I applied for a position, the same position that I have been doing for the last 12 years at another institution, and was pretty much denied instantly by email without even getting a interview. Even though the degree came from them. Kind of funny if you think about it.
OT; How hard is it to get employedby Penn State?
- Thread starter PennStateNate
- Start date
No, what would that have to do with it. They won't even hire someone with one of their degrees who has countless years of experience for their jobs.
There are spies on this message board who report back to the university. You were outed as a poster so no job for you. Seriously though, the university administration is a closed little kingdom so I doubt anybody knows how and why decisions are made.
That job is likely earmarked for somebody. Because of your alum status, they maybe figured they should be nice and let you know ASAP rather than string you along.
Are you breathing? Can you count to 10 without using your fingers? Can you spell "cat" without using a "k". In a crisis do you rush to judgment? Are you willing to fire a long time employee with an impeccable record without all the facts? Oh wait.....those were qualifications for our Board of Trustees prior to 2011....sorry!
If you are a fair, open-minded individual whose parents raised you to respect your fellow man, and if you possess a high degree of integrity as a result of that, then you have no chance of working for PSU. You simply aren't the kind of person they are looking for.
You have no idea how many people apply to staff positions at Penn State. Recently, I was on a group of three to hire for an entry level position that only required an Associates Degree. We received over 90 applications, many from people with a Masters degree. Try digging through that pile of paperwork in a timely manner without neglecting your day to day job duties. The three of us each spent the weekend on our own coming up with a short list of 20. On Monday, any applicant that showed up on at least two of our lists received an email with 10-15 questions to answer. There were 11. We aded two more that only showed on one list that someone felt strongly about for a total of 13. After getting the 13 email replies, we telephoned interviewed six. From those six we brougt in three for in person interviews. One had a Masters and two had Bachelors for a position that only required an Associates. Our first choice turned us down because the pay wasn't high enough and our second choice accepted. The guy with the Masters was never considered after his in person interview.
Going from one position to another within the university is no easy task either. I've been with PSU for almost 19 years full time and have applied for several other positions within the University over the years and have only recieved three interviews. It took me five years and seven interviews as a part time employee before I got my full time position. Fortunately for me, my position has changed considerably over the years and has been reclassified three times so I haven't stagnated.
Currently I supervise and hire part-time staff for our departments. On average, I get 30-60 applicants every time I post a position. Again, many with a Bachelors and even a Masters degree. Trying to stick out in a crowd (in a positive way) is no easy task. I recently hired a student in her last year of a 5 year program. She was outstanding. During her exit interview, I made the off hand comment that I wished she had applied earlier in her academic career. It turns out she had applied three times before, but for whatever reason, her application, resume & cover letter didn't stick out enough for me to consider contacting her.
Going from one position to another within the university is no easy task either. I've been with PSU for almost 19 years full time and have applied for several other positions within the University over the years and have only recieved three interviews. It took me five years and seven interviews as a part time employee before I got my full time position. Fortunately for me, my position has changed considerably over the years and has been reclassified three times so I haven't stagnated.
Currently I supervise and hire part-time staff for our departments. On average, I get 30-60 applicants every time I post a position. Again, many with a Bachelors and even a Masters degree. Trying to stick out in a crowd (in a positive way) is no easy task. I recently hired a student in her last year of a 5 year program. She was outstanding. During her exit interview, I made the off hand comment that I wished she had applied earlier in her academic career. It turns out she had applied three times before, but for whatever reason, her application, resume & cover letter didn't stick out enough for me to consider contacting her.
Other institutions are no different.
After retiring for the military, I worked an interim job for the state of Florida based entirely on the latitude to hire me by an old military boss.
I applied for a full time position in another department where my two most recent military positions made me a very capable candidate and did not get to even the first round of consideration.
My view of the state then and now is that it hires from within and women are the majority employee and will remain the majority employee.
After retiring for the military, I worked an interim job for the state of Florida based entirely on the latitude to hire me by an old military boss.
I applied for a full time position in another department where my two most recent military positions made me a very capable candidate and did not get to even the first round of consideration.
My view of the state then and now is that it hires from within and women are the majority employee and will remain the majority employee.
Of no particular relevance I worked for PSU for about 2 months back around 1988. One of my profs came into the classroom near the end of the year and asked if anybody needed a summer job. There was no interest among my classmates but I had a lease where I was going to be paying to rent over the summer anyway so after class I told him I wanted a job. It was by far the most enjoyable summer I ever spent at PSU.
This was a research project in the School of Forest Resources. Another undergrad in Ag and I spent a few weeks recording data in woodlots down in Stone Valley and then a huge lumberjack of a man in Forest Resources Lab taught us how to run chain saws without decapitating ourselves and then they put us down in Stone Valley to clearcut a plot of land near the recreation area. It was the hottest summer I remember. I got into the best shape of my life, and it was the hardest work and the most fun I ever had. I learned so much that year, from operating a manual transmission to running a chainsaw and dropping trees where I wanted them to land.
What this has to do with getting a job at PSU now, absolutely zero but I did end up getting a state job later and the time I put in at PSU counted towards my retirement, which didn't suck either.
This was a research project in the School of Forest Resources. Another undergrad in Ag and I spent a few weeks recording data in woodlots down in Stone Valley and then a huge lumberjack of a man in Forest Resources Lab taught us how to run chain saws without decapitating ourselves and then they put us down in Stone Valley to clearcut a plot of land near the recreation area. It was the hottest summer I remember. I got into the best shape of my life, and it was the hardest work and the most fun I ever had. I learned so much that year, from operating a manual transmission to running a chainsaw and dropping trees where I wanted them to land.
What this has to do with getting a job at PSU now, absolutely zero but I did end up getting a state job later and the time I put in at PSU counted towards my retirement, which didn't suck either.
Did something similar in the summer of '70. Had to maintain some deer research plots in Stone Valley and mowed some Christmas tree research areas.
I worked in the dining hall for 4 years. I wonder if I can get any pension for that?
I worked in the dining hall for 4 years. I wonder if I can get any pension for that?
First question...did you meet the deadline? Not to be smart with you, but the number of times that applications came in after a deadline is amazing.
Next...believe it or not, it is a great place to work and the competition is extremely intense for most professional positions.
I have seen the process and know that for some positions there could be hundreds of applicants that would probably be pared down to a dozen for a review with half dozen or so interviews. Of course some look good on paper.
Unfortunately, this is just another thread that the few that continually bash everything PSU can jump on and have at it. So very sad.
Next...believe it or not, it is a great place to work and the competition is extremely intense for most professional positions.
I have seen the process and know that for some positions there could be hundreds of applicants that would probably be pared down to a dozen for a review with half dozen or so interviews. Of course some look good on paper.
Unfortunately, this is just another thread that the few that continually bash everything PSU can jump on and have at it. So very sad.
MUCH MUCH easier to become a Big 10(14) official.....contact the Michigan Athletic Department for details.
I do not think PSU is unique. Most quality universities and colleges are extremely competitive for jobs. They typically offer great benefits (state schools with state pensions and benefits, etc...especially) and in general, the work environment is much less stress than a typical private sector business job. I am sure this is no different at Michigan, Ohio State, Tennessee, or Texas than it is at PSU.
Many times original screening is a push-pin process. Organization states its requirements and unless you are, on paper, a perfect match (helps a lot if you demonstrate this in your cover letter; don't presume that a reviewer will do this off your resume), you are selected out. Can't say whether this happened here, but it's a major reason that I never let HR do the first screening on any of my hires.
I've heard of a guy who worked at PSU for over 60 years, never had any blemish on his record. Somebody got whim of something about someone else at PSU, so they fired the 60 yr employee!! For no reason!!! Could you imagine a place like that??
Any area with a large university will attract highly educated job applicants. Faculty, researchers, PhD students, etc. often have highly educated spouses looking for jobs. However, in cities such as Ann Arbor, Columbus, Knoxville Austin, etc. there are a lot more job opportunities other than the university for the spouses. In Centre County, Penn State is pretty much the only opportunity. You'd be surprised at the education that some of the CATA bus drivers have here in town.
Yes, very sad, and yet very deserved. The university, as it turns out, is a cesspool of cronyism and corruption, and if we didn't know it before, we most certainly know it now. If that doesn't bother you, it really is so very sad.
If you've noticed, there is a direct correlation regarding the number of trolls/bashers present or not depending on whether the CDT or Penn Live runs Penn State or Sandusky articles. Right now the CDT is running a Wendy LTE and some of the bashers are occupied there. Penn Live has been eerily silent for weeks, as has the CDT except for mainly LTEs.
Keep listening to those voices in your head, pnnylion. If McAndrew ever finds his sack again, you'll be gone once more and come up with yet another username.
As to this thread's point...many great thoughts/observations here. Another is the time of the job post versus when you apply. The sooner the better. The average posting at PSU gets in upward of 70 applicants. So, if you don't apply right away, you're either subject to the luck of the draw or SOL completely because the candidate pool has already been selected.
Additionally, new HR rules (thanks Obamacare and PA Legislature) will result in an increase in the number of job postings for which someone had already been selected....particularly for part-time positions.
Nah, you must be mistaken! I'm sure they would have given him the benefit of the doubt, or at least put him on suspension until they could properly figure it out. There is no way the leadership at PSU could be THAT bad.
I'd start doing a better job of reading those applications received; I kept a private, (I mean private at home) database of applicants just to avoid having an embarrassing situation that you described.
probably not, but if SERS retirement was deducted; you may be eligible for a refund. Contact SERS in Harrisburg.
Policies are in place to ensure that all applicants for a position are considered, no matter what order they come in. Most staff positions are posted for 7 days. Some are posted with a closing date of 'until filled.' Those postings are usually for faculty and upper level admins. Sometimes it is applied to part time positions where there are multiple positions and the department would like to spread out the hiring and training process over a period of time.
For me, the cover letter is a very important weeding tool. You'd be surprised at how many cover letters come through with excessive misspellings, typos, etc. Even then, I'm willing to cut them some slack just in case English isn't their first language. However, generic, boilerplate cover letters are a major red flag for me. If an applicant can't take a few minutes explaining how their experience listed on the resume qualifies them for the job, I'm moving on. I always get a few people that send a cover letter for an entirely different job. Those get tossed aside immedietly.
This is not true at all.
It may be up for 7 days, it may be up "until filled", etc. There are no policies in place to make sure candidates who apply on day 1 get equal consideration as day 7 in any unit I've worked at within the university.
Once you pick out your 10 candidates out of 90, no others are considered.
Even though I feel that I do a thorough job of,reading the applications, I'll be keeping her in mind when I post again in August. It could be that she got better at writing cover letters as time went by.
Given the new document retention policies at the University, I'm not going to be keeping any secret files. The only thing that I am going to keep are personnel evaluations of past employees past the stated retention period. Given that I hire a lot of students, I get a lot of job reference requests. I feel that my back file enables me to give an homest referral. What tupe of projects they worked on, strengths, weaknesses, etc.
For our part time employees, customer service is crucial. For the email questions that I send out to my short list, I always ask them to describe a situation where they received excllent customer service and a situation where they received poor customer service. If I bring them in for an in person interview, I ask them to tell me to switch roles and explain how the employee/management could have made the poor experience better.
Yeah, those people are clearly unable to open another browser tab and comment here as well as on the CDT site.
Yeah, those people are clearly unable to open another browser tab and comment here as well as on the CDT site.
Too much fodder for them there, not enough here.
Well then I guess the HR people in my unit are different than the ones where you worked.
