A New Employment Application is Coming

It’s been at least 15 years since the State has done anything to the design and functionality of the employment application. Times have changed with the birth of the Internet and other technological advances. Because of this, the state’s application was showing it’s age and a new application had to be created to meet the changes. This effects both the paper and electronic versions. There is one thing that won’t change. The paper copy will continue to retain its "yellow/green" appearance.

With the previous application, I made every attempt to make the electronic version look like the paper version using the software I had. But now with the new one, both the paper and electronic version ARE identical (with the exception of a few cosmetic differences).

The biggest change everyone will notice is the manner in which the electronic form will be delivered. I searched the Internet to find a better product that users could fill in and save a form to their computer, one without all the complicated downloads that OmniForm was presenting. The search led me to a product called VisiForm made by Primary Software.

It has many features that make creating forms easier and more functional for the end user. But there is one feature it has that stands out above all others. It’s called POP!Form. A POP!Form is a file that is compressed and compiled into a smaller size. It also creates it’s own executable program meaning that when you save a POP!Form to your computer, all you have to do is two things:

1. Select to save it to disk (preferably to the Desktop), and
2. Open it.

That’s it! No more confusing instructions to follow! No additional software to download! It has it’s own built-in filler program to work from. There is one down-side…there is no "Save As" feature, but there is a work-around for this. Just save the POP!Form into another folder on your hard drive and make a shortcut to it from your Desktop. That way, you can name it whatever you want. Just don’t change the file extension.

Some noticeable changes you will find on the application include a place for an e-mail address, a clearer explanation of the point system for Veterans Preference and a courtesy reminder of things not to forget when submitting your application. There are other reminders and notices placed throughout that should make it helpful for the applicant in completing the application.

With the electronic version, you will notice a change within the fields that involve numeric entries such as Social Security, telephone, zip code and class code. As you fill in the application, and you come to these fields, you will see a "#" sign in the box. The only keys you can use will be the numeric keys 0 through 9. There are also fields that are grouped (e.g., yes/no, for the choices in the veterans preference box, etc) that will only allow you to check one box.

The geographic preference area has also changed. The counties are highlighted and there are more towns and cities to select from which matches more closely to our Applicant Tracking System.

The paper version will now have an area that was on the previous electronic form. Space will be available in which to write additional information you couldn’t fit in. And finally, the new application was redesigned to make it easier and faster for our staff to enter the applications into the system. I believe everyone will be pleased with the finished product.

To get an idea of what the new application will look like, go to following URL: http://www.maine.gov/statejobs/newapp_announce.htm.

Future plans call for making the online application process even easier as you will be able to enter your information directly into a database using this same software. No timetable has been set for this enhancement.

Now you’re wondering, when is this new application coming out? Well, hopes are that it will be available by the time you are reading this article. It all depends on when the paper copies arrive from the printers, which is scheduled for October 30^th.