Application Forms

Answer very few people actually ask for a CV everyone seems to have their own application forms and like CVs application forms have changed.

Back when I applied for my
first job the application form was 3 pages long name, address, education, work experience and references simple eh ?

Not anymore I found a job online which sounded great so I went and downloaded the application form it was 12 pages long !!!! 2 pages were dedicated to my ethnic background and my sexual preference (thank you discrimination laws) but that still left 10 pages. They wanted everything but my inside leg measurement, several pages where dedicated to how I met the person specification (which was 9 pages long) my mum was here said she would look at it with me between us we have 3 degrees and it still took me 2 days to complete and after all that I didn't even get an interview !! At lot of the stuff the form asked for would have usually been asked at the interview stage of the application process.

So why have application forms become so complicated ? Several of my friends and I have come up with some suggestions:

1. To make the vetting process for interview easier
   
2. To put people off applying who don't really want the job (?)
   
3. Because it's an employer's market they can be as picky and as fussy and demand as much information as they want and make you jump through hoops !!
   
4. People don't actually look through application forms they just feed them into a computer that looks for keywords (not those again) and tells the company whether your worth interviewing
   

Whatever the reason the world of job applications has changed and possibly not for the better so I will have to compile a list of keywords and included them in any application form I complete and jump through as many hoops as poetical employers want in order to achieve that oh so necessary job !!