2009.06.10 02:20:09

John McDaniel

I get this, or some variant, of this question all the time.  Another common version is “I saw a job application form for sale at Office Depot today and was wondering if I needed to buy it.”  The short answer is: always use a job application when processing candidates for open or potentially open positions.  You should not consider anybody a legitimate candidate until they have turned in a completed job application.  Also, never accept an incomplete application.  I have to admit I have been curious as to the reasons why optometrists don’t use applications much.  I’ve heard many reasons, but most seem to fall into one of the following categories:

1. It is an added expense and I don’t want to spend the money
2. I don’t know what questions to include on the application and I am afraid I will ask something I shouldn’t ask
3. I get resumes and they tell me all I need to know
4. If I have applications it will draw all of the chronically unemployed into my office to fill out applications so they can continue to collect some form of welfare benefits

Let’s tackle these objections one by one…

“It is too expensive”
The first objection is a joke, to be honest.  It shows that the person with this opinion hasn’t spent even twelve seconds analyzing the cost of recruiting and hiring new staff.  The costs of creating and printing job applications are so miniscule when compared to the benefits that the costs are not even worth consideration.  Still not convinced?  Look at your profit and loss statement from any year you’ve been in business.  What percentage of your revenue goes to labor costs?  What is the actual dollar figure?  Is the return on the investment of those dollars irrelevant to you?  Of course not.

“I don’t know what questions I should ask”
The second objection is legitimate but easily solvable.  Buy a single job application; many states departments of labor have examples available online.  Take those questions as a start.  Now, add you own questions.  Common ones added include “what days of the week are you available to work?” and “list the optician duties you have performed during past employment.”  You can tailor this job application to weed out a lot of things that are incompatible with employment in your practice well before you go through the time and expense of an interview.  Afraid of asking an “illegal” question?  Hire a consultant or a labor attorney to spend the half an hour it will take to vet the application.  At Waugoo we review almost any job application for only $300 and will make recommendations on additional questions that can help the selection process and save you time and resources.

“I just use resume’s”
Resumes are wonderful evaluation tools.  Just keep in mind who decides what data goes on a resume: the applicant.  Do you think felons elect to put their conviction details on there?  Do you think registered sex offenders detail their “offenses” on resumes?  Obviously, the negative “stuff” does not make it to the final resume in most cases.  Resumes are, therefore, a nice adjunct to the job application.  The data collected via the job application is controlled by you and therefore essential.  The resume is nice; but not necessary.  Conclusion: if you only take one of these make it the job application.  I prefer both because you can check for inconsistencies.  If you’ve spent any time comparing resumes to job applications you know that the inconsistency rate is at least 30%.

“Job applications are gold for those on unemployment”
Finally, the concern over having job applications leading to a rush of the chronically unemployed does not play out in reality and can be avoided if it were to ever become an issue.  Realize that having a job application does not effectively have any impact on your recruitment process.  In other words, you’ll be attracting the same applicants via the same methods as when you did not use an application.  Even if the “word” spread on the streets and it became known that you were a supplier of coveted job applications you can eliminate the problem very easily.  My favorite solution is to put the job app online.  Many offices require computer and Internet savvy and this provides a nice way to verify even the smallest level of comfort with both.  If the applicant can’t fill out the application online they reasonably can’t do the computer/Internet work required in your office.  Not to mention that once you have the application up there you have no expenses for printing or paper so the application is functionally free.  If you don’t like the high tech solution, simply require that applications be filled out outside of the business space and limit the hours they can be dropped off and picked up.

There is no good reason to not use job applications for every applicant from this day forward.  Now go design your job application now!

Le Meas,

John G. McDaniel, OD, MLHR
President/Founder
Waugoo Consulting Group, LLC
This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it

human resources | selection | job application | hiring