The First Post

I have applied for jobs in the past. But now I'm documenting them.

Today starts with Job #1: English Professor at Ohlone College.

I would love this job -- in one of my writing classes, a student asked me, "Mr. Heller, why didn't they teach us this stuff in high school?" It's a good question, but I didn't have a good answer. But that was some serious job satisfaction right there -- it was a little reminder about why I went into this field in the first place.

This job is somewhat unique in the field, because they don't require letters of recommendation right off the bat. This is a very good thing! Look at it this way: they're going to get hundreds of applications for this job. Let's keep the math simple and say 100. That means that 100 people are going to ask 300 other people to write them a letter of recommendation, just create fake letters, or some combination of both. When you require letters of rec in the first round, you're just BEGGING for people to lie to you. Sheesh.

Ohlone's approach makes far more sense -- get your applicants, pick the ones you think are the best candidates, and THEN ask for letters of recommendation. Saves hundreds of people time, money, and resources!