More than a decade ago, sending a resume, cover letter and copy of a certification was the only one way to apply for a position with any of the many LI school districts.
In order to prepare a large-scale mailing, an applicant, such as a teacher or school social worker, needed to purchase the SCOPE directories: one for Suffolk County and one for Nassau County.
Then they had to hand type all of the contact information on to their computer. Then they had to cut and paste the contact information into their cover letter and then figure out a way to get it onto an envelope.
On the other end, each school district received so many envelopes every year; they could hardly walk in their office! The process of opening the envelopes and qualifying potential candidates was arduous.
For this reason, many of the school districts launched websites and set up accounts with a few online application systems such as OLAS to automate the process in a paperless manner.
To apply for a position nowadays with any of the Long Island school districts, all an applicant needs to do is visit each of the LI school district websites and find out if they are accepting the job applications by postal mail or through the online application systems.
If the district requests the application to be sent by postal mail, then the applicant still needs to prepare the information in their word processor. It is easier to copy and paste the information electronically from the website into their word processor then retyping it by hand.
If the district requests the application to be sent using the OLAS system, the district will provide a link. Each district has their own account. There is not one OLAS page for all of the district. Each application much be prepared online separately.
The Internet has made this entire process a lot easier for both the applicant and the districts. One thing that has not changed is the LI school districts' response process.
To this day, the Long Island school districts still send a postcard out to applicants to confirm receipt of their resume, stating that they will keep it on file for one year.
The main difference between years ago and now is that for those LI school districts that only accept the applications online, their postcard will inform the applicant to apply online using the OLAS system.
For this reason, it is very important to do the research first to learn how to apply to the LI school districts. If not, an applicant risks losing a lot of time in preparing their mailing, money in materials and postage, and the opportunity to respond to a vacancy announcement before a certain deadline.
