Applying for jobs in the age of the internet

[Tinijocaro]

Back when I first began applying for teaching jobs, it was all typewriters, physical copies of resume, letters of rec, and physical applications sent through the US postal service. Eleven years ago, all my applications were online, were sent online and no paper was involved.

My son is getting ready to apply for jobs in the science area (physics). He will be meeting with the career people at his college soon but I have a couple questions. When asking for letters of recommendations, should he get a "general" letter that he can use for all applications or should he be getting letters speciific to each job applied. Do they do confidential letters any more? Where the applicant can't see it? Just trying to figure this all out.

Any insight is appreciated.

 

[sonnyjane]

Nowadays many applications are online and letters of recommendation or refeeences are uploaded as attachments. I’d get a general letter if I’d be applying for multiple jobs out of convenience to my reference, but a lot of jobs now just request contact info for your reference and not a letter.

 

[bcla]

Having applied for jobs in the past few years, the important thing is to be flexible regarding formats. Over the years I've seen everything. Most allow upload of a resume in several formats. Some only allow for a text format where an attempt to copy and paste may look odd.

I remember someone here recommended that only a PDF version of a resume be used to maintain formatting, but in my experience I've been told only a Word format would be accepted by some employers. I also would have a text format ready, since cutting and pasting from an PDF will introduce awkward looking carriage returns.

And yes references are usually going to be contacted later.

I've actually seen a few positions over the years where the application had to be sent in paper form to an address in Atlanta. Seemed kind of strange, but it turned out to be some Department of Labor address where certain certified jobs where someone might be hired on an H-1B were required to have American applicants.

 

[Pea-n-Me]

My college age daughter just got a job where the company checked her references via a texted survey. She just checked in with those people (4) and asked if it was ok to give out their numbers and if they'd fill out the survey, etc. All completed the survey right away. Super easy, no letters involved.

 

[Skippy918]

I don’t recall needing letters of recommendation for a job, unless that’s a new requirement for new graduates?
My most recent job hunting experience was 2 years ago, so I posted my resume on the common job sites (indeed, monster) and updated my linked in profile. He should try and connect with as many people as he knows on linked in. Jobs are posted there as well.
There’s no need to list references on the resume. Just have a few written down and notify in advance for job applications. Sometimes the application will ask for references.

I did have some paper copies of my resume to hand out for interviews. For job application sites, I uploaded either word or pdf (you can print to pdf from word) and also had a notepad version without all the formatting for copying and pasting into some application sites.
He can write a generic cover letter, but it’s also a good idea to write a cover letter for the specific opening. I would also recommend he research the companies that he applies to especially if he gets called back to an on site interview.

 

[sunshine1178]

Back when I first began applying for teaching jobs, it was all typewriters, physical copies of resume, letters of rec, and physical applications sent through the US postal service. Eleven years ago, all my applications were online, were sent online and no paper was involved.

My son is getting ready to apply for jobs in the science area (physics). He will be meeting with the career people at his college soon but I have a couple questions. When asking for letters of recommendations, should he get a "general" letter that he can use for all applications or should he be getting letters speciific to each job applied. Do they do confidential letters any more? Where the applicant can't see it? Just trying to figure this all out.

Any insight is appreciated.

1) Great advice on all aspects of job hunting in the archives at askamanager.org
2) He’s an adult. Make sure this is his job hunt. Be supportive, point him to resources, but let him own the success.

 

[Southernmiss]

In my son's experience, the career center at the college was excellent.

I'd think they would be the resource for your ds to start with.

When our current College freshman attended his parent/student orientation weekend, I dragged him to the career center seminar. This is at a different college and they seem to be a wealth of information and help.

 

[shelly3girls]

Many employers who consider recent graduates recruit directly through the career services at the university. Students have a much greater chance at an interview than applying directly through the company.

Often the career services have connections and excellent advice. Another source is the professors. As an employer, we often connect with professors to find student who do not have jobs. Best of luck to your son!

 

[low-key]

congrats on your son

 

[ilovevacation]

I do the hiring for my team and I can answer from my experience. The application is all online, including a check list and cv. Then, I phone interview whomever I'm interested in. If they wow me then I bring them into meet the team. If that goes well then I have the applicant shadow so they can truly understand how job. If that goes well then I ask for a list of references. I honestly take the entire reference piece with a gigantic grain of salt. I expect every reference to only say glowing things about the applicant, if they don't I think it's a massive red flag that the applicant has no insight since they supplied me information with someone that can't sign their praise . To reach the reference I ask for both email and phone #. I prefer to email so people can reply at their leisure. I don't require a formal letter and at times talk to the reference and take my own notes. I put much more weight on a reference when it's not a new grad and they are a peer. I find i am able to get a lot of insight about their interpersonal skills, decision making and flexibility.

 

[disneychrista]

The jobs I've recruited for I didn't even look at or care about personal references or letters of recommendation. Of course those are only going to say good things about the applicant.

 

[sonnyjane]

The jobs I've recruited for I didn't even look at or care about personal references or letters of recommendation. Of course those are only going to say good things about the applicant.

You’d be surprised how dumb some applicants can be, listing former bosses that fired them on their reference list...

 

[BadPinkTink]

A lot of jobs are now advertised on the companys social media pages, Twitter and LinkedIn. Almost all are applied for online either through sending an email or filling out an online application form.

I would advise having a few different versions of a CV, not just in different formats such as Word, PDF etc. This is because a lot companys now use a computer program to screen the online CV's This means they tell the computer program to look for certain keywords. Only the CV's which contain these keywords will pass to the next selection phase of being read by a human.

So for example, a person has the top grades and is expected to graduate top of the class BUT has put proficiency in Microsoft Office. A second person applying for the same job but whose GPA is lower and is just average has listed Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, Microsoft Powerpoint on their CV. The company has told the computer to only choose CV's which say Microsoft Powerpoint. The average student would pass to the next round of selection but the top student would not.

This is a very basic example, but it gives an idea of how important it is to tailor the wording on CV's for the specific job and not to just have generic CV's.

 

[aprilchem]

He will need letters of recommendation that are specific to each job he applies to. They are mostly online, so he will give the recommenders names and info the hiring organization and they will send out an electronic solicitation for a recommendation letter (or occasionally call on the phone, but IME that only happens with very entry-level jobs). They are confidential unless he does not waive his right to see the letter of recommendation, but most recommenders (including me) will refuse to write a letter if the person doesn't check the box waiving their right to see it.

I write many, many of these every year, and my advice is to ask recommenders early for letters and to make sure when he asks to ask if they can write him a positive letter of recommendation. He doesn't want anyone recommending him who won't write a positive letter.