About Job Application Forms
Most professionals have to fill out dozens of job application forms throughout their careers. From part-time summer jobs to high-paying corporate positions, applicants have to fill out standardized forms to show their qualifications to prospective employers. Most companies use standardized job applications to help prospective employees quickly fill out background information. Interviewers are able to flip through applications to find minimum educational and employment requirements before speaking with applicants. Every applicant should know the basic format of a job application form before looking for a new job.
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Features
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At the top of a job application form, an employer looks for the applicant's name, address and phone number to enable future correspondence. Applicants are asked for high school, college and graduate school information including majors and grade point averages (GPAs) to discourage unqualified employees from submitting credentials. The typical job application asks the applicant to list past employers going back up to 10 years. In addition to information on past wages and job responsibilities, a prospective employee should write down references who can verify details in the employment section.
Attached Documentation
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Applicants can supplement the employment sections of application forms with detailed resumes or CVs (curriculum vitae). After an application has been received, a company's human resources department may send out a packet of surveys and optional forms that need to be filled out. These forms may ask for optional demographic information and details about past military service to provide better service to future applicants. Universities, federal agencies and corporations may attach recommendation forms that need to be filled out before applications are reviewed.
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Considerations
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The flood of applications that arrive for open positions force human resources professionals to weed out incomplete forms. An applicant should hand in the form as well as supporting materials well ahead of the deadline to ensure that mistakes are corrected before it is too late. Instead of using a cookie-cutter form for application data, applicants should customize job descriptions and cover letters to reflect specific requirements for each position. These considerations can help a qualified candidate avoid a rejection letter as the application deadline passes.
Benefits
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Human resources professionals already spend 40 hours each week sifting through application materials in addition to their work with existing employees. The standardization of the job application form allows HR workers to look through education, employment and reference sections quickly to find applicants who failed to meet minimum requirements. The average application form can be used for multiple positions within a company by adding a line at the top for "Job(s) Applied For." By cutting out unnecessary sections, employers can connect quickly with qualified candidates without wasting time during initial reviews.
Processing Job Applications
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A job applicant may feel like her application form is going into a black hole after sending her materials via email or the U.S. Postal Service. Each application is stored in a folder until the application date has passed to ensure that all candidates are reviewed at the same time. Human resources professionals and department managers look at applications to find qualified candidates who are worthy of follow-up interviews. While rejected candidates may not find solace in companies keeping their applications for 60 or 90 days, these applications may be reviewed again if finalists drop out or fail to qualify for positions.
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Resources
- Photo Credit Photo by Jeremy Price (Flickr)
