The Six Phases You Go Through Whilst Completing a Job Application
Filling out a job application - replete with probing questions and other hurdles - can strike terror into the hearts of the bravest graduate. At least it does for me; something about all the blank, open, unscripted space of an 'about me' or 'stand out', and that's after three years of structure and impersonal, essay questions. Scary.
Depending on your progress along the soul destroying- sorry, character building path we call the graduate job hunt, your reaction to those two dreaded words may go two ways.
1. For the uninitiated, the idea of writing a short letter about yourself to someone you have never met, let alone heard of, can cause feelings of low-level panic. And that's before you realise you have to conjure up an example of a time you were in charge of a situation any more challenging than burning your toast.
2. For the grimmer, more wizened job hunters who may be writing their 10th, 12th (or 100th) application, the reaction may be something more like this.
3. Eventually, however, we must all accept our fate, open up a new tab or startlingly blank document, and get to work. Filling out your personal details - easy. Boasting about just how well equipped you are to start a shiny new career, well...
4. After treading the evermore indiscernible line between ‘sincere’ or ‘enthusiastic’ (good), and ‘pushy’ or ‘stalker’ (desperate), you start to feel like this:
5. And then flailing around blind-typing about just why you should be given the job, and not the 75 other, equally as qualified, applicants...
6. ...You come to the realisation that filling out a job application isn't always fun, but not necessarily impossible, either. Now, congratulate yourself on your bravery for not only being able to write the damn thing, but for being able to look at it long enough to check for spelling errors too.
