2009 Exam Season Finished...
We at The Toronto and Ontario Ghosts and Hauntings Research societies annually close our membership recruitment from September of the current year through January of the following year...
This is because there is usually a robust interest in being an investigator and researcher during these times with the media usually "gearing up" the Halloween entertainment in September through to October... and although this "extra attention" to our studies is not unwelcome, it does tend to make people want to dive into being involved in a hands on way with what we do... and often, most people only have a sincere interest because it's foremost in their minds during this time thanks to the extra media about the topic.
This is not to say everyone who comes by this site during the Halloween media blitz is in this category, but it would be silly not to admit that our past experience has shown that it is the case in the majority of people that do find us during this season.
The reason we don't re-open the exam in November is that we like to give everyone (including ourselves,) a little time to breath right through the winter holidays... and also focus on our studies, work, investigations, and research.
We also realise that some folks feel that they can "jump in" even when the exam is offline because of a real "go-getter" attitude or because of a special ability or experience they'd bring to our team... We appreciate this, but we do try and stay neutral and insure that there's no special treatment for any of our people regardless... so if you're one of these special people, please be patient... We'd love to see you in January!
About the online course and exam... Just to quickly touch base on these two things... the course and exam have always been free. There has never been a charge or any sort of "money exchange" involved since our group's inception in 1997.
The online course is completely based on our own work and what we've found seems to be successful methods of investigation, research, and thought processes towards looking into the paranormal. We do understand and acknowledge we are not experts and there is always room for ideas and improvements and the course, very early on in it, states clearly that it's really there to be "Adopted, Adapted, and Improved" by the individuals that find value in it... meaning see what and why we have done things a certain way and with us, incorporate them into how you'd do things... then see if they can be changed to be better... then, indeed, improve on them, show the results, and then let everyone know so we all can learn.
We do not expect our people to "walk in lock-step" with us, but they DO need to understand why and how we normally do things... This is what makes the course and exam so important to us.
If you're interested, let me give you some handy tips to "ace" the exam right now for use in January...
#1: READ THE COURSEBOOK THOROUGHLY! Every question save personal information and two other questions are based out of that book... and test things like your ability to "self-start" your work, your comprehension of the material, your ability to see - absorb - remember things, and the like. Take the exam without the course and it's highly likely you will not be passing the exam.
#2: Use good ethics. There's a couple of questions on the exam based on being an ethical investigator. We like to know whether you're only on the team hoping to be on TV or in the paper like "those other ghost hunters" or would barge into a private residence filled with grieving people waving about a microphone and camera to find a "ghost" you'd heard about. These things will absolutely ensure you will not be passing the exam.
#3: Remember, this is not YOUR exam, it's ours... and as we stated, we welcome people working with us and definitely helping to change and/or improve things, but again, you have to understand why we are who and what we are... which means we want you to answer the questions as if you're going to be working with our team... not taking it over (at least not yet! Pass and become a volunteer first!)
So, please, if you really want to be part of our team, read the FREE course and absorb it... I've tried very hard to make it a fairly enjoyable read... but that's up to you to decide...
So, to this end, we invite anyone that's come by here between September and December to come back in January, take our free exam (based on our free online course,) and join the team...
Matthew Didier - Founder/Director of the T/OGHRS
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