Clarification of Suckage

[judecorp]

I don't think I was incredibly clear in my description of suckage. Let me try again.

1. So I mailed my application materials to the State of Massachusetts on March 28th. Massachusetts is one of those states that requires you to apply before you can register for the test, because they require pre-authorization. Control freaks. (In Ohio, any yahoo can take a licensing exam if s/he wants to pay the 175 smackers.)


2. Massachusetts takes about two weeks to process an application. On April 10th, I received a packet from the state. In it were all of my application materials, unprocessed. All because I sent a personal check instead of a money order.


3. In case you don't have a calendar handy, April 10th was a Saturday. I received my stuff around 3:00pm, well after the post office was closed. We got a money order, bundled everything up again, and left it in the mailbox for Monday's mail. The 12th.


4. Insert two more weeks of processing here. My new packet from the state arrives on April 24th. I receive it on April 26th, due to March. I immediately go to the ASWB (Association of Social Worker Boards) website to register for the exam, and pay the $175.


5. The next day, I receive e-mail stating that my registration has been processed. I call the ASWB to ask how I register for an exam. They tell me I will be getting an authorization letter.


6. I figure it takes a couple of days. *bzzzzt* Wrong-o.


7. I read through the fine print and see a tiny note stating that the ASWB does not allow you to register for an exam until 14 days AFTER your payment has been processed. My payment was processed on April 27th. 14 days later is May 11th.


8. I don't believe it's possible to call and schedule an exam for, say, the day after you are able to call. The booklet says one must "plan ahead."


9. Did I mention that the ASWB is changing their entire test format and content? Yes. As of May 17th.

Just shoot me now.

Hopefully the job I want I want I want will not be incredibly turned off by the fact that I will not be licensed by the time I leave Ohio. It is possible that I will have the exam taken by the time I leave Ohio (if I can find the time out of work to do so), but according to the Humble Literature, it takes 1-2 weeks for the "official scores" to get to the Commonwealth. And /then/ they send me another packet of stuff, this time an application for a license (yeah, the other packet was just, you know, the application to see if you're worthy to even do this crap, to the tune of $145). I then have to fill out this application, send /more/ money, and wait. Wait for processing. Wait for them to print out some sort of authorization to practice social work. Wait for said authorization to be mailed to me.

Yeah. And we'll be moving halfway across the country in all this, so WHO KNOWS where some of this stuff will be mailed to. Or when I should give an address change. Or how effed up things are going to get when they start getting forwarded from place to place.

Right now I want to go to bed for about 20 years. I don't have the energy to be at work, my head is still killing me, we have to drive 13 hours starting at oh, say, 6:30pm, and there are a million things to do before then. And it's raining.

The only up-side is that I scheduled a third job interview yesterday, for a research position that doesn't require a license at all. The cost? My first scheduled job interview called at 5:30pm yesterday to say they hired someone else. I was temporarily up to 3 job interviews, now back to 2. And no license in sight.

Comments

[wendywoowho.livejournal.com]

ASS SUCKING! And, not in good ways!

I'm sorry, J. *HUGS*

[scottopic.livejournal.com]

If it looks like something is moving forward for the #1 job, it may pay off to be up front with them about it. I wouldn't think that the difference between being licensed immediately before or immediately after hire would matter that much, would it?
(just throwing out ideas - if I'm way off, never mind me)

[jadefu.livejournal.com]

You're currently licensed in Ohio, right?

[iansha.livejournal.com]

Okay, since I just went through this. :)

You cannot have an exam date until after that 'waiting period' date. If you had your auth # from said letter and the # for the testing site, why not call and see if they would schedule it. You'll still be sitting AFTER that date, just pre-planning.

They have to tell you that the content changes after 5/17. Better yet, ON 5/17, as I was told. This isn't anything RADICAL. Just a reshuffle of those pesky percentages of which topics are most represented in questions, etc. The woman on the phone told me herself 'It's really not all that significant a change from what you were already studying'. A percentage point here or there won't change the Top Four study areas.

You are given your exam scores when you take the exam. They print them out for you. When you take the exam, have them sent to MA, but keep your hard copy. You can use that to show potential employers and plead confusion at 'just how long everything takes in MA'. Believe me, they'll sympathise.

Some states you can print the licensure application online (like GA, yippee). Can you print off the MA one online? Then you can get started on it and only need wait for the 'official' stuff to get mailed.

Just breathe, Jude. *hugs* It'll work itself out. Believe me, I didn't think it would... and here I am. Yours will work out too.

[iansha.livejournal.com]

Oh. And...
Most testing centers offer Saturday exams. That wouldn't cut into your work time. It would burn a Saturday, yes, but at least you wouldn't need to take time off of work.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

The testing center here in Columbus is Columbus State Community College. IIRC (when I took the LSW exam), they weren't open on Saturdays. But maybe that's changed.

(But I'd rather take it during the week so I'm not waiting for /another/ weekend. You know? I want this DONE.)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thank you. You are much calmer than me.

I already have whirledpeas set to be on the look-out for anything from the ASWB. She will call me with any authorization #s and phone #s. I will definitely try to call and schedule early. If what you say is true, that the waiting period is for sitting for the exam and not registering for the exam, I should be able to take the exam on the 11th or 12th. That would be better, because at least Mass. would have time to send me the licensing info before I left OH (and I could put my new address on it).

I'm just really concerned about things getting lost in the mail since we're coming up close on moving. I know they can print out the scores for you (at CSCC, they don't do it unless you ask, heh) but I also know that the scores aren't "official" (even though they are).

Who knows, maybe I'll fail the stupid test and it won't even matter. =P

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Yes, but for a lower level of license.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, it depends. Some places say that employment requires "license or eligibility for license." If that is the case, I'd be set.

However, some employment requires a license at the start (because they can only hire social workers licensed to practice in that state) - that would be a problem.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

*slurp slurp* Listen to the sucking sounds!

[oxlahun.livejournal.com]

The real disconnect here is that all of us love you, and we forget that there are a few people in the world (just a few) who haven't heard of you yet and so don't love you like we do.

They'll come around.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Ha! I do so love the way you stroke my ego. You are good for me, j-love.

[iansha.livejournal.com]

*nods* I hear you.
Could you flex time a day?
Take the exam first thing in the morning, come in around 12 and work 'til 8?

[iansha.livejournal.com]

I keep thinking I'm gonna fail too... so we can commisserate in our failures together.

It will work itself out. Don't sweat the details.

[pantsie.livejournal.com]

You want I should beat up the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the playground during recess? I can do that, y'know.

I'm sorry, Jude, and I hope that things straighten themselves out for you. *hug*

[happy2beso.livejournal.com]

Can you wait and move a few weeks later?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

That's probably exactly what I'm going to have to do, although it will be "two days until 6" rather than "one day until 8." The neighborhood I work in is unsafe, and they won't let us stay past 6.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

You already took the exam I need to take. DAMN YOU. I should steal your score!!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

GO GET 'EM!!

Why do they make it so difficult for people to be underpaid for helping people? WHY?

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Well, not really. Our apartment here is already rented for June to some med students. (Maybe they want to buy our washer/dryer?) And I'm hoping to get one of the jobs I interview for next week, and they probably won't want to wait.

Oh, and I turned in my notice at my job already. :)

[iansha.livejournal.com]

*nods* But flex time is verah nice.

[iansha.livejournal.com]

Heh. If I could give it to you, I would. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

True. I am just going to be SO swamped next month. Besides doing 4 weeks of work in 3 weeks' time, I have to do all those freaking transfers!

[oxlahun.livejournal.com]

Because Massachusetts is a "Commonwealth", just like Pennsylvania, Virginia, Kentucky, and Puerto Rico. That means the bureaucrats are allowed to be extra bureaucratty for no apparent reason. And they often are.

Also, it makes "Commonwealth of Massachusetts" longer than every other name except for "State of Rhode Island and Providence Plantations". Clearly there's some deep psychological issue here. Sometimes a peninsula is just a peninsula?

Before long, you'll call it "mass o' dumbshits" just like the rest of us.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

But I want to be one of those dumbshits!! :)

And I'm proud to be from the state with the longest and most ridiculous name EVER. :)

[oxlahun.livejournal.com]

The dumbshits will not respect and accept you until you prove you can be as big a masshole as they are. Take it from me. I worked for UMass for over 5 years before I got smart and left. :)

[katishna.livejournal.com]

Oy vey.

My mom lives in Massacrappets, and from everything the family has told me over the years, the state is like this with EVERYTHING. Make the rules impossibly complex, extra stupid, and penalize the heck out of people when they can't follow them. Don't get a ticket, you'll pay it for 7 years on your insurance. I mean, it's a fun place to live and whatnot, but the government could really use some skimming!

[indigodove.livejournal.com]

That's awful...but it will work out. I'll send some good energy you and Jen's way, for what it's worth.

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Bureaucracy is so tedious. Hurry up and wait, hurry up and wait. Heck, I don't even want to work - I just want to putter around my house and GET PAID! Wouldn't that be lovely?

p.s. When you visit your Mom, we should do fun things!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Oh, I can take 'em. I've done it before. :)

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

Thank you, muffin!

[katishna.livejournal.com]

Oh yes, I'm tired of seeing the same ol' crap every time I go to boston. Faneuil Hall. The Statehouse. the Freedom Trail. yadda yadda. I wanna see some real culture!

[pantsie.livejournal.com]

Damn them! Damn their eyes!

[judecorp.livejournal.com]

I'll show you cul-cha, mama!