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Robert Lauriston reports: <<I got asked about current and expected
salaries today in an online application for a job at a company owned
by a large corporation. Luckily the "expected" section allowed
multiple choices, so I was able to specify a wide range in place of my
usual "open.">>
Seems like a reasonable strategy.
<<It always seems odd to me when these online applications let you
upload a resume but not a cover letter.>>
Yeah, these systems are often examples of the blind (the HR staff who
asked for the system) leading the blinder (the developers of the
system). Let's just say I haven't been overwhelmed with the skill of
most HR staff I've worked with over the years or their knowledge of
our profession, and don't get me started about most Web designers... <g>
I imagine there are two possible solutions for this problem: First
(and probably suboptimal), include the cover letter as page 1 of the
PDF you upload; that at least gets your cover letter in the door.
Second (and probably more effective), turn the resume into a narrative
form that combines the "here's what I want you to focus on in my
resume because it relates to this specific job" that should appear in
a good cover letter with the details that should appear in a resume.
Of course, I decline to speculate whether you'd be rewarded or
punished for such creative solutions.
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Geoff Hart (www.geoff-hart.com)
ghart -at- videotron -dot- ca / geoffhart -at- mac -dot- com
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Effective Onscreen Editing: http://www.geoff-hart.com/books/eoe/onscreen-book.htm
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Free Software Documentation Project Web Cast: Covers developing Table of
Contents, Context IDs, and Index, as well as Doc-To-Help
2009 tips, tricks, and best practices. http://www.doctohelp.com/SuperPages/Webcasts/
Help & Manual 5: The complete help authoring tool for individual
authors and teams. Professional power, intuitive interface. Write
once, publish to 8 formats. Multi-user authoring and version control! http://www.helpandmanual.com/
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