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The 2008 APPIC Clearinghouse: Instructions for Internship
Programs
Before reading the information below, you should first read the Clearinghouse general description, as that page includes important information about program eligibility and fees and describes the two methods used to provide information to applicants about unfilled positions.
IMPORTANT NOTE: If an intern withdraws
or is terminated from a position at your site for any reason, either during the
internship year or prior to the start of the year, you must consult
with APPIC before announcing or filling this vacancy. Please contact Dr. Steve
McCutcheon, Chair, APPIC Board of Directors, at (206) 764-2895 or Stephen.McCutcheon@va.gov .
CLEARINGHOUSE OVERVIEW
Before continuing, be sure that you have already reviewed the general description
of the APPIC Clearinghouse.
Following is an overview of the Clearinghouse
process from the perspective of an internship program. The process begins at 11:00
am EST on APPIC Match Day, Monday, February 25, 2008. - There are two
ways to advertise your available internship position(s) through the APPIC Clearinghouse:
- List of Unfilled Positions - Any position
in a program at your site that was unfilled by the Match will automatically be
included in the List of Unfilled Positions posted on the NMS
web site (unless you specifically requested, when submitting your rankings
for that program, that NMS not post any vacancies). Beginning at 11:00 am EST
on APPIC Match Day, unmatched applicants will have access to this list in order
to identify programs that have unfilled positions.
The "List of Unfilled
Positions" is a way of advertising your unfilled position(s) with essentially
no effort on your part. However, only very basic contact information about your
program is included on this list, and thus applicants will generally look to the
APPIC Directory (for APPIC-member programs) to learn more about your site. In
addition, this list will not be updated after it is posted, and will be removed
from the NMS web site after ten days.
IMPORTANT: If you elect to include
your position in the "List of Unfilled Positions" and do not send out additional
information via the Clearinghouse e-mail list, applicants will follow the application
procedures outlined below. If this procedure (i.e., applicants limited to sending
a cover letter and vita only, generally via e-mail, with a ten page maximum) will
not work for you, you should consider instructing NMS (at the time of Rank Order
List submission) to exclude any vacancies at your program from the List of Unfilled
Positions.
- Clearinghouse E-mail List
- Programs that are eligible to use the Clearinghouse may post information about
their programs and available positions to the Clearinghouse e-mail list. These
messages go directly to the e-mail boxes of unplaced internship applicants and
other interested parties (in recent years, over 1,400 individuals signed up
to receive messages from the Clearinghouse e-mail list). The Clearinghouse e-mail
list will remain available until October 31, 2008.
Specific instructions
for posting to the Clearinghouse e-mail list are provided below. If your program
participated in the Match and opted to include your vacancy in the "List
of Unfilled Positions," it may not be necessary to send an announcement to
the Clearinghouse e-mail list, as applicants can learn about your program from
the APPIC Directory Online and your program's web site. However, sending an announcement
to the Clearinghouse e-mail list allows you to: (1) provide an extensive description
of your program and available position(s), (2) specify minimum qualifications
that applicants should meet in order to apply, and (3) provide specific application
instructions (which will supercede the default application instructions provided
below).
- If you do NOT provide specific instructions
to applicants (e.g., via the Clearinghouse e-mail list), they have be instructed
to submit their application materials as follows:
- Applicants will submit only an
optional cover letter and a vita, which should together total no more than ten
pages in length. They will not be permitted to send any other materials (e.g.,
AAPI, letters of recommendation, verification of readiness form) unless and until
you authorize them to do so.
- Applicants have been told that
the preferred method of submission is via e-mail attachment. If your vacancy is
included in the NMS List of Unfilled Positions, the e-mail address that is on
file with NMS will be included in that list and will be used by applicants to
submit their materials to you. Alternatively, applicants may use the e-mail address
shown in your APPIC Directory listing. They will be asked to send the optional
cover letter and vita together in a single word processing document. If they are
unable to successfully submit via email, then they will submit via fax to the
fax number listed in the APPIC Directory.
- As part of your process
of reviewing applicants' cover letters and vitas, you may choose to invite certain
applicants to submit additional materials to you. As long as you authorize an
applicant to send these additional materials, it is fine for them to do so. Please
note that some applicants have note been given copies of their AAPI Part II or
letters of recommendation; thus, if you request such materials, these applicants
may need some extra time to have them sent by their DCT and/or letter-writers.
These procedures (i.e., submissions limited to a cover letter
and vita of ten pages or less) were implemented in order to reduce the likelihood
that programs would be overwhelmed by application materials. If applicants do
not conform to the these procedures, it is up to you as to whether or not you
wish to consider their application.
- If you DO provide specific
application instructions (e.g., via the Clearinghouse e-mail list), applicants
have been instructed to follow your instructions rather than the procedures described
in the previous paragraphs. In your instructions, you can ask applicants to submit
whatever application materials you wish to receive and via whatever method you
wish to receive them (i.e., you don't have to conform to the procedures described
above). It is important to note that, due to e-mail delivery delays (which can easily exceed one to two hours on Match Day), some
applicants may not receive your e-mailed announcement in a timely manner and thus
be unaware of your specific instructions.
- Due to the
rapidly-moving nature of the Clearinghouse process, applicants will not have time
to tailor their application materials to your site. In this regard, applicants
have been told that it is perfectly acceptable for them to submit "generic" application
materials to sites during the Clearinghouse process. Thus, you should not expect
applicants' cover letters and other materials (e.g., AAPI Essay #5) to be tailored
to your training program.
- You are free to implement whatever
interview procedures you wish to use. Some sites move very quickly on Match Day
(i.e., filling their position in a matter of hours), while others take more time
(i.e., several days or a few weeks) with the process. While you may feel compelled
to move very quickly in your selection process, there is really no need to do
so, as nationally there are far more qualified and available applicants than there
are unfilled positions. Thus, even if you lose some applicants from your pool
because they accept positions at other sites, there will still be plenty of other
excellent candidates to choose from.
- Once you decide on a top
candidate, you can make an offer directly to the applicant. It is up to you to
decide how long to give the applicant to make a decision. APPIC recommends giving
applicants a minimum of four hours to accept or decline your offer, and
encourages you to provide more time than this recommended minimum in order to
allow them to fully consider the offer and to consult with their doctoral faculty
and family members.
When making an offer of employment to an applicant,
please remember APPIC
Match Policy 6c, which states: "Prior to making offers to fill open positions,
internship training directors must verify with applicants, to the best of their
abilities, that the applicants have not previously been matched to other internship
programs nor accepted other offers." Applicants are not permitted to accept an
offer if they have been matched or have already accepted an offer from another
internship program.
- Once your position(s) have been filled,
or if you are no longer accepting applications, please notify applicants by posting
a new message to the Clearinghouse e-mail list. Please remember to include the
required information (i.e., 4-digit site number, name of agency, etc. as described
above) at the beginning of ALL messages that you post to the list. You do NOT
need to notify APPIC that your positions are filled.
In addition,
upon filling a vacant position, your should remember that Match
Policy 6f states, "The internship training director must put in writing the
appointment agreement with the applicant in a letter postmarked no later than
72 hours following acceptance of the offer by the applicant...".
USING
THE CLEARINGHOUSE E-MAIL LIST - The Clearinghouse e-mail list allows
you to send e-mail messages directly to applicants who are still looking for internship
positions. You may use the Clearinghouse e-mail list for a variety of purposes,
such as: (a) to post more information about a vacancy listed on the NMS list of
unfilled positions (such as application instructions, contact information, types
of applicants that you are seeking, etc.), (b) to post an announcement about a
position that is not listed on the NMS list of unfilled positions, or (c) to notify
applicants that you are no longer accepting applications or that an available
position has been filled.
Please do not post a message to the list until
you know for sure that you have positions that remain unfilled after the Match
(e.g., once you have received your official Match results from NMS on Match Day).
- In order to post a message
to the Clearinghouse e-mail list, you must first subscribe to the list.
To subscribe, simply send a blank e-mail to:
subscribe-clearinghouse@lyris.appic.org You
will subsequently receive an e-mail message (with the subject line, "Your
confirmation is needed") that contains instructions for you to follow in
order to confirm your subscription. Simply reply to this confirmation e-mail as
instructed, and you will soon receive a "Welcome" e-mail in response.
This "Welcome" e-mail confirms that you are successfully subscribed
to the list (please note that you are NOT subscribed to the list until you have
received the "Welcome" e-mail).
PLEASE NOTE: If your e-mail
program uses "Spam" or "Junk Mail" filtering, it is possible
that the confirmation message from the APPIC server will be automatically redirected
to your "Junk Mail" folder without your knowledge. This has been a particular
problem for AOL and Hotmail users, but it can affect others as well. If you do
not receive a confirmation message in your "in" box, you should check
your "Spam" or "Junk Mail" folder to see if the message is
there. If your e-mail program does use filtering, you should instruct it to accept
all e-mail from APPIC's e-mail list server.
- Please note that, once you have subscribed to the list, you will begin receiving vacancy postings from internship sites. Beginning at 11:00am EST on Match Day, this volume will be heavy, as the number of messages distributed by the list on that day could exceed 100. Thus, you may wish to unsubscribe once you have submitted your message for posting (or, you may remain subscribed, particularly if you wish to receive a copy of the message that you posted). To unsubscribe, simply send
a blank e-mail message to:
unsubscribe-clearinghouse@lyris.appic.org
You will receive a return e-mail that contains instructions for you to follow in order to confirm your removal from the list. Once you have unsubscribed, you can post additional messages to the list only if you first re-subscribe as described above.
Click here for more information
on unsubscribing (note that instructions for unsubscribing from the Clearinghouse list are also included at the end of every message that is posted to that list).
- Once you are successfully
subscribed to the list, simply compose an e-mail message and send it to the following
address:
clearinghouse@lyris.appic.org
The
first lines in the body of this message MUST contain: (a) your 4-digit site number
from the Match, to ensure that you are authorized to use the list (programs that
did not participate in the Match can specify "None"), (b) the full name
of your institution, agency, and/or department, (c) the city and state/province
in which your agency is located, (d) the APA- and/or CPA-accreditation status
of your site, and (e) the APPIC membership status of your site. Messages without
this information will not be posted. In addition, please include the name of your
institution or agency in the subject line of your message.
If you are in the process of applying for accreditation and/or APPIC membership status, please remember that most applicants do not understand those processes. Thus, if you are not yet accredited or a member of APPIC, please designate that specifically by saying "No" -- for example, "APA Accreditation: No" or "APPIC Member: No." If you want to convey additional information (such as where you are in the application process), you may do so in your posting; however, to avoid misunderstandings by applicants, you should clearly state that you do not currently meet that criteria and there is no guarantee that your application will be successful. This will protect both you and the applicant from misunderstandings. For example:
"APA Accreditation: No (we have recently submitted our self-study to APA; however, we cannot guarantee that our application for accreditation will be successful)."
IMPORTANT
NOTE: The Clearinghouse e-mail list does NOT permit attachments, and messages
with attachments are automatically rejected by APPIC's server.
An example
of a properly formatted message for the Clearinghouse e-mail list is as follows:
TO: Clearinghouse@lyris.appic.org
SUBJECT: Vacancy at
ABC Children's Hospital
MESSAGE TEXT:
ABC Children's
Hospital, Dept. of Psychiatry
Denver, Colorado
Site number: 0000
APA Accreditation: No
APPIC Member: Yes
(rest of your message
goes here)
In addition to the required information listed
above, you may wish to include some or all of the following information in your
message:
- Information about your site and internship program,
along with a web address (if you have one) where an applicant can find out more
information about your program.
- Information about the available
position(s).
- Information about the type of applicant that
you are looking for, minimum levels of training or experience required, etc. This
will help applicants decide whether or not to apply, and can help you reduce the
number of applications that you receive from students who are not qualified.
- Ways in which an applicant may contact you (i.e., phone number,
e-mail, etc.).
- Information about how to submit an application,
what to include, whether to send by mail, e-mail or fax, etc.
- Information
about your selection process, how soon you plan to fill the position, etc.
- The Clearinghouse e-mail list is moderated by the APPIC
Clearinghouse Coordinator, which means that your posting is reviewed to ensure
that it is properly formatted and that you are eligible to use the service. The
Coordinator will send you a confirmation e-mail when your message has been approved
and released to the list. During the first few days of operation, the Clearinghouse
list is closely monitored, and messages sent during working hours should generally
be released within a few minutes (or, at most, a few hours); at other times, it
may take up to 12 hours before your message is distributed (although delays will
typically be much shorter). In addition, due to the heavy loads on APPIC's server on Match Day, it may take as long as two hours for your message to be delivered to applicants once it is released by the Clearinghouse Coordinator.
- You are welcome to post follow-up
messages to the Clearinghouse list if you wish to do so. In particular, we strongly
recommend that you post another message to the Clearinghouse list once your position
is filled, or if you have decided to stop accepting applications, as this is the
fastest way to get this information out to applicants.
CLEARINGHOUSE TIPS FOR INTERNSHIP
TRAINING DIRECTORS - When posting your position(s) to the Clearinghouse
e-mail list, remember that the more information that you can provide about your
program, the available position(s), and the application process, the better. It
is best to be very explicit about the qualifications that you are looking for
(e.g., "Please do not apply unless you have considerable experience in neuropsychological
assessment"). Being clear about your desired qualifications will result in your
receiving fewer applications from unqualified students and will assist students
in knowing whether or not to take the time to apply.
Your message should
also include specific instructions about how to submit an application -- both
the materials that you want them to submit (e.g., cover letter, vita, AAPI, Verification
of Internship Readiness form, letters of recommendation, transcripts, etc.) as
well as how you want applicants to submit their materials (e.g., via e-mail attachment,
fax). Be as specific as possible.
Be sure that the required information
(your 4-digit site number from the Match, the full name of your institution, agency,
and/or department, your city and state/province, and your APA/CPA-accreditation
and APPIC-member status) is included at the beginning of EVERY message that is
posted to the Clearinghouse e-mail list. Messages without this required information
will not be posted. Also remember that the subject line of your message should
include the name of your institution or agency. In addition, please remember that
e-mail messages with attachments cannot be posted to the Clearinghouse list.
- In terms of your application submission procedures, we strongly
recommend having applicants submit some or all of their application materials
via e-mail (i.e., as an e-mail attachment) rather than by fax or express mail.
Previous unmatched applicants have told us about the frustrations of being unable
to get through to always-busy fax machines as well as the expense of overnight
mailings, and training directors have told us about being overwhelmed with faxes
and paper applications. E-mail is generally a faster and much less expensive option,
and virtually all sites in the Clearinghouse now use e-mail as their primary method
of receiving applications.
You should be aware of the following issues
related to e-mail:
- There is a risk of receiving viruses
from e-mail attachments. You should use full-time anti-virus software on the computer
used to open any attachments received, and be sure the product's virus definition
files are up-to-date.
- Be aware that you will likely receive
a large volume of e-mail, and there is a significant risk that your e-mail box
will become full. Many e-mail programs can be set to automatically download e-mail
messages to your computer and delete them from the main server at regular intervals
(e.g., every five minutes), thus making space available on the main server for
new incoming messages (note that some e-mail servers, such as Yahoo Mail and Hotmail,
do not offer this automatic option, and e-mail messages must be manually downloaded
and deleted in order to free up space). Using this option will help prevent your
e-mail box from filling up.
- Sending attachments from AOL
to non-AOL accounts, and from non-AOL accounts to AOL accounts, can often be problematic.
If you have an AOL account, for example, attachments sent from students with non-AOL
accounts may be unreadable.
- Some application materials may
not be in a format that permits e-mailing (e.g., transcripts, the Verification
of Readiness form). Thus, you might consider having some materials e-mailed (e.g.,
the AAPI, which can span 20-30 pages) and others sent via fax or regular mail.
Or, you might consider having applicants submit only certain materials to begin
with, and then have "finalists" submit more extensive information.
- While
the volume of applications that you receive may make it difficult to do, applicants
greatly appreciate receiving even a brief acknowledgement that you have received
their application. You might consider creating a "form" e-mail for this purpose.
- APPIC strongly recommends that, before making an offer to an applicant,
you ensure that the individual's doctoral program has provided you with verification
of his/her readiness for internship. This can be done via the AAPI Part II or
by talking with the program's DCT.
- Above all, while having
an unfilled position is a frustrating experience for a Training Director, being
an unmatched applicant is a very challenging and emotionally-laden experience.
This experience is heightened because positions tend to be posted and filled very
quickly. Anything that you can do to make your post-Match selection process less
stressful will be greatly appreciated by applicants.
15
December 2007
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