anon
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Post by anon on Sept 1, 2011 15:41:34 GMT -5
Dear Search Committees,
I don't know if it is the circa 1993 Angelfire inspired design or the horrifically confusing interface, but every time you force me to use this pile of shit website I want to quit academia forever. In the future, please pay the 16 year old elite hacker down the street $8.19 to code a better platform and don't make anyone suffer through this nonsense.
Cordially, Anon
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Post by 2wicky on Sept 2, 2011 17:55:56 GMT -5
You had me at Angelfire. If there was a "like" button, you would have earned it. Let the rest of the sociologists complain about your exploitative child labor comments.
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Post by junior on Sept 5, 2011 9:53:14 GMT -5
+1. just did my first app through this, and what a terrible - and confusing - site.
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Post by whatever on Sept 13, 2011 12:39:01 GMT -5
Totally, completely agree. Seriously, the makers of this website should be ashamed of the themselves.
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Post by indeed on Sept 13, 2011 13:36:20 GMT -5
+1. I am especially unhappy with departments that want my recommenders to upload letters to the site. That presumes a level of technical competence (and free time) for senior people that is not realistic. Please departments, make that optional, because it's much easier for them to email things to your department administrator.
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Post by letters on Sept 13, 2011 14:51:43 GMT -5
What I hate is that it's unclear whether the application will be considered if all the letters aren't in. Ugggggggh.
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anon
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Post by anon on Sept 13, 2011 15:00:32 GMT -5
letters -
It's clear that the hiring depts have access to your application, even if it's incomplete. Cornell sent an email out to all their applicants last week and mentioned that they have begun reading materials.
I've heard that for a lot of schools, not having letters in right at the deadline isn't that big of a deal, especially since they'll start with CVs and cover letters first. That said, it sounds like you have some bugging to do.
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Post by anoon on Sept 13, 2011 15:02:13 GMT -5
Yes, this site is a piece of dog shit. Not only am I too dumb to use it, but it confused my departmental admin and they sent letters on my behalf to a bunch of schools I have no intention of applying for. My hope is that some referrences who have chosen to upload their own letters will realize how bad this site is and stop using it for their own applications (I know, that is totally wishful thinking...)
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anon
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Post by anon on Sept 13, 2011 15:03:49 GMT -5
After I wrote that, I realized that maybe they only started reading completed applications. Oops.
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Post by redeeming quality on Sept 19, 2011 10:15:53 GMT -5
One thing I do like is that my letter writers can upload a generic letter to be used for all jobs that I apply for on that site. I think it ultimately saves time for both me and my writers.
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yep
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Post by yep on Sept 19, 2011 11:35:30 GMT -5
^ But managing this is much easier with interfolio, which would allow you to send letters to job searches at other sites as well.
If you didn't know - interfolio makes it so that you can send an email request for them to forward confidential letters. Once your generic letters are uploaded, it creates an interfolio email address that you can enter in all of those rubbish online systems (state schools, I'm looking at you) and that will trigger confidential document delivery to the system emails; not sure if that is automatic or a good use of human labor. That feature alone is well worth their fees in my book. Plus their website is much easier to use. (I'm not an interfolio shill, but I have been a frequent user of both sites.)
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Post by me on Sept 28, 2011 14:20:55 GMT -5
Is it really $6 to email every letter of recommendation on interfolio? With over 50 applications... this seems expensive.
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anon
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Post by anon on Sept 28, 2011 15:04:03 GMT -5
I looked into using interfolio this year and it was something like $40 to join, and yes, $6 for each file they sent. I quickly decided that I couldn't afford that!!! Some schools may have deals with interfolio to get reduced rates for students, but mine doesn't.
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yep
Junior Member
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Post by yep on Sept 28, 2011 16:33:20 GMT -5
Sure, it adds up, but do you think it's a good idea to send 50 billion requests for letters to your letter writers? They've got more to do than write letters for you.
I'd rather ask for some customized letters, ask for some generic letters through our department, and use interfolio for lesser places and those stupid online systems. Plus it's good to have letters up there in case you stumble across something great with a really fast deadline.
Oh, and I just renewed, and it is only $20/year, with discounts for multiple year packages.
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Post by hummmmm on Oct 15, 2011 23:34:12 GMT -5
I agree that academicjobsonline is annoying and hard to use, but I must say, it must work on the other end. The three jobs I applied for using this service (UMass, Cornell, Yale) have moved faster than any other job I applied for! (i didn't get any of those).
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