Automated reference checks - annoying

[chilagringa]

Is this normal?

I sent an application for a school somewhat out of my league, just to test the waters. (I'm not dead set on going abroad this year since it might be good to get a couple of domestic years under my belt. I'm just applying to "ideal" positions for now just in the off chance it happens.)

Anyways, my current supervisor told me the next day that she had been contacted for a reference check! I was thrilled. But then I saw in her forwarded email that the reference check was sent out about 30 seconds after I applied. And, from her report, it was quite involved.

Doesn't that seem a bit... uncool? I mean, I'm sure these schools get tons of applications. Should a hundred people have to take the time to fill in a time-consuming reference check before the school decides whether an applicant is even of interest?

[nikkor]

I think you have a great point. Why not just check the references of finalists?

Which school did you apply to?

[chilagringa]

One of the big schools in Mexico. I'd rather not be more specific.

[PsyGuy]

Yes, its uncool and a waste of time, and its a relatively new phenomenon. In the pass a school went through an agency and consulted the letters of reference there, or your emailed them directly and maybe included some open letters, but now more and more schools are quickly employing their own application systems and those systems are automated.

The cause is that schools dont code these application systems themselves. They buy them either as software as service or they buy a program and install it on a server, and the problem is that these programs were designed for the corporate world before Linkedin, and they really arent very sophisticated. They are basically a GUI for a database.
My suggestion is to either skip the references, or use slightly altered email addresses for your references that are very close to the right ones but will bounce back.

Mexico doesnt get hundreds of applications for a vacancy, closer to 50.

Why dont they? Well they will, but it also has to do with building their own candidate pools. In the past schools paid a lot of money to recruiters to find them staff, then they paid less money to recruiters for "managing" the recruiting process, and a virtual recruiting becomes more and more common the schools would save a lot of money if they just collected everything themselves, since you the applicant are doing most of the data entry.

[chilagringa]

Well, I do have a soft spot for hyperbole. Still, 50 people is too many when it comes to expecting a long reference form.

[PsyGuy]

@chilagringa

Wouldnt 20, or 10, or, 5, or even 1 be too many to complete an exhausting reference form for a candidate that wasnt under serious consideration for a position?

[dover2013]

It's also unethical - to ask for confidential information about a person you have not yet considered as a candidate.

[PsyGuy]

@dover2013

The argument countering that would be; in that submitting an application and entering their employment database you are already under consideration for a potential position.