Why You Need an Application with Your Resume

Filling out an employment application may seem redundant because most of the same information is on your resume. All of the background questions, whether asked online or on a paper application, can add to your frustration as just another delay to getting a job.

But there are several reasons why employers need you to basically re-write your resume. So, before you write “See Resume” on your application just consider these reasons why you need to re-write your work history.

5 Reasons Employers Ask You to Fill Out Applications

• At the end of the job application you give your signature and declare that all the information you wrote is accurate to the best of your knowledge. This eliminates the chance to say, for example, someone else typed your resume and you weren’t aware that they included misinformation. Also, signed applications can be used in court as an official document if your employer needs to prove you intentionally deceived the company.

• Applications gather additional information that you shouldn’t put on your resume such as your social security number and details about your criminal history, if any.

• While your resume gives the names of the companies you worked for, your job titles, summaries of your responsibilities and the years you worked in each job, an application asks for this information plus the names and phone numbers of previous supervisors, your beginning and ending salaries and your reasons for leaving each employer. Applications also request, as close as possible, the beginning and ending dates of employment. You can write 2008 to 2010 as the years of employment on your resume, but you’ll need to write the dates, such as, Jan. 18, 2008 to Aug. 20, 2010 on an application.

• An application might ask about an additional training program that you attended not just the college where you earned your degree.

• Applications ask for information in chronological order listing each job separately. Whereas functional resumes can group job responsibilities together, but apart from the actual job title where these duties were performed.

It’ll save you time from filling out applications online or in potential employers’ offices if you make a backup document with what you’ll be asked to write on an application. It’s like a cheat sheet resume, just for you, with all the exact employment dates, reference names and numbers and salary histories.

Be careful the information on your application matches what you have on your resume. Employers often compare the two documents. You don’t want to not be considered for a job because your inconsistencies make you appear dishonest.

But whether or not you fill out an application with a cheat sheet resume, be prepared to write down all the information your potential employer requests. Don’t ask if you can just hand in your resume and get angry when the human resources representative insists on you filling out an application. Completing an application really is necessary; it’s not just designed to delay or annoy you.