Fuck you British Columbia School System HR

The BBQ Pit
1

You are a bunch of inflexible government assholes.

I’ll save a* long* anecdotal sob story. I’m being shut-out of a substitute teaching position based on a technicality (of the trivial ‘crossing the t’ variety) despite being insanely qualified in a district which presently utilizes non-degree holding parents as subs because they are so desperate.

Local, credible talent with a graduate education and 5 years of teaching experience is staring you in the fucking face.

I’m incredibly fed-up with having to consistently bend over to a bunch of HR pricks and then say thank you, may I have some more? HR…why do these people have such a hard time clarifying things? Here are the requirements…bing, bang, boom. Simple as that. Do your fucking job. Hire. Qualified. Experienced. People.

Eat shit and die.

2

I’ll bite. What was the technicality?

3

APPARENTLY they won’t hire you if you’re on parole for touching kids.

Jeez, what a bureaucratic nightmare!

4

Technicality is this:

The application process clearly indicates that cover letter, resume and general application form is required for the position of Teacher-on-Call. It does not indicate that official transcripts for all universities attended are required. They informed me of this last week, with interviews being held next week. I happen to have my official Master’s transcripts handy, I don’t with my undergrad (because it was 10 years ago) and I certainly don’t have transcripts from the universities I attended while abroad. They want all (having failed to make this clear, anywhere during the application process). Had this been clear, I would have applied earlier having acquired all appropriate documents.
It will take about three weeks to get my transcripts from undergrad (I know this because it took that long to get them when I applied for grad school several years ago). Obviously not good enough to make the interview deadline. The next batch of interviews are apparently happening in the new year.

My big beef is that my graduate transcripts should be evidence enough of my education qualifications, if transcripts provide any sort of evidence for anything. If they think I am fucking with them regarding my education, call my references…or even accept a photocopy of my degrees. I say that because they didn’t even want sealed transcripts…they said a photocopy would be fine.

My compromise was…“well…I can get you the transcripts after the interview”.

No bones.

The principal at the local high school told me if it was up to her, I would have been hired on the spot (damn shame it isn’t up to her).

I’m just insanely frustrated with their utter refusal to make any compromises over a trivial matter. Felt a bit better after I BBQ’d it. Off to another McJob, I suppose.

5

Okay, yeah that is a shitty situation.

6

Almost all undergrad transcript requests are bullshit. I feel your pain.

Related story: When I lost my mind and thought about going back to school to work on my Master’s, I applied to the same school I got my BA from. The same school that had admitted me to their graduate teaching program 10 years earlier, which I completed with Dean’s List grades. Their first request: all of my college transcripts. Forget the fact that they** had them **already for a previous degree. Forget the fact that there was nothing in them to disqualify me from a graduate program, since they already had admitted me for one. Did these facts make the least bit of difference to the Admitting Office? Fuck no. All my transcripts, from 13 different colleges/universities. That’s when I staged a Grade 4 hissy-fit in the middle of the office, flung a couple of file folders up in the air dramatically, and stomped out, never to return. (I’m betting they just called me an asshole, tossed the folders and moved on to the next sucker.) It’s a racket they all take part in to hold you up for more money.

7

You try being from another country.

For some job applications, we not only need all undergraduate transcripts, but also have to pay a specialized company that “translates” our undergrad grades from overseas so that people in the United States can understand what they mean.

This despite the fact that the back of the transcript explains what each of the grades means, and despite the fact that the applicant also has a post-graduate degree from a prestigious United States university.

8

I feel you. To work in the US, I needed to sit for the TOEFL. Because I’m from Quebec. This was required despite the fact that I have gone to English-language schools all my life, graduated from McGill University, and speak mostly English at home. The woman on the phone, to her credit, did take a moment in our (English) conversation to apologize for the absurd requirement, as she was reading over my transcripts (all in English).

At least I kicked the test’s ass.

9

If photocopies would be fine, you probably can get unofficial transcripts emailed to you from all of the schools with a credit card and a couple hours worth of phone calls. It may even be possible to get faxed versions of the official transcripts the same way. You may have to phone early because a lot of those departments have really really stupid hours, but they are also usually staffed by students who will jump through hoops for someone who is polite.

10

Second point…I am in the States, and you need copies of all of those things if you want to apply for any teaching job, so you may as well round them up now for the future. Keep them in a file or scan them into your computer and deal with them at will. My State actually has a site where most of the teaching jobs are posted and you keep a resume on file with them along with scans of all that stuff.

Third point… substitute teaching sucks.

11

I know you don’t want to hear this, but sometimes people are just being polite.

Sometimes what they say, “If it was up to me…”, "Sorry, can’t bend the rule…’, “If not for this technicality…”, is them trying to be merciful. When really the candidate would be better served by the truth. “We don’t feel you’ll be a good fit for us.”

They don’t have to say more, that would be enough for many candidates to look past the pretty lies and examine themselves a little closer. Did I come off as not a team player? Was I too loud? Too confident? Whatever.

I have seen people sent from interviews believing only a technicality stood between them and their job, when nothing could be further from the truth. It’s just that no one was willing to say, "Sorry, but you come off as a …complete whack job…are clearly a control freak…never shut up about Jesus…or whatever.

I’m not saying it’s necessarily the case here. I’m just putting it out there. Something to think about.

12

You used to be able to do this at the University of California, but no more. The last several times I needed transcripts, they point-blank refused to deal with telephone or email requests. Fax or letter only. An email from a UC account is secure enough to receive bills, but not to request transcripts.

I second the wonderment about undergraduate transcripts. If you have a graduate degree, why do they matter? Is there some logic behind it, or just a bureaucratic sense of completion?

13

tingbudong: Have you considered taking this to your local Board of Education trustee (or whatever the correct terminology is in your area)? In my experience, they can be very helpful in cutting through bureaucracy especially if they then get to be seen as having actually done something good for the kids.

14

Privacy issue supposedly. I did some work with UC admissions, and a transcript can only be ordered and picked up by the person or their designated representative. I was doing grad school admissions, and no - I could not get access to your undergrad from the same school. You had to get them yourself.

15

Ridiculous, no?

Just the other day, I applied at the local high school district for a walk on assistant coaching position. Now, when I say applied- that’s all a formality, as I already have the job and have been coaching since August. We just never got around to the paperwork.

So, I pick up their little paperwork packet (about 30 pages long) and review it. Among other things, unsurprisingly, it wants me to prove my ability to work in the US. No biggie, right? I read through the form and it’s a typical Federal form, saying I could provide my Social Security card, blah blah. Here’s the problem: my parents lost my SS Card ages ago (when I was a toddler), but over the years I have: enrolled in elementary, middle school, high school, and two colleges; gotten my driver’s permit, license, and Passport; worked at another, non district high school in the city for the last 3 years; registered with the IRS as a tax representative, etc— all without my Social Security card.

I peruse this form and on the back it identifies that 1: the employer cannot legally dictate which identification they are willing to accept and 2: that if I don’t have a SS card, I can bring a certified copy of my birth certificate, a Passport, or my State issue ID. So, I hop downtown and pick up a copy of my birth certificate for $14, then head back over to the district office- birth certificate, Passport, and license in hand.

No dice. I pointed out to the lady where the form she gave me says this is acceptable identification, but she wont budge, “Because does it have your Social Security number on it? NO.” Fine. I go to the Social Security Administration, wait in line, and get a temporary letter that verifies citizenship while they put the real one in the mail to me. The best part? THEY SSA DIDN’T ASK FOR IDENTIFICATION. They asked my mother’s maiden name, but DIDN’T ASK TO SEE ID. So, I go back with this piece of paper that could have been obtained by Joe the Hobo, but whatever- all was well- I’m not an illegal immigrant anymore.

Except I then had to pay the district $60 for processing of my application, I had to pay to go get Livescanned (even though I’m already in the Livescan system from my other coaching job), then they lady told me I had to get a new TB test because my last one (for the other job) wasn’t good enough. All said and done, I spent over $100 of my own money and hours of my own time to take an unpaid coaching position. Bless them.

16

Is it possible your grad school would still have them on file? Try making some phone calls and explaining your plight, especially if you have any contacts still at the school who can point you in the right direction.

17

Maybe count your blessings. I took a job where I had to provide a copy of my high school diploma, despite an engineering degree and 12 years experience. Turned out it wasn’t just HR, the whole place operated with the same slavish devotion to petty detail and lack of good sense. Took three years to find another job…ten years ago and I still am not over the nightmarish experience.

18

:smack:

Yer lucky!

Every swinging Richard in our district had to provide HR with proof of citizenship this month. I’ve been employed here, at this school, at this job, for 24 years. I still had to prove I wasn’t illegal. Like you, my SS card is long vanished. I finally got so disgusted with the whole process that I offered them a passport that expired before the secretary recording the info was born.

They accepted it. :smack:

19

Oh, for God’s sake. . . Plus, gotta love the official rules apparently applied to all California districts. :rolleyes:

Hey, at least we know you aren’t some dirty illegal, swimming across the border to take all of those coveted debate coach positions.

20

I used to teach for the U of California system in the summers. I had to prove citizenship every year, to the same person, with the same documents. I offered to simply send them a telegram if I was ever stripped of my citizenship, but they didn’t find that amusing.