Re:Accredible - Reusable and beautiful startup job applications
by collyw on Monday December 16, 2013 @12:10PM
(#6916106)
Initially I would have agreed with you but having graduated in the dot.com bust of 2001, I don't.
I had a hard time getting a first job, especially as I am not good at the sort of bullshit (for want of a better word) you need to put in job applications.
I treated the task as a full time job handing in many applications per week. The ones that asked for a CV were easy (but generally had a low chance of a reply). Or a CV and cover letter (similar reply rate). Then you had the corporates, who wanted an individually tailored example of when you showed leadership, or solved a difficult problem despite many setbacks. (These were a pain in the arse to fill out, but generally I got a far better response rate from these applications). I hated them. That why I studied computers and science. But for every 9 bad days where I couldn't think up anything to put as a good response top these stupid questions, I had a good day, where the "bullshit" would flow. I would come up with a good answer. Not lying, but "bigging up" what I actually had done, and making it sound good.
Once you have done 3 or 4 of those applications forms, the questions they ask aren't so different. So guess what, you can reuse the answers. OK, the answers will need tweaked, but that's what I did. I had a file where I had 20 of these questions, and looked for the most similar and tweaked it to the job description.
Now. I managed that with a text file from what I remember. Is there really a need for an app to do this?
I had a hard time getting a first job, especially as I am not good at the sort of bullshit (for want of a better word) you need to put in job applications.
I treated the task as a full time job handing in many applications per week. The ones that asked for a CV were easy (but generally had a low chance of a reply). Or a CV and cover letter (similar reply rate). Then you had the corporates, who wanted an individually tailored example of when you showed leadership, or solved a difficult problem despite many setbacks. (These were a pain in the arse to fill out, but generally I got a far better response rate from these applications). I hated them. That why I studied computers and science. But for every 9 bad days where I couldn't think up anything to put as a good response top these stupid questions, I had a good day, where the "bullshit" would flow. I would come up with a good answer. Not lying, but "bigging up" what I actually had done, and making it sound good.
Once you have done 3 or 4 of those applications forms, the questions they ask aren't so different. So guess what, you can reuse the answers. OK, the answers will need tweaked, but that's what I did. I had a file where I had 20 of these questions, and looked for the most similar and tweaked it to the job description.
Now. I managed that with a text file from what I remember. Is there really a need for an app to do this?