{"id":2082,"date":"2012-08-22T07:22:07","date_gmt":"2012-08-22T11:22:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=2082"},"modified":"2012-08-22T07:22:41","modified_gmt":"2012-08-22T11:22:41","slug":"three-things-i-learned-from-my-first-online-job-application","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/kerryhannon.com\/?p=2082","title":{"rendered":"Three Things I Learned From My First Online Job Application"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I applied for a job this week\u2013online.<\/p>\n

In full-disclosure, it wasn\u2019t for myself. If you\u2019ve been reading\u00a0Second Verse\u00a0<\/a>regularly, you\u2019ll have discovered in my column\u00a010 Things to Do When You Lose Your Job<\/a>\u00a0that my husband\u2019s documentary unit was whacked at CNN, and he\u2019s snooping around for a potential \u00a0full-time gig to replace it.<\/p>\n

Last week, he did\u00a0start at a temporary contract job. Pay is good. Work is challenging. Hurray for freelance.<\/p>\n

As I wrote a while back in this column,\u00a0Why Temporary Work is Worth It<\/a>, I\u2019m a huge fan of contract work when you\u2019re in between full-time positions. You might even discover, as I did, that it\u2019s exactly what\u2019s best for your temperament and desire for flexibility in your work schedule.<\/p>\n

But I digress. A broadcast job popped up on myLinkedIn\u00a0<\/a>page as a job I might be interested in. Well, not me, but I thought it might be a cool one for my husband. It was a slightly new direction, but certainly one he had the chops for. Plus, it involved traveling to<\/p>\n

shoots to direct and supervise, something he loves to do.<\/p>\n

He shrugged when I mentioned it to him, but the employer is a big player in the media industry, so I told him I was going to apply for the job for him. I had a copy of his current resume on my computer\u2019s desktop, and I knew a little bit after 20 years ofmarriage<\/a>, about his background.<\/p>\n

I had never completed an online job application.\u00a0Please excuse my naivete, but here\u2019s what I found out.<\/p>\n

1. Job description and skills required: Everything\u2026 and the kitchen sink<\/strong>. Seriously, Superman would be at loose ends here. I was confident my husband could rise to the occasion should he be summoned forth to interview.<\/p>\n

Second, experience needed\u2026well, it should be a dead giveaway when they say five to seven years.<\/p>\n

He has more than 30.\u00a0But I plowed on. There aren\u2019t many jobs posted that require\u00a0decades of experience. That\u2019s one that comes in through a personal network, am I right? But, whatever, as my nephews and nieces say, let\u2019s keep rolling.<\/p>\n

The key responsibilities-writing, producing, communicating ideas, managing \u201chigh priority\u201d budget projects, good verbal and written communication skills, and presentation skills, and plays nicely with others. OK, I made the last one up.<\/p>\n

But the list went on and on. I loved this one: \u201cThe ability to multitask and work effectively under changing priorities and daily time constraints is required.\u201d<\/p>\n

And the \u00a0icing: The candidate must be \u201chighly creative.\u201d Well, who in the world doesn\u2019t think they\u2019re amazingly creative?<\/p>\n

I felt emboldened when I read at the end of the posting that the employer was an equal opportunity one. Phew. Age should not be an issue here.<\/p>\n

I clicked to the company\u2019s web site to apply online. A respectable 73 other people had already done so, I read on my screen. I wasn\u2019t the only one who found this job intriguing.<\/p>\n

2. They don\u2019t say what the job pays, but you must reveal your salary history.\u00a0<\/strong>I had to fill-in where he went to college and when he graduated, list some jobs, and his starting pay and ending pay.<\/p>\n

What the heck? What business is it of theirs what his last annual salary was? He probably never even told his mother. Do you tell \u00a0your best friends? And if you didn\u2019t fill this valuable salary information in the<\/p>\n

blank, then you could not pass go. No, it wasn\u2019t as extreme as go directly to jail, as you might in Monopoly.<\/p>\n

Does everyone have to do this when they apply online? Is this how the game is played? As I wrote last week in my column\u00a0Nonprofits are Hiring<\/a>, jobseekers complained to\u00a0Idealist.org<\/a>\u00a0that employers didn\u2019t disclose what the pay was, so they were in the dark when applying.<\/p>\n

And so here it is. Employers want you to tell them what you\u2019ve made in the past, or do now, if you are still gainfully employed, and then they\u2019re in the driver\u2019s seat.<\/p>\n

You can toss all negotiating sleight of hand out the door. I\u2019ve never told employers what I made in my current job when interviewing for a position. (Nor do I tell clients today what others are paying me).<\/p>\n

One way to get an idea about what the job might pay, of course, is to do your own sleuthing about salaries. As I wrote in a recent post for the PBS website,\u00a0Next Avenue<\/a>.<\/strong>\u00a0Web sites like\u00a0Payscale.com<\/a>,\u00a0Salary.com<\/a>\u00a0and the one from\u00a0the\u00a0Economic Research Institute\u00a0<\/a>can show you what a position pays where you live.<\/p>\n

Plus, my colleague\u00a0Deborah Jacobs<\/a>\u00a0reminded me that anyone interviewing at a non-profit should check the organization\u2019s latest tax filing\u2013Form 990\u2013which is a public record. \u201cAmong other things, it includes the salaries of more people than many job hunters realize,\u201d she pointed out. For instance,if you\u2019re applying for a position at a vice-president level, you may get a clear view of what others at the same level are earning today.<\/p>\n

Nonetheless, ask your peers in similar jobs for a rough idea of payscales.<\/strong>\u00a0You can also tap into your professional network, such as LinkedIn groups and connections, for advice.<\/p>\n

3. Don\u2019t call us. We\u2019ll call you<\/strong>. I asked my spouse if he was OK with divulging this-uber personal information online, and he said yes. So I filled it in, attached his resume, and\u00a0swooshed it into the great unknown.<\/p>\n

He hasn\u2019t heard anything yet. It\u2019s only been a few days. We won\u2019t call to check. I hear HR people don\u2019t like that too much.<\/p>\n

It does sound like a great job.<\/p>\n

\"\"\u00a0I\u2019m\u00a0the author of\u00a0What\u2019s Next? Follow Your Passion and Find Your Dream Job<\/a>, available here\u00a0www.kerryhannon.com<\/a>. I am a\u00a0MetLife\u00a0Foundation Journalists in Aging fellow. To learn about great jobs for retirees, check out my\u00a0column\u00a0<\/a>at\u00a0AARP. My weekly column \u00a0at PBS\u2019s NextAvenue.org is\u00a0here<\/a>. Follow me on Twitter,\u00a0@KerryHannon<\/a><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

More Forbes’ fun:<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>Nonprofits Are Hiring–But What Does This Job Pay?<\/a>\"KerryKerry Hannon<\/strong>Contributor<\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Job-hunting? Facebook, LinkedIn and You –Six Social Media Tips<\/a>\"KerryKerry Hannon<\/strong>Contributor<\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Six Reasons You Should Volunteer Your Way to A Job<\/a>\"KerryKerry Hannon<\/strong>Contributor<\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n
\"\"<\/a>Want an Unbeatable Resume? Read These Tips from a Top Recruiter.<\/a>\"KerryKerry Hannon<\/strong>Contributor<\/a><\/cite><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
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