We all need to look for a new job now and again. The process of looking for one that pays well and has good benefits is what we all want. When we get that phone call to come in and fill out the application, we don’t want to blow it, because the next step might be an interview. So here is a tip or two for getting past the filling out of applications.
After perfecting the best resume, I would suggest typing up what I call an “application sheet”.
I have found that most companies take your resume, hardly look at it and hand you their application form to be filled out (on a clipboard if your lucky). They may also hand you a pen that has way too much ink in it and direct you to the nearest uncomfortable chair with no table nearby and lousy lighting, to fill the darned thing out. This application has you repeating what is already in your resume and it’s frustrating to do this same process over and over again, but they need it for legal purposes on “their company’s form” so your stuck doing it.
This can also be intimidating at a time when you’re stressed out about getting the job in the first place. Sometimes at this point, I just want to run and forget about it. Trying to balance the clipboard with the application on one knee, trying to write neatly while balancing your coat, purse or briefcase on the other knee or stuffing them under your chair, because the other chairs are filled with other applicants doing the same thing. There will be people who file by occasionally asking questions and you will forget how to spell your own name let alone trying to write your answers to questions about, why you left your last job or where you went to kindergarten. Is it getting hot in here or is it just me?
What I have finally figured out to do is ask for an extra application (from anyplace) to take home and fill out, get a third if your sloppy like me. When back at home, your going to answer every question as precisely as possible. Fill this info in by hand and include names of schools you’ve attended, dates attended and years completed with courses of studies you are most proud of. Find past bosses addresses, phone numbers and correct spelling of their names, if you know they will support your efforts in finding a new job. Remember to use only those who will say good things about you. These can be ex-foremen, co-workers who were higher on the ladder than you or a director of operations or even the head of the mail room, just someone you did not make mad before you left. Locate your old check stubs and find out the salaries you made from the beginning of your hire, to what you were making at the end, for each position you have held. Find everything you were good at in school and your achievements at your last position. Think of every machine you ever ran and every award you ever received. You’re going to try to fill this application out completely. This is your “Master Copy” from which you will be working. So even the “why you quit” and “what are your hobbies, where you were born, your social security number and why you love your mother” should be written in here. If there’s a space to put it, fill it in. Dig up old paperwork to find the correct information. It will be worth it, because you will never need to do it again. (THIS IS FOR YOUR PERSONAL USE ONLY; no one else has to ever see THIS handwritten application!)
Now, transfer this information (the wording only – not the form itself) in approximately the same format as your hand written application, into a word application on your computer. (Or typewriter, it’s the thing setting next to your phonograph).
Start with the order of the dates of hire from your last job, back to at least 4 previous jobs, which is pretty uniform on most application forms.
All applications are basically the same and your intention is not to recreate the form, you are just using the wording off from it. That is, the information you want to include on your next application, and the next one after that and so on.
This will save your sanity a hundred times over I promise.
On another sheet, type all the names, phone numbers and address of the people you are going to use for your references, like your real friends, not your drinking buddies. Use the people from your last job that you worked with (not just who you worked for, but who you worked with) and who still like you. You will need the same information on at least two relatives also (who also like you). Then, just because I’m not a great speller, I’ve typed up a list of a few key words on the same paper to use if I want to embellish the application a little and my pen doesn’t come with spell check. Just about 10 words that you want to spell correctly in a pinch while setting in the hot seat. Words like, disassemble, itemization, revolutionary, immediately, grandiloquence. A list of words to use to make your application look smarter. You get the visualization.
Because you’ve put this info on a computer you can make changes and add info as you go to different interviews and you will always have it ready to reprint and take with you at a moments notice (leave a copy in the glove box).
After this is all done, put your handwritten application away in a safe place! You will now, always have this information all together in one place, in case you have the need for it again in a couple of years. Yippee.
The best part is, now you can go to the interview and take your information sheet with you, everything is ready to be copied to that darned application form in about 10-minutes or less with no hassles and no thinking! No mixed up dates, forgotten phone numbers or misspelled names or words. No forgotten accomplishments, because you will have everything you ever needed to fill in those blanks, fast and correct. You will look like a professional and if you invest in a nice pen that works, that’s better yet.
Remember this may sound like work to begin with, but I assure you the confidence of knowing you don’t have to think, but only have to write will save you tons of nervous anguish.
Next comes the lecture on dressing appropriately. Use your head with the perfume and cologne and jewelry. Usually, a basic black or blue blazer with a white shirt or blouse and matching pants, skirt and shoes will be the most acceptable, without a lot of thought to “what do I ware!” You need to buy one interview outfit and keep it just for that purpose, so you don’t show up in any stains or tears. This does not have to be expensive, just clean. I have taken some classes in interviewing for jobs and although this helped in the beginning, I still feel that the best way to get used to the interview process is just to go out there and do it. Practice makes perfect, so keep doing it until you get it right or get the job.
Just bringing some common sense to the interview would be the biggest challenge for some.
Here are a few very interesting examples of interviews gone wrong from a survey conducted on behalf of CareerBuilder.com, an on line job-search site. Please, just don’t do this, if you want the job!
Things Candidates did at job interviews:
A candidate brought their parents to the interview.
One guy answered his cell phone and asked the interviewer to leave the room because it was a “private” call.
Another told the interviewer he wouldn’t be able to stay at the job long because he had a very sick uncle who hasn’t been looking too good and he thought he might get part of the uncles inheritance soon.
A candidate asked the interviewer for a ride home.
A candidate smelled his armpits on the way into the interview room.
A candidate said he was fired for beating up his last boss.
One gal who was interviewing for an accountant job said she was a “people person” and not a “numbers person.
Another lady took out her hairbrush and brushed her hair through the interview.
Some candidates just disappeared before the interview, while others fell asleep.
Last but not least, during a telephone interview, one candidate flushed the toilet…and I assume, the job.
