Jinxed it (or how not all proofs of receipt are good things)

[trinityvixen]

I actually debated not writing anything about the interview for the RVC because I thought that it was too early to count chickens. But I was excited and swept up in a bunch of things. It's still premature, and it's too soon to crow about anything.

...as I found out when I got an e-mail from the University of Georgia telling me they've outright rejected me. My application was "incomplete" as the hours spent under direct supervision of a veterinarian failed to reach their threshold. My fault, I suppose, for not being more careful in checking which hours I met or did not meet as far as they were concerned. Still, I'm disappointed and now a little paranoid about what else I'm going to hear today. I only applied to twelve places, and I've just lost one for good. It really puts a damper on the celebration from earlier today. One down, eleven to go....

In the weirdest laterally-related-to-vet-school news, I was eating lunch by myself in the kitchen when the mouse technician from another lab comes over and sits across from me and asks me when I'm leaving next year. She may have meant "if" I was leaving, since she phrased, "You're leaving next year" almost as a question with intonation. Point was, there was a volunteer in her lab who would be a great replacement and she wanted me to recommend her to my boss if my boss was replacing me. I don't know this person, so I can't really recommend her, but I agreed to take her CV. It was a weird and kind of aggressive exchange, with her really determined to have me get this person's details in front of my boss. Next time the volunteer's here, she wanted to send her over to meet with my boss. ( have a feeling I know how that will go.) I'm right that this is weird, right? In pitching replacements to the person leaving? Who may not be leaving? (Because, let's face it, if I can't get into UGA, I'm probably not going to get great news from a lot of schools in the coming months.)

Comments

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

I don't think it's weird--once the person has given their notice. Doing that just based on rumors that you might be leaving in a year? That's odd.

Also, *hugs* about the application stuff. I remember my brother's dorm in high school had a "Wall of Acceptance" and a "Wall of Rejection" where they posted their letters. And then, for my brother, they were forced to add a "Wall of Deferment."

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I just didn't know what to say to her because it was a little pushy and a lot presumptuous. My situation is still really up in the air, as today has proved, since I'm not now more likely or less to be leaving.

I should do that wall idea. Of course, everything is coming by e-mail right now, and nothing's definite. So I probably need everything in the Wall of Deferment for the foreseeable future.

[fairest.livejournal.com]

It sounds like the UGA rejection was based on a technicality rather than on your qualifications. It still sucks, especially if your list of schools is short, but it doesn't mean you won't be a strong applicant elsewhere.

The resume push is a little weird before you're sure you're going anywhere. But I bet your boss will find it equally pushy if the mouse tech goes ahead and sends her volunteer in, so perhaps the situation will sort itself out. :P

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Ditto--one school out on a technicality doesn't say anything about your chances elsewhere.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I worry about technicalities, though, since there are so many and it seems like a lot of them are used to take people out of the running before having to consider them carefully. And there are a lot that I was borderline on--hours, school work (within a certain time frame), etc.

[six-demon-bag.livejournal.com]

That really sucks about the UGA app. I agree with the above comment in that I'm sure you'll be a strong applicant elsewhere though.

Wow, that is weird. I understand wanting to help a friend out and how that might inspire one to be more aggressive than usual, but still. I wouldn't feel comfortable sticking my neck out and recommending someone I don't know like that. I would not want it to be my reputation that suffers if that person ends up being a bad hire or even a bad applicant/interview.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

This is something I don't get about how some people go about recommendations. Like, I agreed to take to someone thinking about entering my field as a favor to a friend. And then that person set up a phone call and then didn't call and ignored later emails. I mean, she doesn't know me, but she's screwing over my friend.

Or people come up to me in cons, and since I don't work in editorial, ask me to recommend them to the editors I know. Dude. I don't know you. Why the hell would I recommend you?

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

I'm currently asking a friend for a recommendation for something (he offered first), and I've sent him all my materials first and asked that he tell me whether I'd be embarrassing him. I'm not going to try to leverage his social capital unless it's something that will be good or at least neutral for him.

[ivy03.livejournal.com]

Yes, but see, you are a smart person with social aptitude.

[jethrien.livejournal.com]

Yes, well.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Eh, one place was bound to be a party-pooper. Nothing to be done, most likely, so don't worry about it (as much as is possible).

As for the pushy applicant...that's weird. Because it implies she knows why you may be leaving. And the aggressive tone is very assumptive. Did you ask how she knew?

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I didn't ask, though because it was so out of nowhere, from someone with whom I rarely interact, I was totally taken aback.

Thanks for the kind word about the school. I'm still unhappy, but not yet devastated. That will come with more rejections.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

Seriously, if you really get into 10/11 places you apply to, you should consider getting people to pay you $5K a pop to do applications for them. ;)

Stay positive, and "not yet devastated".

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Yeah, as others have said, I wouldn't infer you can't get in elsewhere because of UGA. I got into Columbia while rejected from "lesser" schools.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

I heard you have a new position to celebrate, so congrats on that. I missed saying so on Twitter, but I didn't want to go without saying. Well done!

[kent-allard-jr.livejournal.com]

Thanks! It's not a real job, though -- less than $100 a week. I'm still an unemployed (underemployed?) bum. :(

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

Well, it's a start at least, right? ::crosses fingers::

[moonlightalice.livejournal.com]

Boo on UGA, but whatever, it was a technicality AND it was in Georgia.

That thing about the coworker is, in my view, ENTIRELY INAPPROPRIATE. I'm sorry, but recommendations are for people you know once you've announced you're leaving a position. When I announced I left you-know-where, I got INUNDATED with e-mails from people asking for my job.

It's wrong, wrong, wrong. I told every one of them, "I'm sorry but I am not comfortable recommending someone I do not know." That seemed to do it and people left me alone. I would highly recommend (ha!) saying something similar to your coworker (not even your coworker! Just some person in the mouse room!) and nipping this in the bud. The last thing you want to do is put your own (current! NON-TEMPORARY!) position in jeopardy because of someone's super-aggressive networking. That kind of behavior should not just be ignored: it should be actively discouraged and not tolerated. Don't accept the CV. Let it go. You're putting your job at risk, not just because you're potentially shoo-ing in a replacement, but because if this person DOES get hired and sucks, you're going to be responsible for their failures.

[xannoside.livejournal.com]

This. A thousand times this.

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

She gave me the CV already, but there's nothing to stop me from putting the brakes on later, I suppose. I'm not going to recommend this person sight unseen. (Point of fact, I have seen her, and she seemed smart and capable, but that doesn't mean I vouch for her.) If it comes down to a pile of resumes, I don't have a problem tossing hers in there.

But it won't, mostly likely, and, more importantly, as you point out, it isn't even guaranteed to go in that direction at all!

[wellgull.livejournal.com]

I'm going to second everybody here, but stronger.

This kind of aggressive/overly pushy networker is exactly the kind of person who gets ahead in our ridiculous society, with its extroversion fetish and wholehearted endorsement of rampant self-interest. People like this must be destroyed.

Not to mention why would you *ever* recommend a replacement when you weren't 110% sure you had something else lined up...

[trinityvixen.livejournal.com]

She's not pushing herself, she's trying to get someone else a job who was volunteering in their lab. I don't have a problem with her suggesting this person if it were widely know I was leaving, but I'm not even sure I am.

There are also other, weird politics going on about this. The volunteer was in the lab of the department head, and this woman is bizarre. One time, a girl let go from the DH's lab was asked to come in for a talk about a procedure by my old boss. The DH freaked the fuck out and started screaming (via e-mail) about how inappropriate it was for my old boss to think of hiring someone that another lab. (She wasn't but that was the sort of thing that would set the DH off.) The flip side of that is she's pushy herself about promoting her people. I'm not surprised at all that her people are likewise pushing themselves.