Sunday, May 15, 2011

Spring Grove P.D. application racket

The Spring Grove (Ill.) Police Department for a full-time police officer. The ad is running right now in local papers. Minimum age is 21 (by 6/4/2011) with educational requirements of a high school diploma or G.E.D., 60 college credit hours or an associate's degree, be a U.S. citizen and have a valid driver's license.

Oh, and you have to have $25. The P.D. requires a $25 non-refundable fee to receive an application.

They don't say how many officers they plan to hire. To charge $25 for an application is a racket, pure and simple. An application and an instruction sheet might require two pieces of paper. At a dime a copy, that's 20¢. To mail it out, add 44¢. And, say, 5¢ for an envelope. If they wanted to save that 49¢, they could ask interested parties to send in a stamped, self-addressed envelope for an application.

They are going to hire, probably, one officer or maybe just create an eligibility list for a future hire. How many applications might they get? 300? 400? Why should they rake in $7,500-10,000 just for mailing out application forms?

Do they really need to test hundreds to fill one $41,500/year position?

Years ago I was interested in a job as executive director of a Chamber of Commerce in eastern Oregon. I was asked if I would pay my own expenses to get there from Kansas City for an interview. I asked how many candidates they expected to interview. "About ten," was the answer. I suggested they ask candidates to "interview" by videotape and answer a set of questions. If I were one of two candidates to make the cut, then I might have considered footing the bill for an interview.

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