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  1. #1
    The Patient TehTiny's Avatar
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    Job Applications Rant

    Am I the only person that feels like an hour or longer is a crazy amount of time to spend filling out an online job application? I mean realistically it takes me about five minutes to do all the personal information and job history. It is the darned surveys they always put at the end that really bog things down. They ask you the same dozen or so questions in five or six different ways just to see if you are paying attention. "Do you think stealing from the company you work for is a good idea?" Why do they even feel the need to ask such a question. As somebody that has been unemployed for quite some time now I do not see how anybody with a job could have time to go through these monstrosities. It would be nice if all the applications would agree to a unified survey that you only had to fill out like once every few months so you didn't get freaking carpal tunnel. I dunno I guess after filling out thousands (and I do literally mean THOUSANDS) of these applications I am sick of seeing them. Surely I am not the only person that feels this way?

  2. #2
    Titan Tierbook's Avatar
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    why would someone with a job fill out a job application? seems a bit redundant
    Quote Originally Posted by Connal View Post
    I'd never compare him to Hitler, Hitler was actually well educated, and by all accounts pretty intelligent.

  3. #3
    I've only filled one out so far, as it's the only position I've been interested in since I started looking a couple weeks ago. I have no problem with taking some time to answer some questions and write a decent cover letter in addition to attach a CV. If I don't give a fuck about their process, why should they give a fuck about me? For what it's worth, they contacted me for a phone interview in pretty short order, and I'm waiting to hear back on that.

    Quote Originally Posted by Tierbook View Post
    why would someone with a job fill out a job application? seems a bit redundant
    Seriously?

  4. #4
    The questions can be a little ridiculous, but really... the people who are entirely committed to finding a job will fill them out and be thankful they have an opportunity. Those that refuse to finish likely didn't have the motivation and wouldn't be what they wanted in the first place.

  5. #5
    Legendary! Seezer's Avatar
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    It's to weed out people who don't want to spend time on an app. You're coming to them. They aren't coming to you.
    "Do you think man will ever walk on the sun? -Ali G

  6. #6
    I have no problem if it's a decent job with decent wage. When you do like walmart/target/gas station/ pizza place kind of shit though, I think it's very unnecessary. Salary position = yes, low hourly position = bugs me also.

  7. #7
    Merely a Setback Reeve's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by TehTiny View Post
    Am I the only person that feels like an hour or longer is a crazy amount of time to spend filling out an online job application? I mean realistically it takes me about five minutes to do all the personal information and job history. It is the darned surveys they always put at the end that really bog things down. They ask you the same dozen or so questions in five or six different ways just to see if you are paying attention. "Do you think stealing from the company you work for is a good idea?" Why do they even feel the need to ask such a question. As somebody that has been unemployed for quite some time now I do not see how anybody with a job could have time to go through these monstrosities. It would be nice if all the applications would agree to a unified survey that you only had to fill out like once every few months so you didn't get freaking carpal tunnel. I dunno I guess after filling out thousands (and I do literally mean THOUSANDS) of these applications I am sick of seeing them. Surely I am not the only person that feels this way?
    There are often surveys and such attached to job applications/interviews. They're there to weed out the truly disturbed individuals, which you can sometimes tell from their answers. Even if you think the questions are nonsense, they're there for a reason.
    'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
    Or a yawing hole in a battered head
    And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
    And there they lay I damn me eyes
    All lookouts clapped on Paradise
    All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

  8. #8
    Deleted
    Quote Originally Posted by Tierbook View Post
    why would someone with a job fill out a job application? seems a bit redundant
    To get a better job? Or maybe you would be the type of person content to work minimum wage for the rest of your life in a field you hate.

  9. #9
    When I worked at a major US pharmacy chain, the application consisted of 30 or so psychological profile questions. The applicant's answers were distilled down to a red/yellow/green rating. Reds were generally tossed out, and greens and yellows generally got interviewed. The point of it is that when you're applying to an entry level job, where these kinds of applications are usually used, there's not a whole lot of differentiation between individual applicants. Most of them will have little to no experience and minimal education. You need a way to quickly determine who is worth interviewing and who is not. That's just the nature of the beast.

  10. #10
    Quote Originally Posted by TehTiny View Post
    As somebody that has been unemployed for quite some time now
    Quote Originally Posted by TehTiny View Post
    I dunno I guess after filling out thousands (and I do literally mean THOUSANDS) of these applications
    By the way, has it occurred to you that you might be doing something wrong?

  11. #11
    Quote Originally Posted by Spectral View Post
    By the way, has it occurred to you that you might be doing something wrong?
    Yeah, if you're filling out THOUSANDS of applications and you haven't gotten ANYTHING yet, you might want to actually reconsider what you're putting down.

  12. #12
    The Patient TehTiny's Avatar
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    I never said that I had not received interview opportunities. It can be tough getting that second or third call when you are competing in a hot bed of former rocket scientists. You know things are desperate when they are taking entry level and even intern positions.

  13. #13
    Quote Originally Posted by Seezer View Post
    It's to weed out people who don't want to spend time on an app. You're coming to them. They aren't coming to you.
    They actually do use the answers from the surveys to try to form a "psych profile" to see if you'd be a good employee. Some of the questions are just stupid and some of them are just obvious in what the correct answer should be.

    One was hilarious, had questions like:
    1) At your last job, how many times did you steal from your employer?
    a) 0-1 times
    b) 2-4 times
    c) 5-7 times
    d) 8 or more times.

    2) at your last job, how many times did you engage in physical violence towards a co-worker?
    a) 0-1 times
    b) 2-4 times
    c) 5-7 times
    d) 8 or more times.

  14. #14
    Merely a Setback Reeve's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Svifnymr View Post
    They actually do use the answers from the surveys to try to form a "psych profile" to see if you'd be a good employee. Some of the questions are just stupid and some of them are just obvious in what the correct answer should be.

    One was hilarious, had questions like:
    1) At your last job, how many times did you steal from your employer?
    a) 0-1 times
    b) 2-4 times
    c) 5-7 times
    d) 8 or more times.

    2) at your last job, how many times did you engage in physical violence towards a co-worker?
    a) 0-1 times
    b) 2-4 times
    c) 5-7 times
    d) 8 or more times.
    So I guess if you only stole or assaulted a co-worker one time, everything's cool!
    'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
    Or a yawing hole in a battered head
    And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
    And there they lay I damn me eyes
    All lookouts clapped on Paradise
    All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

  15. #15
    Quote Originally Posted by TehTiny View Post
    I never said that I had not received interview opportunities. It can be tough getting that second or third call when you are competing in a hot bed of former rocket scientists. You know things are desperate when they are taking entry level and even intern positions.
    I can guarantee that you aren't interviewing against geniuses if you're filling out this kind of application. Things are bad, but they're not THAT bad.

  16. #16
    Merely a Setback Adam Jensen's Avatar
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    Those fucking survays suck. Does asking me the same 3 questions sixty times over really give hiring managers a clue to who I am?

    ---------- Post added 2013-01-21 at 04:34 PM ----------

    Quote Originally Posted by Reeve View Post
    So I guess if you only stole or assaulted a co-worker one time, everything's cool!
    If I assaulted a co worker seven times, I'm still putting down 0. Most people bullshit through this waste of time portion of the app anyways.

    Get to know the potential employee during the interview or ask them to sub a resume with the app.
    Putin khuliyo

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by Zyzzyx View Post
    The questions can be a little ridiculous, but really... the people who are entirely committed to finding a job will fill them out and be thankful they have an opportunity. Those that refuse to finish likely didn't have the motivation and wouldn't be what they wanted in the first place.
    I think this mentality is funny, the idea that we should all be thankful for jobs. Honestly I know people who did everything right, put themselves through college got good grades relevant internship worked hard etc then graduated with no job or a job they could have gotten without a degree. Yes we should be thankful but all things considered why do we have people who are filling out thousands of job applications in order to get ONE job? I know people who have literally spent more than a year looking for work. There was a time in our country where a man who had what was considered a menial job could clothe and feed his family on one income, and students who went to college had multiple job offers and a promising future ahead of them.

    I feel somewhere we have been lied to as a generation.

    *sighs deeply*

    Rant over.

    On topic: I agree, those surveys are stupid.

  18. #18
    It is a waste of time, but there may be a reason for it you and I don't understand. Indeed, as suggested by others, the waste of time and test of perseverance may be the reason in itself.

  19. #19
    Merely a Setback Reeve's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by Celista View Post
    I think this mentality is funny, the idea that we should all be thankful for jobs. Honestly I know people who did everything right, put themselves through college got good grades relevant internship worked hard etc then graduated with no job or a job they could have gotten without a degree. Yes we should be thankful but all things considered why do we have people who are filling out thousands of job applications in order to get ONE job? I know people who have literally spent more than a year looking for work. There was a time in our country where a man who had what was considered a menial job could clothe and feed his family on one income, and students who went to college had multiple job offers and a promising future ahead of them.

    I feel somewhere we have been lied to as a generation.

    *sighs deeply*

    Rant over.

    On topic: I agree, those surveys are stupid.
    I hate to say this, but maybe some of those people who have filled out that many applications should consider putting the same amount of work into starting their own businesses. That might even help a few other people not have to fill out quite so many questions. I know if I had filled out 1000 applications already with no success, I'd consider:

    a) moving to a new city
    b) starting my own business, possibly a 1 man business to begin with
    'Twas a cutlass swipe or an ounce of lead
    Or a yawing hole in a battered head
    And the scuppers clogged with rotting red
    And there they lay I damn me eyes
    All lookouts clapped on Paradise
    All souls bound just contrarywise, yo ho ho and a bottle of rum!

  20. #20
    I don't mind the hour filling in an application, the not hearing anything back when you've spent a good amount of time & effort on it - now that pisses me off greatly! The only question I hate is the one "why did you leave your last job" - when you've been fired it's the sort of question you absolutely hate because that's the old "we're never hiring you in a million years" statement!
    Koodledrum - Balnazzar EU - 85 Priest - Retired.

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