• quietone said on Mar 17, 2008....

  wow ed you are really on a roll today!!! LOL   I agree with this one and have always wondered why myself! 

• uniquely-ironic said on Mar 17, 2008....

  I think, in part, that it is a way for people to gage neatness of penmanship, ability to comprehend basic instructions and it probably also weeds out those who are only mildly interested in the job.

• skald said on Mar 17, 2008....

  Anyway Ed you got the job and they liked you. Congratulations again. 

• diabolicdame said on Mar 17, 2008....

  Well, maybe they want to see your handwriting and secretly run a handwriting  analysis on u! Ha!
  

• Zayda said on Mar 17, 2008....

  I don't know; I haven't filled out an application by hand in at least 10 years for any job. Most of the places that either I or my husband have worked in the last 10 years have had their applications online.
  
  
  But, it could be that the company is small enough that they haven't had a program designed for their database through which they can accept applications like that online.
  
  
  U-I brings up a good point though; it could be to gage whether applicants have the ability to follow basic instructions. Plus, those applications often ask for things that aren't on your resume. And you typically have to sign them. Companies still place a value on a signature in ink, which is why, despite email being so prevalent, over 100 million business letters (yes the printed kind) are still sent every busy day in the United States alone.

• silverwhisper said on Mar 17, 2008....

  quietone: i don't do it often, but when i get my rant on... :D
  
  u-i: those are some very interesting points. that's entirely possible, and i hadn't considered 'em. although if someone is gonna drive all the way there for a face to face interview, wouldn't that weed out the only mildly interested? ah, i dunno...
  
  skald: thank you! :D
  
  diabolic: now that's an interesting idea...however, i'm inclined to think that might be kinda pricey, you know?
  
  super z: if the issue were one of not being able to devote the resources to doing that, i'd honestly be surprised. you make an excellent point re: a signature, though: i don't believe i've ever seen such a form that didn't require a signature of the applicant.
  
  really? 100 million pieces of business correspondence every day? i'll confess, that does come as a surprise to me.
  
  ed

• Zayda said on Mar 17, 2008....

  Silver: No, Silver, not 100 million pieces of business correspondence. 100 million business letters a day. Email and memos count as correspondence. Who knows how many of those are written a day.
  
  
  Why does it come as a surprise to you? Think about all the junk mail you get--the credit card applications alone. Those are business letters; they are sales letters, to be exact, trying to get you to "buy" into applying for that credit card.
  
  
  I bet you get a written confirmation of your job offer as well. Most places still do that--they offer you the job verbally, and then they write a formal offer, which specifies your starting date and the salary they agreed to. They do this because it goes out with a signature on it and there is a paper trail. Technically, there can be a paper trail with email (print them off, file them, or simply save an electronic copy on your server), but that paper trail with the signature on it is still important.

• silverwhisper said on Mar 17, 2008....

  ah, i was imprecise in my phrasing--and as ever, you're right to correct me.
  
  i don't know why that surprises me. i guess it strikes me as just a really large volume, you know? and yes, i was in fact told to expect written confirmation of the offer.
  
  ah, credit card offers would indeed count--but even so, it's an extraordinary volume. :>
  
  btw: thank you, as ever, for your support and friendship, super z. you don't know what that means to me.
  
  ed

• Zayda said on Mar 17, 2008....

  Trust me, the business email volume is much larger than even the letters. Hell, think about it this way, I alone get probably 50 job related emails a day (not from my students--those are a separate category), and I work at a university that employs at least 1000 people, if not more.
  
  
  [pinches ed]
  
  
  There's nothing to thank me for; I'm not doing any more for you than you're doing for me. :P

• silverwhisper said on Mar 17, 2008....

  o phooey, super z. aren't you and i well past the point of standing on ceremony? :>
  
  [pokes super z in the sides]
  
  ed

• wombat said on Mar 17, 2008....

  Hey you prolific guy...just wanted to say as I am looking for a job right now I was thinking pretty much the same thing--though not on a scale with your credentials, of course.  But I have a four page resume that I give them every time I have to fill out the same info on their tiny-lined sheets, with no room to even spell things out properly.  What a pain!  And when you mess up in ink--it looks bad no matter how much you explain the mistakes.

• vacantmind said on Mar 17, 2008....

  Okay, well I might actually be able to answer this one. Just because you have a resume doesn't mean you prepared it yourself. Many people have gotten through the doors of large corporations without reading or writing skills. There spouse helped them or they hired an agency to help prepare the document.

  A resume is also a document that you had to think about and time to prepare. You can tell quite a bit about how a person works under stress by the information that put in print. You can also see any discrepancies between the two. I know that when I have handed someone a application I usually take the resume first. I also look to see if they are referring to some other cue for job information. It gives a clear indication on how much information needs to be verified on the applicant.

• silverwhisper said on Mar 17, 2008....

  womat: hey, i've got my fingers crossed for you! but yeah, it's so damned irritating!
  
  vm: good point, you're right--that certainly makes sense, esp in conjunction w/ the other stuff mentioned by u-i and super z. :>
  
  ed

• Trinov said on Mar 17, 2008....

  Hi, here as in some places in Europe they are very big on handwriting analysis. There was a professional handwriting expert on early Isreali TV (35 years ago or so) who did analysies in real time with contestants and had a matchmaker spot at the end of the program. He was unreal as to understanding where people were at. But somehow I don't think that in New York that would be a consideration.
  
  I remember one place where as part of the interview they asked me to write an observation of someone and they were so taken aback by me being literate enough to write a few paragraphs-- that I got nervous about the level of people working there. I should have walked out immediately, but I took the job and did learn much about the field anyway, and yes most people working there, while nice and more or less competant, were not particularly literate.

• FutureGoddess said on Mar 18, 2008....

  I whole-heartedly agree.  I have 15 years of experience, and I am tired of filling out forms when I walk in for an interview. 

• silverwhisper said on Mar 18, 2008....

  trinov: well, one never does know--maybe handwriting analysis is something that they're interested there. perhaps i'll find out? and that's odd about that response your observations provoked--how odd!
  
  FG: yeah, i'm tired of it, but you know, perhaps u-i and super z are onto something. and diabolicdame and trinov both seemed to think that handwriting analysis is a possibility.
  
  i think i'll ask 'em. :>
  
  ed

• Zayda said on Mar 18, 2008....

  Ceremony, what ceremony?
  
  
  Oh, don't tell me your coronation as King of the Doofi is today. I thought that was next week. I mean, I've got my ball gown but I still need shoes and a tiara!

• beyondtheveil said on Mar 18, 2008....

  Ed- I like the points unique brought up also. The first thing that entered my mind was that the employer has a signed document of information they wish you to sign for. I know my wife goes to applications if something crops up later surprising their manager. Lying on an application not only tells a lot about that employee, but gives them an immediate option for removal if they deem it necessary. 

• silverwhisper said on Mar 18, 2008....

  super z: bah, i am merely a prince of the doofi--although my ascension into majority ceremony is indeed next week. :p
  
  beyond: ah, also a good point, sir. i just wish it was possible not to have to hand write the darned thing!
  
  ed

• Trinov said on Mar 18, 2008....

  hi, re my job, the place was totally upside down, the competant people were at the bottom and the administration was brain dead from the middle management upwards. I told people that the place was just waiting to be closed, and it was closed about a year after I left. (I was a sort of interface, a 'coordinator', so I saw what was happening and why the place was not functioning. It was an Alice in Wonderland place from that first interview, but I've always seem to be in strange situations.)

• silverwhisper said on Mar 19, 2008....

  you know, that describes the environment at my first employer quite well. :>
  
  ed

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