Job Applications--It's in the Details by Jane Tolbert

Job entries on CadreEmploi

Those of us who applied for jobs in the pre-Internet days remember the process of carefully crafting a cover letter (after doing research using business reviews and annual reports held at the library), printing copies of our resumes on high-quality paper and mailing our submission package to the human resources department.

When I returned to the job hunt recently, I welcomed the change to paperless applications, which seemed to work like this: locate job through a Google keyword search, upload resume, submit. My candidacy package would speed through cyberspace to its destination. One detail made this application process something other than the panacea I expected. USABILITY.

Employment opportunities are posted on job boards (CareerBuilder and Monster in the States or CadreEmploi and the French Monster in France) or just about anywhere on the “net.” The search was actually fun. I found jobs for which I was qualified. But when I clicked on the button that said, “Apply online,” instead of being taken directly to the job description, I was taken to the homepage of the company advertising the position. From here, I needed to go to the career page menu and search through the jobs.

Step 1, CREATE ACCOUNT. Name and address. Provide a user name and password. ERROR MESSAGE. Error fields are marked with an asterisk. Provide a valid email address. SUBMIT. ERROR MESSAGE. Your password must contain between 8 and 10 characters and at least one capital letter and one numeral. My screen went blank. I returned to the corporate website to begin the login process anew. ERROR MESSAGE. That user name has been taken.

Locating a job was one thing, but creating the user account presented unimaginable obstacles. More than 30 minutes into the process, I succeeded. Step 2, CREATE PROFILE. Companies provided various options for an online resume of education and professional history—upload a resume or cut and paste to a textbox. Some sites proposed a “resume builder,” which, in theory, “populates the form,” or takes information from a resume and places it in appropriate boxes. In practice, the software succeeded with name and address, but employment history and education became garbled and contained numerous errors. Other forms enabled me to fill out my job history myself with a series of pull-down menus and submit buttons. But even that activity was fraught with minefields. Some forms forced me to select a category of industry or job. And, although I could fill in the blank for city location of employment, I had to use a drop down menu for the state in which I worked. Given that some of my experience is international, I looked for France or international or other country, to no avail. I finally left that entry as city France in the state of Florida.

ERROR MESSAGE. Your file has to be loaded as a PDF or in MSWord and must not exceed. . . . YOUR APPLICATION has not been accepted until you receive a confirmation number. ERROR. You must answer all questions concerning criminal history, veteran’s status and security clearance. ERROR. Although information about race/ ethnicity is optional, you must select “not disclose” if you choose not to disclose that information.
Some applications seemed more encouraging than others. On one, a horizontal bar showed the progress of my application. Some applications allowed me to return to previous pages, or to preview and edit material I had entered. But others erased information if I pressed a back key. The only thing consistent is that these applications required a lengthy amount of time, much more than the paper copies I had mailed years earlier.
Other countries use similar online application forms. But French resumes require photos, which make files exceed the maximum limit.

Today, I visited two sites, one of which gave me a choice to apply via a personal email with attachments or via the online form. (I feel good about this company already.) The other company must have had a glitch—the job board sent me to the company website, which then sent me back to the job board. I found the snail mail address, and that application is going by the USPS.



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My questions for readers--Have companies actually tested their online job application process? Or does the time-consuming application process actually reduce the pool of applicants? Hummm.