Arg!

So, during Christmas vacation I received a job offer from a company called TinyEye Therapy Services.  They provide online speech therapy to rural school districts all around the country and world.  I was offered a full-time contract with schools in Iowa, to begin at the end of January.  Well that time of the month rolled around and I received a call from the president of the company letting me know that the schools in Iowa had lost their funding but that they would like me to take a contract in Alberta, Canada.  Thus began the lovely process of attempting to get licensed so I could start work (this process began the first of February).  Here's what they required:

1.  Resume (normal, understandable)

2.  Application (normal.  $150 licensing fee a bit high.  $650 mandatory dues for the Canadian association of SLPs absolutely outrageous.  Thankfully I'm not paying them, the company is).

3.  Letter from my district stating I've worked at least 1250 hours in the last 5 years (ok, kind of nit picky since I have sent them a resume with 8 years of experience).

4.  Letter of recommendation from a former colleague (easy, it was just a form and I still have some good friends in the district).

5.  Proof of $1 million in professional liability insurance from a Canadian company (that took several days to take care of).

6.  Police background check (had to drive to Salt Lake to do it and got stuck in horrendous traffic so it took 4 hours total.  The state office said they mailed it 2 weeks ago but it still hasn't made it to Canada.  Maybe it's going by sled dog team).

7.  Official transcript, certified letter of clinical hours and handout outlining my graduate program sent directly from my university (Even though I sent my request and check for $9 for the official transcript--which I think is a ripoff since it's just a piece of paper with an embossed stamp that took all of 1 minute to put together--they only sent an unofficial transcript, pocketing my $9 and requiring me to send them a tersely worded email requesting that they re-send the correct transcript as soon as possible).

8.  My limited reserve of patience.  Ok, it wasn't required, I just threw that in there for free.

Three weeks later, I'm still waiting to get licensed and start working.  With my luck, it'll be granted just before spring break and then I'll get a whole 2 months of work in before they're out for the summer.  Sheesh.