Job application rant

Airyfairy12

I just need to rant about job applications.
Ive been applying to jobs consistently for the past number of weeks. I have loads of experience both paid and voluntary, I have third level qualifications also. Im reliable, honest, adaptable and professional.
I have a specific cv for jobs relating to one of my qualifications, a second relating to my other third level qualification, a cv which combines both qualifications and the adaptable experience and skills gained and for each job I apply to I adapt my cv to suit, this alone takes hours.
I then go ahead and start filling out the application form only to see theyre looking for all the information thats already on the cv. Its not a simple matter of copying and pasting from the cv to the form as they have separate boxes for each individual section, it would be easier to type them in rather than copy and paste. This takes hours and its incredibly repetitive and tedious.
Once completed I never hear from the company or employer.

Why cant they just look at the cv instead of requesting all of the information twice.

I am so drained by this process, a cv and cover letter used to be fine for applying to jobs, why have employers made the whole process so time consuming.

kippy

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

I just need to rant about job applications.
Ive been applying to jobs consistently for the past number of weeks. I have loads of experience both paid and voluntary, I have third level qualifications also. Im reliable, honest, adaptable and professional.
I have a specific cv for jobs relating to one of my qualifications, a second relating to my other third level qualification, a cv which combines both qualifications and the adaptable experience and skills gained and for each job I apply to I adapt my cv to suit, this alone takes hours.
I then go ahead and start filling out the application form only to see theyre looking for all the information thats already on the cv. Its not a simple matter of copying and pasting from the cv to the form as they have separate boxes for each individual section, it would be easier to type them in rather than copy and paste. This takes hours and its incredibly repetitive and tedious.
Once completed I never hear from the company or employer.

Why cant they just look at the cv instead of requesting all of the information twice.

I am so drained by this process, a cv and cover letter used to be fine for applying to jobs, why have employers made the whole process so time consuming.

Its much easier as a recruiter to view a standard layout with standard questions and sections than to look through multiple CVS with data and formatting all over the place. Also more concise information can be acquired from the applicant.

Blaizes

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

I just need to rant about job applications.
Ive been applying to jobs consistently for the past number of weeks. I have loads of experience both paid and voluntary, I have third level qualifications also. Im reliable, honest, adaptable and professional.
I have a specific cv for jobs relating to one of my qualifications, a second relating to my other third level qualification, a cv which combines both qualifications and the adaptable experience and skills gained and for each job I apply to I adapt my cv to suit, this alone takes hours.
I then go ahead and start filling out the application form only to see theyre looking for all the information thats already on the cv. Its not a simple matter of copying and pasting from the cv to the form as they have separate boxes for each individual section, it would be easier to type them in rather than copy and paste. This takes hours and its incredibly repetitive and tedious.
Once completed I never hear from the company or employer.

Why cant they just look at the cv instead of requesting all of the information twice.

I am so drained by this process, a cv and cover letter used to be fine for applying to jobs, why have employers made the whole process so time consuming.

More red tape for sure. I think there’s a bigger pool of candidates now, movement of people, growing population etc. I don’t know what you can do honestly but understand your frustration. Standards and expectations for even minimum wage jobs seem to be getting higher and higher but as I say more people imo. Maybe a hr person or recruiter on here can give you some helpful advice.

Mehaffey1

It is terrible that there are thousands of different job application forms out there but one thing for the employer is that they can at least ensure you as a candidate can fill out a form correctly.

Always Tired

It is extremely annoying the way job apps are now, especially since the internet should make it easier to apply for things.

Also annoying: having to make an account to apply for any job on a jobs website, and also to apply for one on a company specific website. Like why do I need to make an account for Specsavers to apply for a trainee optician assistant job there?

And then, you have to upload a CV. But despite every article drumming it into our head that we have to tailor our CVs for each job, they will by default attach the first or last one you uploaded and you need to remove it manually and upload the new one.

And then, after you do that, you get no response or a form email months later. And you go into the place and see they hired some kid who looks leaving cert age and you're left wondering how he had the experience in x,y,z they said was required on the advert (Specsavers again!)

In my last Jobpath meeting I was encouraged to apply for the position of litter warden. The application was 15 pages long. Surely any budding litter warden would be averse to such an indulgent use of paper.

Airyfairy12

sugarman wrote: »

Rarely bother with online applications myself, I find it much easier cutting out the middle man in agencies and recruiters advertisements by going directly to the company.

I'll generally just call them, email them or if theyre near by call into their premise and inquire if theres any vacancies. 90% of the time they'll just say yep and give an email or address to send it onto. If youre lucky you might even get a hold of the actual employer to speak to first hand and make some sort of an impression.

Its all too easy for them to ignore or dismiss an online application these days.

Does that work for you? Any time ive tried to drop in a cv they wont take them, they just tell me to apply online or that theyre not looking for staff.
Ive emailed places too but just been told the same thing or they don't reply.

banie01

As another poster has mentioned, it's a tool recruiters use to see standardised and easily comparable info.

If memory serves Taleo were the main instigator of this method and it was jumped on by Multi-Nationals in particular in the noughties and has permeated the whole recruitment industry/process now.

It's a pain in the hole having to enter qualifications and work experience on a box input basis, it also IMO kills any impact that tailoring CVs or cover letters can have.

dartboardio

Id never bother going through these job sites or agencies, half the time they end up amongst thousands of other unopened emails or cvs.

If you see a specific company hiring on these jobs, fork out the companies hr department email or general email and ask for your cv and cover letter to be forwarded to the relevant department

I have gotten many jobs however none of these were by applying through the agencies or jobs. Ie or similar

EL_Loco

Good guide to help maximise hits via the bots that trawl CVs for keywords or making your CV fit the majority of skills sought for a role you're interested in:
https://imgur.com/gallery/Q89Wo

I'm not overly keen on linkedin.com but I do get offers every now and again with a fairly lack lustre and out of date profile. If you join relevant groups, have all your employment details in there, tick the "currently looking for work" part, an endorsement or 2 you're 90% of the way there.

Good luck out there, I'm sure you'll be sorted very soon!

lurkballs

Where i work posted a new job on all the sites and in house well paid position not sure how many applicants .
The job went to the owners son.
It seems to be who you know.

MuffinTop86

I could have written that post myself.
I do the exact same, have 2 3rd level qualifications and can’t even get to the interview stage of a part time librarian that pays 12 euro an hour.

Rubberchikken

my son has an excellent degree but no suitabke experience.
finding it impossible to get a job in the field he actually wants.
one annoying thing is the amount of job ads that specify graduate then in yhe same ad ask for 1, 2, even 3 years + experience. how is that possible??
are these people even reading through what they type up before they post it or is it all copy and paste?

it is so frustrating for him and sloppy on the
employers/recruiters part.

Airyfairy12

MuffinTop86 wrote: »

I could have written that post myself.
I do the exact same, have 2 3rd level qualifications and can’t even get to the interview stage of a part time librarian that pays 12 euro an hour.

Im open to correction but I think the standard for librarians now is a masters in library and information studies.

Always Tired

The whole, 'just go in and ask if they're hiring' thing doesn't get you anywhere this day and age it just wastes your time even more than the email. When people suggest that strategy I actually get really irritated (not directed at the person who posted that it worked for them, I just definitely have not found it to be the case.

Companies looking to fill a position will advertise it, it's not like you go in and ask and they are going to say, 'You know what, we DO need help but we couldn't figure out how to go about finding anyone, boy are we lucky you came by.'

Also, generally it's a front line employee who doesn't deal with or care about new hires or even possibly doesn't want new hires coming in, taking hours etc. And managers are usually too busy (even if they're really not) and would find an unannounced and unsolicited in person applicant showing up to be an annoying interruption. Heck, 75% of the time when you show up suited and booted for a scheduled interview you end up being left waiting for a good while.

But if you talk to people who have a job, or never really felt the recession, or live in Dublin they'll tell you that the recovery is in full force and jobs are falling from the sky now.

Things in the Northwest are still brutal employment wise, other than the medical device factories it's basically hotels, manky takeaways, a few retail jobs, usually part time, seasonal, must be available for any shift 7 days a week but never the same shifts and you won't know the roster for the week til the day before it starts and oh yeah it's all minimum wage.

Basically the kind of jobs that, in a country with a proper economy like the US, are filled by teenagers.

kippy

Rubberchikken wrote: »

my son has an excellent degree but no suitabke experience.
finding it impossible to get a job in the field he actually wants.
one annoying thing is the amount of job ads that specify graduate then in yhe same ad ask for 1, 2, even 3 years + experience. how is that possible??
are these people even reading through what they type up before they post it or is it all copy and paste?

it is so frustrating for him and sloppy on the
employers/recruiters part.

A graduate can be any age would be the first thing I would say. They may have plenty work experience.
Also work experience can be part of an undergrad programme.

My biggest issue is the requirement to have level 6,7 or 8 for some of the most entry level jobs.

antix80

You can make life a bit easier if you have a CV done up for this purpose in such a way that it's easier to copy and paste company names, job titles, referees etc. And just put your most recent 2 jobs and main degree rather than every single job/education. No doubt they'll also have an option to attach your CV in PDF or Word format.

If you had several job titles and want to show progression, put your most recent job title and copy and paste the other job titles and dates in the free-text area.

dartboardio

Agree with the above.

a huge reason you mightn't get any response is because your CV has too much crap (as simple as that) and they might not even open it.

For example, if you're finished college, don't bother putting down what school or PLC course you did, just put your recent education, and 2 recent employments (or the ones you feel relevant to the position)

there's no need to let them know every single thing about you, you're better off getting in the door for the interview and if they do want that information, they'll ask.

Airyfairy12

dartboardio wrote: »

Agree with the above.

a huge reason you mightn't get any response is because your CV has too much crap (as simple as that) and they might not even open it.

For example, if you're finished college, don't bother putting down what school or PLC course you did, just put your recent education, and 2 recent employments (or the ones you feel relevant to the position)

there's no need to let them know every single thing about you, you're better off getting in the door for the interview and if they do want that information, they'll ask.

I dont have too much crap on my cv, for one thing i dont have my secondary school or plc course on it. I know how to write a cv and have gone to interview coaches to help me create professional looking cv's with the correct information on them.
Dont know where I said I put everything about me on the cv, you might have misread that somewhere.

dartboardio

Airyfairy12 wrote: »

I dont have too much crap on my cv, for one thing i dont have my secondary school or plc course on it. I know how to write a cv and have gone to interview coaches to help me create professional looking cv's with the correct information on them.
Dont know where I said I put everything about me on the cv, you might have misread that somewhere.

Understood, which is why I said 'might'

I was only speaking in passing with the responses above.

Anyway there is some reason you're not getting any response, whether that's the CV, cover letter, or just plain bad luck

Best of luck in your search.

Blaizes

lurkballs wrote: »

Where i work posted a new job on all the sites and in house well paid position not sure how many applicants .
The job went to the owners son.
It seems to be who you know.

I used to naively think it was just in Ireland but seems it happens everywhere, connections count. Think it’s a great idea to hand in CVs or just get in contact directly with the company ( cut out the middle man as another poster suggested)
Won’t obviously work for public or civil service as a whole raft of tests and application forms from what I read here on boards. But it’s not easy out there as so many people have a degree now so it doesn’t seem to count for much here in Ireland ( at least) anymore. But sometimes it can be luck as well, right time, right place.Just got to keep knocking on doors.But so frustrating, and as another poster said a high level qualification required for a minimum wage job. It’s a race to the bottom.

kippy

Blaizes wrote: »

I used to naively think it was just in Ireland but seems it happens everywhere, connections count. Think it’s a great idea to hand in CVs or just get in contact directly with the company ( cut out the middle man as another poster suggested)
Won’t obviously work for public or civil service as a whole raft of tests and application forms from what I read here on boards. But it’s not easy out there as so many people have a degree now so it doesn’t seem to count for much here in Ireland ( at least) anymore. But sometimes it can be luck as well, right time, right place.Just got to keep knocking on doors.But so frustrating, and as another poster said a high level qualification required for a minimum wage job. It’s a race to the bottom.

Connections help in any field anywhere. Once of course you have a decent reputation and relationship with those connections.