2012 JET Application Questions?

[Norsehawk]

That's why I keep telling everyone in the US Aspiring JETs thread to stop using their real names.

I'm not sure if you can use a fake name for a site like LinkedIn. Honestly, you shouldn't have any problem using your real name on Facebook as you can set permissions to restrict public viewing of your profile accordingly. I'm not sure about MySpace as I don't use it. Like all things that have the potential for public viewing, I follow the grandmother rule, don't say or do anything that you wouldn't want to have shown to your grandmother and you should be fine.

LinkedIn is also a site to build business connections so I do not see that website providing an issue with applicants. But regardless, posting on forums and using other social media other than Facebook, can open a can of worms if you leak out too much information about yourself. Reducing as much personal information on employer property can reduce the chances of being "sought out" and "looked up" for ill behavior.

Social media killed anonymity on the internet. People need to be reminded of how important it is to remain anonymous.

If someone was really interested in even cursory digging, they could get my name in minutes with a bit of googling or visiting one of the many social media sites. I've also done pretty well to try and make sure that very little that is really personal gets onto the internet. For example, if someone went digging for dirt on Facebook on me, they would see that I play games on there and am a Warhammer 40k player/painter. And if you dig on the archives of my YouTube account, *gasp* I've been to Japan!

[randomguy]

I personally don't mind any digging; in fact I welcome it. I'm a pretty clean-cut kid, and a lot of what I do in my personal time (but couldn't include in the app) relates to the position I applied to. Of course, I'm guessing the chances of any reviewer using info from those sites to someone's benefit is probably small.

Well, my Facebook settings are super-restrictive, so no chance of letting my awesome personality and integrity shine from there anyway, I guess

[Romdeau]

Hey, sorry for this trivial question but I'm getting worried.

My app was received the day it was due (Dec. 2) and I still haven't received the confirmation letter. I'm positive I wrote the address perfectly and unless it mysteriously fell out of the package or UPS is lying to me, it got to their office. Since it's been 18 days since it arrived, should I start getting worried? Why haven't I received the confirmation letter yet? Is it because of the time of the year in combination with their office being swamped on the last day? Still, I would think 18 days is long enough with these factors so I decided to post and ask if this is normal.

BTW the address written on it is literally located on the other side of the country (San Diego, California), which is again why I've been so patient...but it takes 3 weeks to process and send a letter saying "we got your app"? I'm doubtful.

[merkypie]

The JET Program gets an average of, what, 4k applicants a year? They're doing this manually and perhaps they didn't get to your application yet. There are applicants that get their SASE in January. It got there the day OF the deadline, so just wait a bit more.

[Cliodhna]

Yeah- mine arrived the afternoon of Dec 1st and I only got my card yesterday. They're still going through them!

[Norsehawk]

The JET Program gets an average of, what, 4k applicants a year? They're doing this manually and perhaps they didn't get to your application yet. There are applicants that get their SASE in January. It got there the day OF the deadline, so just wait a bit more.

Well, if the stats that someone quoted a while back are even close to correct, where 80% of applicants don't get to the interview stage and there are around 4.5k JETs, I would guess that worldwide there are close to 20-30k applications each year.

That said, my application was received on Dec 1, and I too do not have my SASE back yet, nor am I sweating it yet. I still dutifully go to the mailbox every day and look inside and hope that it will be there every day though.

[merkypie]

The JET Program gets an average of, what, 4k applicants a year? They're doing this manually and perhaps they didn't get to your application yet. There are applicants that get their SASE in January. It got there the day OF the deadline, so just wait a bit more.

Well, if the stats that someone quoted a while back are even close to correct, where 80% of applicants don't get to the interview stage and there are around 4.5k JETs, I would guess that worldwide there are close to 20-30k applications each year.

That said, my application was received on Dec 1, and I too do not have my SASE back yet, nor am I sweating it yet. I still dutifully go to the mailbox every day and look inside and hope that it will be there every day though.

I think the US JET twitter said there was like 5300+ applicants in 2010 season so I just shot that number off of my head to take in account of a slip in applicants. I think the amount of applicants for the 2010 application that got interviews was around 1900 (more or less). Crunching numbers and all that, around 3000 didn't get interviews. But, it changes every year and blah blah blah. Hypothetical freak out talk.

Well, you don't want to be the neighborhood crazy and start building a tent at your mailbox. Yeah, I just think it being the Xmas holiday and having so many applicants, that post-Thanksgiving rush in applications probably set them back and they just didn't get to you yet. Be sure that if the mail carrier said they received it, they've received it and it'll be processed well before the end of January.

[bjw]

Well, if the stats that someone quoted a while back are even close to correct, where 80% of applicants don't get to the interview stage and there are around 4.5k JETs, I would guess that worldwide there are close to 20-30k applications each year.

Don't forget that many JETs re-contract for multiple years; they don't get 4.5k new JETs annually.

[RockerBug17]

Hey, sorry for this trivial question but I'm getting worried.

My app was received the day it was due (Dec. 2) and I still haven't received the confirmation letter. I'm positive I wrote the address perfectly and unless it mysteriously fell out of the package or UPS is lying to me, it got to their office. Since it's been 18 days since it arrived, should I start getting worried? Why haven't I received the confirmation letter yet? Is it because of the time of the year in combination with their office being swamped on the last day? Still, I would think 18 days is long enough with these factors so I decided to post and ask if this is normal.

BTW the address written on it is literally located on the other side of the country (San Diego, California), which is again why I've been so patient...but it takes 3 weeks to process and send a letter saying "we got your app"? I'm doubtful.

No applications are processed on the weekends, so you shouldn't count those days. Your total is 15 days, as of 12/23/11. My application was received the morning of December 1st, and my confirmation card was mailed 12/14/11, totaling 9 days for processing. I wouldn't get to caught up on it though. For all I know, I may have been disqualified, or maybe my application was so organized it literally took minutes to grade. There are just too many variables involved to know why some confirmation cards take longer than others.

[ume no hana]

According to USPS, my application was received on 12/2...and i'm still awaiting the SASE

anyone have any tips on how to pass the time??

[Cliodhna]

According to USPS, my application was received on 12/2...and i'm still awaiting the SASE

anyone have any tips on how to pass the time??

If the US JET thread is anything to go by, they're still in the middle of processing applications that arrived on Dec. 1st so I don't think they've started on the Dec. 2nd ones yet. Hang in there!!

[merkypie]

anyone have any tips on how to pass the time??

I've been catching up on my television shows/dramas and listening to much kayokyoku. Then again, I'm trying to kill time for the interview results. I already got my SASE.

January is going to be one painful month....

[sadiebazzone]

I recently applied for the JET program, and due to the class registration timetable at my university, I was not able to send my application in until the last day of the deadline. I sent my application with USPS tracking, and saw that it was received at 3 p.m. that afternoon. I am concerned because it is a month later and I have not yet received my self-addressed envelope with my application number. Could this be due to the high volume of application that were likely received towards the end of the deadline and I should expect mine to still be in transit or should I be concerned? What should I do at this stage? Thanks!

[ume no hana]

I recently applied for the JET program, and due to the class registration timetable at my university, I was not able to send my application in until the last day of the deadline. I sent my application with USPS tracking, and saw that it was received at 3 p.m. that afternoon. I am concerned because it is a month later and I have not yet received my self-addressed envelope with my application number. Could this be due to the high volume of application that were likely received towards the end of the deadline and I should expect mine to still be in transit or should I be concerned? What should I do at this stage? Thanks!

sadiebazzone: it seems like they are still processing the applications received on Dec 1st...at least according to the posts on this forum. I am waiting too!

[miami_coordinator]

It's normal for them to still be processing applications at this point, and given the later application deadline, I expect that some people won't get their SASE for at least another couple of weeks.

There are always situations where SASEs get lost in the mail, returned to the JET Program office (usually because the address listed was illegible or incorrect), or because an error was made on the part of the processing staff. For example, if someone neglects to include an SASE, the processing staff will send the form to either the mailing address or the permanent address as listed on the application, which may not be where you wanted it to go to. In other cases, sometimes there is a problem with sealing the envelope flap and the form falls out, or they may even forget to include the form (it's not very common, but it does happen).

All that the form inside the SASE states is that the application was received and what the application ID number is. This number is also located in the gray box in the upper right hand corner of your application. Once a decision has been made as to which applications are passing to the interview round, those applications' ID numbers will be posted on a PDF that will be uploaded to the JET USA webpage. Around the same time, the JET Program Coordinators will contact those applicants passed to the interview stage in order to set up interview dates and times. So, even if you do not receive your SASE, you should hear from a JET Program Coordinator about the interview if you have been passed to that round. For the U.S., we tend to send this notification out via email. Other countries may use email or snail mail.