my email address, to send me an utterly pointless email requesting that I do something that I have already done - after you have already turned me down.
Hmmm. I wonder how many returns they actually get?
# posted by SaneScientist @ 1:15 am
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