Preparing to Fill Out a Job Application
Why do I Need to Prepare for a Job Application?
Below is an embarrassing scenario that might happen to you, if you're not prepared
to fill out a job application on the spot.
You survive everything that your interviewers throw at you and breeze through
the first round of interviews without breaking
stride—piece of cake!
Your last interviewer then asks you to fill out a job application form.
You take it as a sign that the company is interested in hiring you, so you
eagerly comply. You know that you've got this job in your pocket, if all else
goes well.
But, when you get to the part of the job application that wants the addresses
and phone numbers of your past and present employers, you realize that the
extra resumes you thoughtfully brought with you don't include that information,
as resumes typically don't.
Until you started filling out the job application, you hadn't even thought
about the addresses of your former residences in the past ten years; so, you
can't recall them on the spot.
Then it gets worse: The job application wants full contact information for
four of your work-related references. You know the importance of providing
references, but you've never known the home phone number and address of even
one of your coworkers and bosses, much less four.
So, you sheepishly ask if you can take the job application home, like some
school kid who didn't do his homework.
Employers are usually in a hurry to fill job vacancies, because the longer it
takes, the more it costs them. If one is interested in hiring you, the HR department
will likely want to get the ball rolling right away, because they'll have to
first complete paperwork and time-consuming background and reference checks.
Your resume is only your calling card, to get your
foot in the door. It's not a formal legal document, as is a job application.
Subsequently, employers who are interested in hiring you will likely ask you
to fill out a job application on the day of your first round of interviews, because
that's what they need to get the ball rolling.
So, one of the worst things that you can do, is to turn in an incomplete job
application or delay the hiring process by asking to take it home. What's likely
to happen if an equally-qualified, but better-prepared job applicant turns in
his or her completed job application before you do?
If you've forgotten just how probingly detailed a job application can be or
if you've never filled one out, not to worry—TechnicalJobSearch.com is
at your service!
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