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Content
Credential: An EPCS credential
contains a one- or two-page resume, transcripts, professional education
certificate or license, and 3-10 professional references and professional references.
Dossier: The dossier generally contains reference letters, and may also include transcripts.
Photographs are prohibited
in credentials/dossiers under State legislation. If you have other material to
send to an employer (such as lists of publications, exhibits, performances;
copies of news articles, programs; tapes; slides; etc.), include them in a portfolio,or
when appropriate, with the letter and resume or vita you send directly. Otherwise, keep
them in your personal file of materials to take to an interview.
When
to Have the Credential/Dossier Sent
When you hear of
a job opening for which you are qualified (either from a vacancy listing
we send you or from some other source), write a letter of application,
and send a copy of your resume or vita and anything else requested in
the vacancy information, to the prospective employer. In the summer months
or when there are early deadlines, you may want to initiate contact by
phone to ask for an application blank and to arrange an interview as soon
as possible.
Your Professional
Credential/Dossier should be sent only for a known vacancy when:
- The employer
has responded to your letter of application or inquiry, specifically
requesting it, OR
- The vacancy information
indicates you should send it, OR
- The opening is
an immediate one and applications will be accepted for a limited time,
OR
- It is late in
the placement year (July or August) and positions will be filled rapidly.
REMEMBER
to keep track of where your credentials/dossiers have been sent. Duplicate
requests made by you will be honored and, therefore, counted toward your
20 credentials sent. After 20, there is a $2.00 charge per credential.
Please see Summary of Procedures and Charges
for detailed information on fees.
IT IS THE PREROGATIVE
OF EDUCATION PORTFOLIOS AND CAREER SERVICES TO REQUIRE EVIDENCE OF EMPLOYER
INTEREST IN ALL CASES.
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How
to Have the Credential/Dossier Sent
Credentials requests
can now be made by submitting labels to the EPCS office or via the EPCS
On-line account.
Label
Requests
Labels will be provided to you for credential requests, and then may be
brought to our office or mailed to us. After office hours, there is a
mail depository available for your use. If your credential/dossier is ready to
be sent, your request will usually be honored within one to three days.
Submit complete
addresses of bona fide employers as follows:
- Name of employing
official
- Title of employing
official
- Department (for
college addresses)
- School Name
- Street Address
(if available)
- City, State, Zip
Code
If you don't have
a complete address, or the job is a non-school position, indicate the
source of your vacancy information and the position for which you are
applying to avoid delay.
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On-Line
Credential/Dossier Requests
Requests
can be made on-line by going to the EPCS web page and logging in your
EPCS On-line account. From the EPCS On-Line Main Menu, choose Credential
Requests which allows you to address your own labels on-line.
WECAN Upload Requests (Credential Service)
With an active account, EPCS will also upload your credential file to WECAN. (For other online applications, contact an EPCS consultant. If your account is not active, see Charges: Inactive Accounts)
To request WECAN upload, here's what you need to do:
1. Apply to the district through WECAN (you must apply to a district before materials can be uploaded)
2. Send email to epcs-online@education.wisc.edu requesting that your credential file be uploaded to WECAN. Please provide your EPCS file number and specify that this is a new upload request.
3. Allow 2-3 days processing. You will be notified when completed.
4. Release your credential to employers in your WECAN account.
***
NOTE ***
CREDENTIALS
CANNOT BE SENT OR GIVEN TO YOU OR TO COLLEAGUES, RELATIVES OR FRIENDS.
***************************************************************************************
Procedures
Used in Sending Your Credential /Dossier
- Once you have
established your account with us, we always send a copy of the entire
credential/dossier to an employer. Any deviation from this would be considered
special handling. If you request special handling, an ADDITIONAL
$5.00 must accompany the request. (See deleting
references from your circulating credential.)
- Credentials/dossiers are
not sent unless there is at least one reference.
- If you know a reference
has recently arrived at our office and you want to be sure it is included
in the credential(s) you are having sent, indicate "include the reference
from (name of person writing reference)" on your request.
- You may ask to
have additional references sent to an employer who has already received
your Professional Credential/dossier by providing another label and the names(s)
of the reference(s) to be sent. Be sure your file is complete at that
time since this mailing will count toward your 20 requests included
with your Processing Charge. If you are already beyond the 20, there
is a $2.00 charge for this service.
- Updates of material
other than references are not sent to employers who have already received
a copy of the original pages. Please communicate necessary revisions
directly to the employing official who is considering your application
- If your credential/dossier
needs to be mailed to an employer outside the USA, it will automatically
be sent air mail. However, this request will count as 2 mailings. If
you have exceeded 20 credential/dossier requests, a payment of $4.00 for each
request is required. If you want your credential sent SPECIAL DELIVERY
anywhere, you must provide additional Special Delivery postage with
your request. If you want credentials sent express, you must make the
arrangements and pay the costs yourself.
- When your file
becomes inactive at the end of the placement year, your credential can
be sent for $5.00 per copy (payment must accompany the request), if
you don't want to completely reactivate the file and pay the Processing
Charge. This charge cannot be applied to the Processing Charge if
you decide to activate your file at a later date. See
Summary of Procedures and Charges for detailed information on
fees.
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Special
Credential Requests
- We will send just
your references for graduate school admission only without a special
handling charge. Please supply complete address information, and note
the specific references you want sent.
- Requests to have
your credential/dossier sent to commercial agencies will not be honored.
- If you are a member
of a national professional association in your field which offers placement
services to its members, we will send your credential/dossier to that association
upon request.
- Requests to send
credentials/dossiers for non-school positions should include an explanation of
what the position is and how you were informed about it, as well as
the employer's title and organization.
- If you have any
other special credential/dossier needs in your job search, please contact an EPCS consultant for assistance.
Please see Summary
of Procedures and Charges for detailed information on fees.
Revisions
in Your Credential/Dossier
It is important
to keep your Professional Credential/Dossier current, so both employers and
EPCS can contact you. If mail is returned to us, your name will be removed
from the mailing list, and if employers cannot contact you, you will
miss a job opportunity! Changes and additions can be made, at no charge,
whether or not your file is active. Please
note for credentials that it is your responsibility to submit an updated version of
your resume to EPCS when your information changes during the hiring
season. To revise your address, send an email
to: epcs-online@education.wisc.edu
.
A special note
to people making a name change - we suggest you carefully consider
your alternatives. If you use a hyphenated name, be consistent in using
it. If you use your married name, and later return to your birth name,
any reference in your file that refers to you only by your married name
cannot be changed to your birth name without the permission of the writer.
Such vacillation may cause problems with your Professional Credential/Dossier
and with other aspects of your job search, so consider carefully which
name you will use.
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Reference
Policies
- IT IS YOUR RESPONSIBILITY
TO GIVE THE FORMS TO YOUR REFERENCE WRITERS AND TO CHECK WITH US TO
VERIFY THAT WE HAVE RECEIVED THE REFERENCES. If the writer is not on
campus, provide a stamped envelope addressed to Education Portfolios
& Career Services.
- We will accept
only the signed ORIGINALS of references, since we must maintain their
credibility. They should be sent directly to us, and not given to you.
You may review the reference in our office, and/or request a review
copy of it from us (see Reference Review).
ONCE REFERENCES
HAVE BEEN SUBMITTED TO OUR OFFICE, THEY BECOME THE PROPERTY OF THE
UNIVERSITY OF WISCONSIN-MADISON, AND THE ORIGINALS MAY NOT BE REMOVED
FROM OUR OFFICE.
-
The maximum
number of references to be circulated with your credential is 10.
You can add a new reference to your file at any time and delete any
which are outdated or no longer applicable. In fact, you should always
obtain letters of reference before leaving an employment situation
and have them submitted to our office, so they will be available when
you are seeking a new position. References deleted from your circulating
credential are retained permanently in your master file. They can
be returned to circulation for the placement year, but
may not be added and deleted more than once during the year.
- Your letters will be presented in the order they are received, most recent first. You can request to re-order your letters one time each placement year. Requests need to be in writing and forms are available at EPCS or in word format or pdf format on-line ( word | .pdf file)
...
- We maintain an
up-to-date record of references received for your credential/dossier. You may
check on-line to see which references have been received. Or, you may
call us to find out which of your references have been received. References
that arrive before you have handed in your job search account materials will
be held and added to your file as your materials are processed.
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Reference
Review
Under the Family Educational
Rights and Privacy Act of l974 (the Buckley Amendment), you have the right
to review your employment references or to waive your rights to access.
Access and review are subject to the following conditions, as set forth
by the Amendment and/or the University of Wisconsin-Madison and EPCS guidelines:
Available
Information
- Most information
in your credential/dossier file is available for your review:
- Your Resume,
Transcript OR Data Sheet and Course Summary page
- References originally
sent to EPCS and received January l, l975, or later:
- those being
circulated with your credential/dossier which are sent to employers.
- those not being
circulated with your credential/dossier.
- if you do not
yet have a file, those references received prior to your registration
and held in our "Not Registered" file.
- those prior
to January l, l975, where the writer has sent a written waiver of
confidentiality.
- A list of where
and to whom your credentials/dossiers have been sent.
- A list of all
references circulating with your credential/dossier.
Limitations
on Access
- References received
prior to January l, l975, or originally on file with another placement
office, or for which you have waived the right to review are not available
to you.
- Only EPCS may grant
access to records originally filed with us. Review in person must be
supervised by EPCS staff.
- No review will
be done on the telephone. Requests for review must be in person and/or
in writing for identification purposes and, in the case of references,
as a record that you requested access.
- EPCS has 45 days
in which to respond to your review request, although we will try to
do so as quickly as possible. Much time and effort can be saved
if you wait until all your references are in your file before requesting
review.
- Copies of materials
cannot be issued if you owe us money.
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Access
Procedure for References
In person:
- Check with the
receptionist to see that your references are in.
- Present your ID.
- The receptionist
will indicate whether references are immediately available for review.
- You may request
a review copy of your reference (only one, stamped "Campus Copy" will
be issued) which is free if you have a file; if you do not have a file,
there will be a $l.00 charge each time you make a request.
By mail:
- Check on-line or
call the EPCS office to find out if all your references are in.
- When all references
are in, make a written request to review them and send it to EPCS with
a stamped, self-addressed envelope.
- One review
copy of each reference (stamped "Campus Copy") will be sent to you free
of charge, if you have a file; if you do not yet have a file, there
will be a $l.00 charge each time you make a request.
For a list of credentials/dossiers
sent and/or of circulating references, you may ask to see the original
record in your file or ask for a copy to be sent to you.
- You will be
notified automatically via email each time a credential/dossier is sent or a reference
is added to your file
- A list of all circulating
references is also available on-line.
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Record
of access
- Your written request
to review references, with the date and whether a copy was made, is
kept in your file permanently.
- Record of your
review is available only to you and to EPCS staff; it is not communicated
to anyone else, including employers.
Right
to challenge reference information
References are used
as written and the statement of evaluation cannot be edited except with
the express written permission of the author. If you believe that any
information in your references is inaccurate, misleading or inappropriate,
you have the right to challenge that information so it won't adversely
affect any decision made about you:
- Discuss the reference
with an EPCS consultant to determine if it's one you need and
want to use; if not, it can be deleted from circulation.
- If the reference
will be used, discuss with the writer the information in question, and
ask him/her to revise or eliminate it.
- If the writer won't
revise the reference, you may decide not to use it or you may request
a formal hearing to challenge it by writing to the Director of EPCS.
All parties will present their views and the Director's decision will
be final as to whether the reference must be amended or is accurate.
After the hearing, you have the right to have a statement of your viewpoint
included in your file.
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Waiver
of right to review
If you decide to waive
your right to review references, you may sign a blanket waiver for all
references or waive on an individual basis.
- A reference writer
may ask you to waive your right to see his/her reference; if you agree,
you should give a completed waiver to the writer and ask him/her to
return it with the completed reference to EPCS.
- A blanket waiver
may be revoked as it applies to future references; revocation for any
current references listed on a waiver is only possible with the written
consent of the reference writer.
- Record of your
waiver is available only to you, EPCS staff and, for individual waivers,
the reference writer; no indication of confidentiality is communicated
to anyone else, including employers.
- No information
regarding reference contents can be provided to you if you waive your
rights, but you may still request a list of the references circulating
with your file.
Waiver forms are available at EPCS or online in word or pdf format.
A complete policy
statement regarding credential records and the Buckley Amendment is available
upon request.
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