Jobs, jobs, jobs

I have now definitively run through the usajobs listings, and it's time to start the civilian searches. Somehow that makes me anxious all over again, even though now I have my materials even more thoroughly prepped than I did going into this first round. Also, the more time goes by, the more I start to feel anxious about not having heard anything, even though it's only been a week and most of the job application periods haven't even closed yet--if any of them have; I'd have to double-check that.

In the meantime, translation continues. I am down to the last page of the museum translation. I haven't done any more articles for worldmeets.us yet, but the one I translated has taken off--it's now up, with my name on it as translator, on several sites that picked it up from the original. There should be a lot more coming soon for the inauguration, and down the road I will start getting more involved in the whole production process (finding material, translating, editing, publishing...) That's taken off a lot more quickly than the job thing has. I'm thinking about doing some volunteer grantwriting, too, so I can get experience to list under that heading.

Here's the rundown on what federal agencies are like to apply to:

Navy--a seething den of idiocy and incompetence. Their website doesn't work; it's only compatible with Explorer (the least reliable browser in common use, and the one with the most and worst security holes). Their webmaster's contact info is hidden, and once you do turn over the right stone to find it you get a reply to your email telling you that, while they do everything they can to make their application process convenient and efficient, they don't accept applications from Safari or Firefox (the #1 and 2 most trustworthy browsers) because they "have heard reports that they don't work very well." They helpfully recommended that I go to my local library or internet cafe. I'm not sure they even realize it's their site, and not the browsers, that is failing to work properly. I realize their HR site is not necessarily reflective of the organization of a whole, but when it makes that bad an impression, it makes you extremely reluctant ever to apply for any position there.

IRS--they clearly think they are the most organized and precise with their paperwork. They certainly are the most demanding of precise documents, but the documents they demand are not necessarily ones that exist in nature. It's as if they wanted you to submit your resume on paper made of Einsteinium. Well, not quite that bad--one can jerry-rig unofficial transcripts to the specific format they want, for instance--but it makes me wonder whether they are just that silly, have come up with an ingenious strategy to weed out applicants who aren't willing to do the hoop-jumping required by the job, or are trying to see who is clever enough to make it around they obstacles they throw up to even applying to the job in the first place.

USDA/Forest Service--rather bizarrely exist in a parallel universe of government job sites. They're listed on the main clearinghouse site, but when you click to apply you are routed to another site where you have to recreate your resume and personal info, answer all the same eligibility questions and so forth, search again for the job announcement on a much more opaque database interface, and then go through exactly the same application process you would if they could just hook themselves up to usajobs. Plus, you have to click "submit" through no less than five separate screens to apply.

CDC--efficient and helpful, but they try harder than any other agency to sell themselves to you. That may just mean they're better at it, such that it stands out as memorable, or it may mean they need people more badly.

The rest are about as you'd expect: form-heavy, but logical in their demands and clearly taking every reasonable step to make the process efficient. Though they seem to be full of redundant steps and long forms that may or may not really get at the information they want, I suspect they will turn out to have been much more streamlined and clear than civilian application processes. There's no way to find out who you want to hire without asking lots of questions, after all. Now we'll wait and see what they thought of me.