Forms

Application forms are a bug bear for everyone, from the poor applicant who trawl through all the instructions to the interviewer poor, which is to read the same thing over and over and over again. As an experienced manager in a large organization, I have the unenviable task frequent participation in the recruitment process for my own staff and support others in their recruitment. Below I will try to identify some simple measures that could facilitate the process for everyone …

Firstly, lets start with a question – Who do you think the application form is there to help? Is it:

a) The applicant so they can demonstrate why they are suitable for the advertised position
b) person making the hiring or
c) None of these answers?

The answer, of course, is a mixture of A and B, but it may be a surprise to some that, from the perspective of the employer, there is significantly more B than A.

In these times of rising unemployment, recruiters are bombarded with many applications for every job. A recent round of recruitment for a post at the way I was involved in resulted in 70 applications in a window of two weeks.

That's 70 applications each had 10 sections anything from a minimum of 8 pages in a mind-blowing maximum of 20 pages. To do justice to every application within a minimum period of 15 minutes per application to the long list. It is at least 2 days in the long Application List – to compare what was written on the form to the person specification you love writing, and, depending on how much are being questioned, at least half a day on the short list. Generally, the process involves at least two (or more often 3) managers — If in this case only 7.5 days of work for the organization to get to a point where he can start thinking about interviews!

Then Perhaps it is not surprising that we respond better to those who make our lives easier. How can you do that?

First thing if we bothered to write a person specification and job description of the applicant should have read – and show that in their form.

This does not attach or paste your CV. If we wanted to resume the application, then we ask. The application form has been designed in order to ensure obtain all the information we need and that we take into account all factors that we need diversity, experience, qualifications and legal requirements. By attaching your CV that you say to us that you do not have the time or inclination to do what we expect – not a good first impression!

Each industry has a way different from the standard recruitment, application forms, prompt for presentations resume, head hunting. Your request must match the way the recruiter asks for it.

Once you have read the description of the candidate, Show us! The section of the form that strikes terror in everyone of us is the "statement of support." But it should not – we've said what we look for in a successful candidate and the work we want you to do, the proof is your chance to tell us how you meet our requirements. Do not afraid to be obvious in setting it out – tell us how the specification to which you answer (if you want to do in the same order as the specification person is writing, not a problem), make your layout clear.

However, be clear what we want is more than declaration that you meet the specifications – not simply say: "I have the ability to write clearly and concisely and have experience of report writing "or" I am able to analyze complex data from various sources; testify. Tell us what you've written reports, where they were presented and most especially do something to change accordingly? What we need is something that justifies we call you for an interview if they need to meet our requirements and we show how you have done things in the past.

In section asking you to tell us what your current job involves and your previous jobs – be concise. You do not need to include as much detail as in the supporting statement, bullet points of your key responsibilities and tasks will be fine. Very often, applications duplicate information from one section to another when we really want to read it once, and it's easier for us if we did not go between sections when looking for your testimony.

The chronology is important. We look to see what you say, a sense that jobs are not overlapping it is not a black hole of 2 years in your employment history. There may be good reasons for this, but you must let us know.

The presentation can be a major bug bear, we need the punctuation to be able to read your application. If you cut and paste from another document (for example if you wrote it in Word to check spelling it, then copied) Make sure that you request is your chance sell yourself and show how you fit the profile for the position. We want to use – so we are advertising. Most of us 've done it several times ourselves and know the difficulty and the soul may be undermining it. We want to hear the best bits of your application form – just make it a little easier for us.

Want your job application to be noticed? Visit Words Worth Reading for CV improvement, proofreading and appraisal.

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