July 28, 2004
Journals and Resumes
Today the Office of Journal Administration informed us that the Write-On results will not be announced until August 4th (as opposed to August 2nd, as originally scheduled). I find it a bit odd that OJA can announce going to be late FIVE DAYS AHEAD OF TIME. You have 5 days! You're not late yet; there's still time! So much for optimism. Oh well.
The two extra days really doesn't bother me much, but it's caused a bit of an uproar at the Office of Career Services. You see, originally, the resume upload deadline for OCI was scheduled for August 3rd. When OJA announced its delay, it also announced that OCS would be rescheduling the resume deadline to August 5th. Five hours later OCS e-mails us to announce they would not be extending the deadline and that we would have to upload our resumes without knowing which (if any) journal we were selected for.
OCS justified its decision by claiming (1) one day is not enough time for students to update (add three or four words to) their resume, (2) because OCI bidding is by lottery and not pre-screened, not having journal on your resume won't make any difference in your interview schedule, (3) telling the interviewer which journal you were accepted to will be a great icebreaker at the interview, blah, blah, blah.
What nonsense. One day is more than enough time for such a minor revision. While OCI scheduling may not be pre-screened, you can bet that the randomly-selected candidates are screened before their interview. When half the class bids for firms which only hire the top 10%, it is absurd to think that every candidate gets the same quality interview. I have no doubt resumes are reviewed ahead of time and firms decide who they'd rather not waste their time with. Finally, announcing your journal is only a great icebreaker if (1) you make a journal and (2) you make a "prestigious" journal. How much more is it going to stand out when everyone is announcing their journal first thing, and you're not saying anything?
Perhaps I'm being too hard on OCS, but it really bothers me when I'm fed a bunch of BS justifications for an obviously capricious decision. OCS made its decision and that's fine. But, please don't patronize me by pretending you made it for me. In the end, none of it really matters and I could really care less. I'll get my randomly selected interviews, I'll tell them which journal selected me (assuming one does), and we'll go from there.
That said, I do resent being caught in the middle of some sort of intramural pissing contest between OJA and OCS over who gets to set OCI deadline.
The two extra days really doesn't bother me much, but it's caused a bit of an uproar at the Office of Career Services. You see, originally, the resume upload deadline for OCI was scheduled for August 3rd. When OJA announced its delay, it also announced that OCS would be rescheduling the resume deadline to August 5th. Five hours later OCS e-mails us to announce they would not be extending the deadline and that we would have to upload our resumes without knowing which (if any) journal we were selected for.
OCS justified its decision by claiming (1) one day is not enough time for students to update (add three or four words to) their resume, (2) because OCI bidding is by lottery and not pre-screened, not having journal on your resume won't make any difference in your interview schedule, (3) telling the interviewer which journal you were accepted to will be a great icebreaker at the interview, blah, blah, blah.
What nonsense. One day is more than enough time for such a minor revision. While OCI scheduling may not be pre-screened, you can bet that the randomly-selected candidates are screened before their interview. When half the class bids for firms which only hire the top 10%, it is absurd to think that every candidate gets the same quality interview. I have no doubt resumes are reviewed ahead of time and firms decide who they'd rather not waste their time with. Finally, announcing your journal is only a great icebreaker if (1) you make a journal and (2) you make a "prestigious" journal. How much more is it going to stand out when everyone is announcing their journal first thing, and you're not saying anything?
Perhaps I'm being too hard on OCS, but it really bothers me when I'm fed a bunch of BS justifications for an obviously capricious decision. OCS made its decision and that's fine. But, please don't patronize me by pretending you made it for me. In the end, none of it really matters and I could really care less. I'll get my randomly selected interviews, I'll tell them which journal selected me (assuming one does), and we'll go from there.
That said, I do resent being caught in the middle of some sort of intramural pissing contest between OJA and OCS over who gets to set OCI deadline.
