I have found some things that I find interesting in doing an online job search and application process. Many of the larger nonprofit and for profit organizations are utilizing some great technology to filter the job candidates for their positions. Brassring and Taleo are some Web-based programs that automatically search a candidates uploaded resume and auto-populate a company's online job application to make the process more uniform for the employer and easier for the candidate. They are sophisticated enough to be pretty accurate even with different resume formats.
Some of the web-based applications seem to go a bit too far in their pre-screening process. I had an hour-long application yesterday that involved a 65 question multiple choice test and 8 different screens to manually populate with my professional and educational experience. When I was submitting 16 different jobs, that can really take some time. Another Web-based application had 12 different screens (that is fine) that continued to ask some of the same questions over and over. They were simple ones such as my birth date but to have to type this information repeatedly when I had other things I could be doing and knowing that I could have designed a simple fix for this in their database was a bit frustrating. This same application asked my success rate in applications to interviews. I have never been asked that question before and wondered what was the purpose for this employer. If I get an interview, maybe I will ask.
These annoyances though are not nearly so difficult to bear in comparison to feeling unproductive because I am not part of the professional workforce. That is why I have applied to a number of organizations to start volunteering at least until I find a full time, permanent, paying position.
All in all, the application process and job search has not been too difficult but the waiting is definitely a soul-killer. Hopefully I will find something soon to help with this problem.
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