SIVACRACY.NET: In Academia, rejection will find you

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In Academia, rejection will find you

So those of us who work in this industry understand all to well the vicissitudes of labor markets. We get used to seeing the PERFECT job advertised at the PERFECT institution, so we send off our vita and gather our rec letters and hope for months that the hiring committee will realize how perfectly we are made for that job.

Then, six months later or so (usually about this time of year), we get the rejections letter. The letter invariably expresses great respect for our professional accomplishments. But the letter writer is so, so sorry that someone else got the job.

No matter how accomplished we are, we all get these letters. They always hurt -- even if they are for jobs we might not actually want.

I just got one of those:

Ok. The problem is that I never applied for this job. Nor would I ever apply for this job. I can't think of a less appropriate job for me!

Oh well. I guess those are the breaks.

Posted by Siva on March 29, 2007 06:08 PM | Permalink

Comments

Dude, was this some kind of joke or did someone appropriate your professional identity?

Identity theft takes many different forms. Medical identify theft, where someone acquires your health insurance coverage to pay their health claims, is the fastest growing form of identity theft. Is this a new form of identity theft?

Posted by: Jardinero1 | March 29, 2007 09:19 PM

I have no idea. It's very strange. I wonder whether they are just rejecting everyone in the world because they are so proud of whom they hired!

Posted by: Siva Vaidhyanathan | March 30, 2007 09:21 AM

Hmmmm...I'd suggest it was a mix-up with a family member, but I haven't applied for any jobs in philosophy, and I would hope no one else in our family would be.

Posted by: Nani | March 30, 2007 09:53 AM

I had this happen to me last year. I was looking at a position in social action and ethics, and dropped the dean a note asking him/her a few questions about the position. 4 months later, I received a rejection letter, it was very strange. I mean, sure, all of my job materials are on the web, so they could have nominated me from the email, but still...

Posted by: Jeremy Hunsinger | March 30, 2007 09:56 AM

Siva: this is the ONLY time I have ever typed these letters on the web, and may be the ONLY time I ever do:
LOL!!!
It looks like they don't grant a single graduate degree. However, they do have a baseball team!!
This is odd. I have been rejected from some great places, but at least I had applied.
From Yahoo's education info:
Admission 1,600 applied, 1,358 admitted, 423 enrolled
Average high school GPA 3.3.
Test scores
SAT verbal scores over 500 53%
SAT math scores over 500 54%
ACT scores over 18 78%
SAT verbal scores over 600 12%
SAT math scores over 600 13%
ACT scores over 24 27%
SAT verbal scores over 700 2%
SAT math scores over 700 2%
ACT scores over 30 3%
-PJ

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