How To Breeze Through Application Paperwork!

Thinking back to my own hiring process, one of the best pieces of advice I ever received came from a grizzled old veteran who’d obviously submitted more than a few applications in his time.  “Kid” he said, “Whenever you send in some paperwork to Human Resources, make sure to save a copy for yourself, because it’s an absolute guarantee that they’ll lose it.”

Now my intention for today’s post isn’t to rag on any HR Technicians, because I’m sure they’re as overworked as the rest of us, and it’s certainly not their fault that the federal government still relies on a paperwork-intensive hiring process.  But one thing that every job seeker needs to understand is that your HR tech routinely processes hundreds, if not thousands, of applicants just like you.  And with all those resumes, applications and pieces of supporting documentation getting flung around, it’s inevitable that some of your information is eventually going to get misplaced.

Don’t be surprised when this happens to you:  if you fill out enough applications, it’s really just a matter of time.  That’s why I started taking control of my documentation by maintaining a password-protected thumb drive with scanned .PDF copies of my information.   I used to travel a lot for business, so it was good to know that I could provide copies of my DD-214, driver’s license, or college transcripts by email at a moment’s notice.  When I was asked to provide some supporting documentation, it always seemed like the HR tech would need the information yesterday.  I imagine that being able to provide this paperwork on short notice made me look like a motivated candidate, even when communication was limited to email.  I try not to delay any longer than I have to when responding to HR requests, since I’ve heard horror stories about candidates who were passed over for not responding in a timely fashion!  By the time I was in the final stages of my hiring process, I was even scanning copies of HR paperwork such as my acceptance letter and orientation instructions!

A buddy at work recently shared his own organizational strategy, which is a little more high tech than mine.  He worked with a lot of military computers that didn’t allow thumb drives or other removable media, so he created a free account online through Google Docs, and simply uploaded copies of his documentation into a secure folder.  It was a great strategy because he never had to worry about what would happen if he lost his thumb drive.  As long as he had internet connectivity, he could pull up the required paperwork and respond within minutes.  When he separated from the military, he even went so far as to upload personal financial information, so he could provide all the information he needed to set up utilities in his new place after relocating.

It really doesn’t matter whether you store your supporting documentation on a thumb drive, a cloud server, or even in an old-school manila file folder.  The thing I want you to take away from this post is that you should have a plan in place to respond to HR requests, even when they come on short notice.  Chances are, when they need a piece of information, they’ll need it yesterday!