Association of Psychology Postdoctoral and Internship Centers

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The APPIC Post-Match Vacancy Service
Instructions for Applicants



The APPIC Post-Match Vacancy Service will begin operation on March 26, 2012 (upon conclusion of Phase II of the 2012 APPIC Match) and will remain available through October 31, 2012. This service allows eligible internship programs to post information about unfilled positions for students who remain unmatched.


APPLICANT FEES AND ELIGIBILITY


There is no fee for applicants to use the APPIC Post-Match Vacancy Service. Furthermore, applicants do not register to use this service.

An applicant is eligible to use the APPIC Post-Match Vacancy Service if he/she: (a) meets APPIC's "Intern Applicant Policy," (b) has not been placed into a position by the APPIC Match, and (c) has not accepted or committed to any other internship position. Applicants who meet these three criteria are eligible, regardless of whether or not they registered for or participated in the APPIC Match.

Applicants who have been matched into a position by the APPIC Match, or who have already accepted an internship position, are contractually bound to attend that internship program and may not seek other internship positions.


OVERVIEW


Following is a general overview of the Post-Match Vacancy Service process from an applicant's perspective.  The process begins at 11:00 am EST on APPIC Phase II Match Day, Monday, March 26, 2012.

  1. Applicants locate information about unfilled positions (see "Accessing Information about Unfilled Positions", below).

  2. Applicants apply for the positions in which they are interested (see "Preparing your Initial Application" and "Submitting your Initial Application," below, for specific guidelines about how to apply).

  3. An internship Training Director who is interested in an applicant will contact her/him directly, possibly requesting additional information and/or an interview.

  4. When a hiring decision has been made, the Training Director will contact the applicant and offer her/him a position. The applicant may accept or decline that offer. Applicants should understand that accepting an offer is a final decision, as an offer that is tendered by an internship program and accepted by an applicant constitutes a binding agreement between the program, the applicant, and APPIC that may not be reversed without APPIC's consent.

ACCESSING INFORMATION ABOUT UNFILLED POSITIONS


Vacancy announcements will be posted on the "Current List of Unfilled Positions" page on the APPIC web site. This page will be updated regularly as new vacancies become available, and is the sole source of vacancy announcements from APPIC. The first posting of vacancies will occur no later than noon Eastern Time on Tuesday, March 27. Applicants should check back frequently for updates, which can occur anytime between March 27 and October 31, 2012.

Please note that the list of unfilled positions will include programs that are non-APPIC members, as well as programs that are not accredited. The APPIC membership and accreditation status will be included in each posting. The decision to attend a non-accredited and/or non-APPIC-member program is an important one; please see this FAQ for more information.

If you wish to receive an e-mailed notification whenever this vacancy list is updated, you may sign up for such notifications here. These e-mails will only indicate when the current list of unfilled positions has been updated, and will not contain specific information about the vacancies.

It should be noted that only a very limited number of positions that were included in the APPIC Match are expected to remain unfilled upon conclusion of the Match. It is also expected that a limited number of new positions will become available later in the Spring or Summer, due to new funding, unexpected vacancies, etc.


PREPARING YOUR INITIAL APPLICATION


Since the AAPI Online service will NOT be used to submit applications, special application preparation and submission instructions have been developed for the Post-Match Vacancy Service. These procedures limit the amount of information that you may submit unless the internship program authorizes you to do otherwise. In other words, the procedures described below for preparing and submitting applications do NOT apply if a site provides different instructions in its vacancy announcement.

Your initial application to internship programs should include only a cover letter and a vita. Additional materials (e.g., your AAPI, letters of reference, etc.) may be submitted only if requested by an internship program.

For each site to which you apply, you should create a single document in your word processor that includes both a cover letter and your vita. Use your name as the document name (e.g., "MarySmith.doc"). Please note that the ".docx" format used by newer versions of Microsoft Word should not be used; instead, please use the older ".doc" format instead.

The cover letter is important, as it is your opportunity to highlight the important aspects of your experiences and background, and to highlight the fit between you and the internship program. Thus, you should write a cover letter that is tailored to each site to which you apply. (Please note that this is different than in past years, when applicants were encouraged to submit "generic" cover letters).

While there is no limit to the length of your cover letter and vita, sites will greatly appreciate your being succinct, and will ask for more information if needed. In other words, don't feel like you need to take all the information from your AAPI and squeeze it into your cover letter and vita!

Be sure to include your contact information somewhere in these materials, particularly phone numbers and e-mail addresses where you can be reached.


SUBMITTING YOUR INITIAL APPLICATION


The AAPI Online service is NOT used to submit applications; instead, application materials are submitted via e-mail.

As previously mentioned, the application submission procedures described below apply only if a program has not provided instructions about how to submit an application. For example, if a site requests that you submit different application materials than described below, or requests materials be sent via a different method, please follow the site's instructions.

Specific application submission procedures:

  1. You should submit applications via e-mail to the program at the submission address listed in the announcement.

  2. Attach the document containing your cover letter and vita to your e-mail message when submitting it to the program.

  3. In order to assist programs in identifying your application, the subject line of your e-mail should include your name, as follows: "Application: Firstname Lastname" (e.g., "Application: Mary Smith").

PREPARING ADDITIONAL APPLICATION MATERIALS


As noted previously, some sites will request more extensive application materials from you, beyond the initial vita and cover letter. Thus, you should be prepared to submit the following items when requested to do so:

  • A formatted copy of your AAPI
  • Letters of recommendation (to be sent by you or your letter-writers)
  • DCTs Verification of Eligibility and Readiness (to be sent by you or your DCT)
  • Answers to the four essay questions on the AAPI
  • Transcripts

Detailed instructions for obtaining each of these items are provided below.

AAPI (APPIC Application for Psychology Internships)

Applicants should use the AAPI Online service to download a formatted copy of their AAPI onto their computer so that it can be e-mailed to sites upon request. The downloaded file is in ".pdf" format, which means that it is universally readable by commonly-available software such as Adobe Acrobat Reader.

The deadline to download a formatted copy of your AAPI is April 15, 2012, as the applicant portal will close after that date. To download a formatted copy of your AAPI, first login to the applicant portal using your AAPI Online login ID and password. Then, click "Internship Program Designations" located at the bottom of the application checklist. This will bring you to a list of submitted applications, where you will have the option to view or download the application that was submitted to each site. These applications include the specific cover letters, vitas, and essays that were sent to each site, but exclude letters of recommendation, transcripts, and the DCT's verification of eligibility and readiness. While you may wish to download a copy of each application that you submitted (for your records), you only need to download one of them (it doesn't matter which one) for use in the Post-Match Vacancy Service.

The next step is to make a copy of the .pdf file that you downloaded, since you will be making a few changes to it. Since this downloaded application includes the cover letter, vita, and essays that were specific to the site to which it was originally submitted, you will likely want to remove those pages so that it can be sent to other sites. To remove those pages, you can use one of many applications and online resources that allow you to remove pages from a .pdf file. For all users, a free web-based pdf-editing site called pdfescape.com allows you to remove pages (click "Upload PDF to PDFescape", choose the file and upload it, identify a page to be deleted and choose the "delete" option under the "Page" tab; when done choose the green icon on the left to download the modified version onto your computer). For Mac users, a free application called "Combine PDFs" may be used. A quick internet search will reveal many other programs that manipulate pdf files. (Please note that these resources are simply suggestions and are not recommended nor supported by APPIC).

Please note that it is not required to have a copy of your AAPI in order to apply to programs in the Post-Match Vacancy Service; however, many sites will request it from applicants in whom they are interested. It is up to each individual site to determine whether or not an AAPI is required from an applicant.

If you did not participate in the APPIC Match and thus did not create an application via the AAPI Online service, you may still do so until that service closes for the current application cycle. Creating an application, which you can then download in .pdf format (for submission via e-mail to sites that request it), involves a one-time fee of $35. Please note that creating an AAPI can involve considerable time and effort, and requires your DCT to provide verification of your eligibility for internship. Given the limited number of positions that are likely to be available via the Post-Match Vacancy Service, and given that sites will likely vary in whether or not they require a copy of the AAPI, it may or may not be worth your time and effort to create one at this point.


Letters of Recommendation

You should talk with the individuals who wrote your letters to determine how best to send out copies when requested by an internship site.  Some letter-writers may be willing to give you an electronic copy to send to sites; others may want to send that information themselves (in which case they should understand the importance of sending the materials out quickly).


DCT's Verification of Eligibility and Readiness

Prior to making you an offer, internship programs are required to verify that your doctoral program has determined that you are eligible and ready for internship. Internship programs will generally request written verification of elibility from your DCT, and/or may sometimes wish to speak directly to your DCT.

Your DCT may login to the DCT portal of the AAPI Online service and download a formatted (in ".pdf" format) copy of the verification of eligibility that she/he submitted for you. Once logged in, the DCT initiates the download by clicking on the icon in the "Print" column that is adjacent to your name. You should ensure that your DCT performs this action sooner rather than later, before the AAPI Online closes for this application cycle.

You should talk with your DCT to determine how best to provide copies of this verification when requested to do so by an internship site. Some DCTs may be willing to give you an electronic copy to send to sites; others may want to send the verification to sites themselves (in which case they should understand the importance of sending materials out quickly).


Essays

Essays should be submitted to sites separately since they may be tailored to each site.


Transcripts

Applicants should have available scanned copies of their transcripts (e.g., in .pdf format) to send directly to internship sites upon request.