Job Applications

    I’m not sure if any of you recently had to find a job lately. I find that it is a real pain in the ass lately. I remember when I was younger all you had to do was go to the company you wanted to apply at and request an application. You sat there and filled it out or you took it home filled it out and brought it back. If you were lucky you were able to see a supervisor or someone from Human Resources at the time you handed it in. Otherwise, they gave you that canned line “They will review your application. If they are interested, they will give you a call.” I was ok with that. I would always follow up in a few days to check the status of my application.


    Now it is more “convenient” to fill out an application online for most if not all companies. Sure, this is convenient for some. You can sit around in your jammies and fill out a ton of applications rather than traipsing around town to many places wasting your gas.

    I myself find online applications to be a big time waster. To fill out a paper application probably takes about 20 minutes depending on how many pages there are. I have been trying to find a second job for about a month now. Out of all the places I have applied online, the fastest one I finished took me about 45 minutes. Finding a job is a part-time job and I don’t seem to have time to do this with a full-time job.

    My favorite parts of the online applications are the “survey questionnaires.” Are they kidding me? They ask at least 50 questions about yourself and what you would do or not do in certain situations. Your answers are supposed to determine what kind of person you are, your personality. Most of these questions are repeats of the previous question three pages back, just worded differently. And it seems as though some of those questions are double negative questions. For example: “I almost never always get the job done neatly.” Really? Then they ask this about 15 questions later: “I always finish my work in a neat and timely manner.” I get a headache by the time I reach question 25.

    I myself would rather meet the prospective employee in person to determine if they have the qualities I am looking for in an employee instead of some stupid ass questionnaire. Anyone can lie on that. Do they, the companies, actually believe that people are answering them honestly? Do they think that by asking the same question but wording it differently will throw off a liar? Sounds like a game to me. With so many people out or work and needing jobs, that is a very rotten game to be playing.