Grant Rejection?

I think I've been rejected from another grant, but I don't actually know. Why? Because they don't post the date of award announcements, any calls go directly to a generic "leave a message" VM, there is no answer to email, and the webpage hasn't been updated in about a year. According to the jobs Wiki, one person got a call and email telling them they were a winner, but it hasn't been confirmed by anyone else at this point.

This goes back to something I blogged about earlier in the year and pertains to the job market, grant applications, and all of their ilk: I know you have a million applications, and I know you are all really busy, but we are too. And we're often scared, poor, and broke. Our professional livelihoods depend on either receiving your grant/job or getting rejected from your grant/job which means a rapid turn around to find another grant/job. It's rude not to alert people who have been rejected. It's even ruder not to announce who has been accepted/funded and not to announce the rejects. Although an actual rejection email/letter would be nice, I understand that with "record numbers of applicants" that you don't want to waste the time typing in those email addresses or paying for postage stamps (although considering in the case of the AAUW I paid them $40 for the privilege of applying, the least they can do is send me a letter with a stamp. They're still making profit off of me.). But if you only have 10 fellowship spots, it's really not that hard to update your website. Hell, I'll do it for you - for free!

I'm not there yet, but by all accounts this is a huge problem on the job market too. You only find out you didn't get an interview when others post on the unofficial job wiki that they did. Then, if you get the interview, you do't even get a "sorry, we're going with other candidates", you just wait in what must be one of the levels of Purgatory - in which you self-flagellate regarding all of the mistakes you made and things you should have done different while desperately searching for last minute VAP and adjunct positions that might have opened. Even if you are luck enough to get the campus interview you still won't necessarily hear if they've gone with someone else. According to those in the know this in part has to do with the game search committees play with their top choices. They're top choice may reject them for a different position, leaving them with 2nd place, but they don't' want to insult 2nd place by telling them they were 2nd place, so instead they say nothing at all to 2nd (and 3rd) place....

The processes here are rude and anxiety producing for the candidates (poor deluded suckers). PArt of being professional is also being courteous and polite. It wouldn't take more than a small amount of time and effort to be a little nicer and treat your applicants like the human beings and hard working scholars they are. There are living beings behind each of your applicants. And though it may sound great to say "we received over 1100 applications for 30 spots"! Remember that those are 1070 dreams being crushed. Miss Manners would be woefully disappointed with the lack of common courtesy.