application frustration

I'm currently trying to apply for a visiting-professor position at Kyungpook National University (Kyungpook is their spelling; the official romanization ought to be Gyeongbuk), Sangju Campus. Sangju is a city I visit almost every time I walk across the Korean mainland (except for this last abortive attempt). I like it a lot and wouldn't mind moving there, but I hope the city has a decent hospital so I can keep receiving my meds.

Right now, though, the problem is that KNU is asking for five things from me; I have four of those things, which are:

1. cover letter
2. résumé
3. apostilled diplomas (copies)
4. certificates of employment

No transcripts, no recommendation letters, no headshot, no copy of my alien-registration card, nothing else. Maybe all of that is for Round 2.

The job ad on Dave's ESL Cafe claims that the fifth thing is already "attached" to the ad, but I see no link and no attachments of any kind—nothing to download and fill out. So I've written KNU's office to get access to that fifth thing, which is a standard, permission-to-share-personal-information form. That's the only thing I need.

KNU is very specific that it wants these five elements sent as five separate PDFs, not one unified PDF. As of now, I can send only four, and KNU says—as most colleges do—that any deviation from their instructions means the application will not be considered. So if I were to send my four documents now, I'd be rejected through no fault of my own.

But what happens when the university itself is preventing a person from completing his paperwork? I hate to say it, but I smell incompetence. (And I hope that remark doesn't get me in trouble with the Thought Police.)

I have only until the 22nd to send my paperwork in. If I had the damn form, I could send in everything right now. If I don't get an email by close of business tomorrow, I'm going to call the relevant office on Thursday.

KNU, like so many universities, says it's preference is for people with a Master's or a Ph.D. in something language-related. I don't have that, so I'm plumping up my years of experience as a uni prof, my Georgetown credentials (it's barely a Top 25 school nationally... last I checked), and the fact that I went through a certificate program for foreign-language teaching during undergrad, which included several courses in linguistics, pedagogy, and educational foundations. Will that be enough? We'll see, I guess.

One way or another, I'm submitting my paperwork this week.