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Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
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Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:07 ]
Post subject:  Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I'm going to try and keep this a general thread about such things. Whether applying for a job or a place at uni people can ask in here for advice (hence I've kept the title easy to search for). I know there was such a thread before but I think it was on WoCUS and I can't find it. :(

Anyway, my first question, I'm filling in some application forms that I have in an electronic copy format. Is it acceptable to type the whole lot and just print off and sign the appropriate page? Or should my general application form at least be hand written?
Author:  Cras [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I would be inclined to fill it in then print and sign. At very least it shows some small amount of computer skills, and it looks a lot more professional.
Author:  MrChris [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
The less of your handwriting they see the better - it tells tales, you see.

Also, printed looks better and shows some computer literacy, as Craster says.
Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Cheers guys, that's what I thought but this is my first time actually applying for jobs so I'm a little inexperienced. :)
Author:  MaliA [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 12:56 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
You get used to the forms after the 1534th, believe you, me.

That, and the silence that follows.
Author:  Squirt [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 13:13 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Feel free to use any of us as references!
Author:  myp [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 13:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
MaliA wrote:
You get used to the forms after the 1534th, believe you, me.

That, and the silence that follows.


Blogspot not hiring at the moment? :(

;)
Author:  Pod [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 17:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I've been doing this shit lately. Is it normal to be run by a million recruiting agencies?! I applied for a few jobs through cwjobs.co.uk which uploaded my cv to it and made me an account, etc, and in 2 days I have 7 recruiting agencies phoning me up getting me to apply for jobs all over the shop! A lot of them seem to be for different defence contracts and will require security clearence! Cooooool.

Also: One was for ARM. SHWING. :hat:
Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 18:50 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Pod wrote:
Also: One was for ARM. SHWING. :hat:

I read that as arm shaving. ?:|
Author:  Pod [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 19:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I once shaved my arm as part of a scientific experiment I was conducting.
Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 19:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Did you then attach electrodes?
Author:  Dudley [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 19:52 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Goddess Jasmine wrote:
Pod wrote:
Also: One was for ARM. SHWING. :hat:

I read that as arm shaving. ?:|


So did I, so much so that I actually thought "but that's what it DOES say"
Author:  Pod [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 19:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
No. I then watched, and waited. The results were conclusive: Most women are delusional and incorrect about the matter at hand.
Author:  Craig [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 20:19 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
ArseShavin? Does he play for Russia?
Author:  tossrStu [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 20:28 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Pod wrote:
Also: One was for ARMSTRAD. SHWING. :hat:


Chinny-reckon-FTFY
Author:  Pod [ Thu Jun 26, 2008 23:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
ARMSTRAD? Pft. They're Acorn boys all the way. None of your Z80 rubbish. TSK.
Author:  tossrStu [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 0:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Pod wrote:
ARMSTRAD? Pft. They're Acorn boys all the way. None of your Z80 rubbish. TSK.

Code:
        org     $8000

        ld      de,startoftext
        ld      bc,endoftext - startoftext
        call    $203c
        xor     a
loop:   out     ($fe),a
        inc     a
        jr      loop
startoftext:
        db      "      POD IS A SKILLMASTER"
endoftext:


ZOMG Spoiler! Click here to view!
That's actually for the Spectrum, not the Amstrad, BUT MY POINT STILL STANDS: Z80 = WIN
Author:  sinister agent [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 0:20 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
The worst things about job applications are either the "racial diversity" questions/scenarios that ask you be to racist by either deliberately avoiding or condescending to foreignors, or the "Describe a situation where you ..." type bits. I fucking loathe those with a passion.

Fortunately I don't see as many as I used to. Also I seem to have just this week got a regular job by simply asking for one and saying I'll start on Tuesday :D

All job applications should be like this.
Author:  Kern [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 7:41 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I was once asked what 'motivated' me. I really wanted to say 'the risk of a P45'.

As for 'diversity' questions, I'm tempted to say that I don't arbitrarily divide people into groups but treat everyone I meet as individuals. I don't think this is the reply they are after, mind.
Author:  Dudley [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:43 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I have no paitience for shitty questions like those, I don't ask them and I don't tend to answer them with anything but mild sarcasm too.

The nearest we have is "How many petrol stations are there in London?...... oh you don't know..... how would you go about finding out?"

And that's actually quite an interesting problem, both in possible solution and how people go about trying to solve it.
Author:  Joans [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:46 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Set up a blockade and wait for the newspapers to tell you how many petrol stations are going to run dry?
Author:  Dudley [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 8:54 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
We've never had that answer, I like it :D

I should say, we've no idea at all how many there actually are, it's to get people to think from a standing start, which is a much better thing to find out in an interview than how good they are at lying about what their weaknesses are.
Author:  Joans [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:01 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Cool ,when do I start? ;)
Author:  Dudley [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:07 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
If you're a junior level c# dev we actually do need someone :)
Author:  Joans [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 9:09 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Sorry, my programming has yet to get past vba. :S
Author:  Pod [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 13:21 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Dudley wrote:
If you're a junior level c# dev we actually do need someone :)


Hi!
Author:  MrChris [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 13:26 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
How much do you want to be paid to have Dudley as a boss, man? He knows what you do all day....
Author:  Cras [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 13:26 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Mr Chris wrote:
How much do you want to be paid to have Dudley as a boss, man? He knows what you do all day....


And we know what he does all day :DD
Author:  MrChris [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 13:27 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Ah, good thinking. That's worth a few payrises.
Author:  Pod [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 13:35 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Mr Chris wrote:
How much do you want to be paid to have Dudley as a boss, man? He knows what you do all day....


I only do this all day because I've just graduated and no longer have a part time job ;(
Actually, lately all I seem to do all day is get rung up by recruiters. I'm not sure if this is a good or bad thing.
Author:  Dudley [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 14:01 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Pod wrote:
Dudley wrote:
If you're a junior level c# dev we actually do need someone :)


Hi!


If you're anywhere near Ealing, remotely smart at reasoning things and didn't go to Brunel, it might actually be worth a PM.
Author:  MrChris [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 14:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Brunel university must be good - it's named after The King of Engineering.
Author:  Dudley [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 14:34 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
You would think wouldn't you.
Author:  Malc [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 21:03 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Dudley wrote:
You would think wouldn't you.

Brunel was my fall back uni to go to, so I put down as my second choice.

It seemed quite nice, what's wrong with it (apart from being made of ugly concrete)?

Malc
Author:  Dudley [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 21:05 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Actually nothing much other than my boss says that without fail, if he interviews someone who went there, they're shit.
Author:  JBR [ Fri Jun 27, 2008 22:27 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
It is a bit on the shit side, though I'm sure that, as with all 'shit' reputation universities, it does some things extremely well.
Author:  Pod [ Sat Jun 28, 2008 0:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
JBR wrote:
It is a bit on the shit side, though I'm sure that, as with all 'shit' reputation universities, it does some things extremely well.


What does it do well at? "Being shit"?
Author:  sinister agent [ Sat Jun 28, 2008 5:22 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I went to Brunel.

Left after ... five months, I think it was. The lecturers were brilliant - my interviewer shared a name with the Invisible Man, and GOT THE NERDY JOKE, and we talked about books for most of the interview (Biology, by the way). There was one who played 60s rock in between lectures, and wouldn't let us in before a song he liked had finished, and another called "Dr. I. Kill".

The people, though, were ... well, students. Plus my heart was never really in it, however interesting the science was. Damningly, the best and most memorable lecture I heard there was the very first, from Prof. Wolff, and it wasn't about biology, but about psychology and the dangers of an over-sanitised society. "People need risk, especially young people. Stop making everything safe and boring, you cunts."*

So anyway. You're either right and going there for a few months doesn't count, or your'e a big wrongy wronger.

Also, it could just be certain departments. I have a friend who went there at the same time as me, doing some IT thing or other, and he utterly hated it and left not long after me. He now does miscellaneous IT stuff for Playboy, and earns more than all the graduates I know, except for one who's a veterinary nurse, but he's engaged to her anyway.

FASCINATING I KNOW.


*I paraphrase somewhat.
Author:  Dudley [ Sat Jun 28, 2008 10:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I do recall them (think it was them) offering me a computer science place if I got a single D in any of my 4 A-Levels.

That didn't fill me with confidence.
Author:  Cras [ Sat Jun 28, 2008 12:23 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
sinister agent wrote:
another called "Dr. I. Kill".


We had a lecturer called Professor Doug Love.

The name was quite frankly wasted on him.
Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 12:49 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Hiya, I'm about to email an application form back, two questions!

1. What do I do about 'signature'? Just type my name in?

2. Should I still attach a covering letter?

Ta!
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 13:02 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Goddess Jasmine wrote:
1. What do I do about 'signature'? Just type my name in?
Yes. If they are taking electronic forms, that'll be fine. Any legal signing stuff you have to do doesn't really kick in until the job acceptence.

Quote:
2. Should I still attach a covering letter?
Probably, or you should put the cover letter contents into the email itself. A genuine, well thought out, personalised cover letter (i.e. not just one you copy/pasted from the last dozen job applications, but rather, one that considers the employer and what you can offer them) can make a world of difference.
Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 13:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Cheers Richard. :)
Author:  Kern [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 13:30 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I once got rejected for attaching a cover letter rather than writing it in the body of an email. Whilst I'm grateful that the error was pointed out to me, in the time it took the HR operative to reply to my message and include an exampe he could have opened the file and read it.

...

His name was added to my black book.
Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 13:57 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
That's a bit shit! Thankfully it won't be an issue here, I don't email the attachements, I upload them to the website.
Author:  Doctor Glyndwr [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 14:01 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Kern wrote:
I once got rejected for attaching a cover letter rather than writing it in the body of an email.
I doubt that. That's what you were told, but I suspect actually you were rejected because they simply had too many applications to process them meaningfully.

I once attended a lecture by a HR guy who had worked at the optician Dollond & Aitchison. They would be massively oversubscribed for jobs -- several hundred applications for each job, and rarely would any of them be significantly better or worse qualified for the job than any of the others. It's essentially impossible to shortlist in any sensible manner. His first round of weeding was therefore to outright bin the (approximately 50%) of candidates who mispelled "Dollond & Aitchison".
Author:  Kern [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 14:10 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Perhaps. I always liked the joke about the guy who pulls half of the forms out of the pile and shoves them into the bin on the grounds that they don't employ 'unlucky people'.

But in this case, I'm pretty sure as I didn't contact them after the deadline but received a couple of emails unprompted. He hadn't even bothered to remove the other person's address and telephone number!
Author:  Bobbyaro [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 15:08 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
I am no expert in this, but I would say the important part of Richard's comment is a 'good cover letter'.
If you feel the cover letter adds to the content of the application form, include it, they can always ignore it should they wish.
Author:  Goddess Jasmine [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 16:12 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
Normally I'd agree with you, but the application forms for the prisons and police are quite in depth with skills sections wanting examples and so on. The careers dept at the uni advised me to keep it brief eg.
Quote:
Dear Mr Chamberlain,

Please find enclosed my application forms (application form, skills assessment form and relevant skills and experience form) for the job of psychological assistant in the West Midlands area as advertised on http://www.hmprisonservice.gov.uk.

I look forward to hearing from you in due course.

Yours sincerely,

Anything else that you would normally think to include had been covered by them anyway.
Author:  Joans [ Tue Aug 05, 2008 16:18 ]
Post subject:  Re: Covering letters, CVs, Application forms, Interviews.
richardgaywood wrote:
Kern wrote:
I once got rejected for attaching a cover letter rather than writing it in the body of an email.
I doubt that. That's what you were told, but I suspect actually you were rejected because they simply had too many applications to process them meaningfully.

I once attended a lecture by a HR guy who had worked at the optician Dollond & Aitchison. They would be massively oversubscribed for jobs -- several hundred applications for each job, and rarely would any of them be significantly better or worse qualified for the job than any of the others. It's essentially impossible to shortlist in any sensible manner. His first round of weeding was therefore to outright bin the (approximately 50%) of candidates who mispelled "Dollond & Aitchison".



They're obviously not very good at this as they appear on my bank statement every month as "Dolland& Aithison". :)
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