When you apply for a job

This is some things that I learn after working as an HR and accept lots of application in one day

1. Don’t use cheesy e-mail address, make the one with your name, or at least doesn’t contain anything like; cool, cute, number-one, or anything that satisfied your youth-wannabe-cool-but-plain-ridiculous-for-an-adult Email address

2. Please State the position you’re applying, it takes too much time and energy trying to figure out which position you’re actually applying, especially when your educational background and work experience don’t match. And please don’t put “applying for any position” that’s just plain desperate and a major turn off.

3. Don’t send your application to multiple employees at one time, we can see all the people you sent application to, and it’s like sending an e-mail blast, it’s simpler for you, but for us you’re simply lazy.

4. Make an application letter, at least 2 paragraphs, introduce yourself, the position you’re applying and all information related on why we should hire YOU for that position (education or experience, etc).

5. Put the application in the e-mail, don’t need to put it as an attachment, how hard is it to copy and paste from word file and just change it a bit depend on which company you’re applying to? Make sure you got the right TO and applying FOR, recheck just in case you just use it to apply in another company and there’s still some stuff in it that you need to change before you send it.

6. In your CV please state your education Background CLEARLY, I have bachelor degree from University A, ON WHAT? We’re not a clairvoyant there must be more than 10 majors in that university which one you graduated from? And please limit your education up until high school, we don’t want to know where your kindergarten or worse your playgroup is, find something more useful to make your CV look fuller.

7. Personal data, formal education, informal education and work is experience is obligatory, while the other is optional. But please keep the optional interesting and related to the job you’re applying.

8. Skill is important put any application that you think will be profitable like languages, computer skills etc. Organizational experience sometimes important, it shows how you work in a team, but please limit it to high school only, and you might consider putting knitting club in your CV to show that you’re patient, but if we’re not looking for women crafting club president, we don’t care.

9. If they ask about your current salary and expected remuneration, ANSWER! Don’t waste our time interviewing you and it turns out your expected salary is much higher than what we can offer. You can always put negotiable in your expected salary, that will be our reference too

10. Keep your CV short, 2 page is the maximum, how you should fit everything in one or two page, that’s YOUR problem, too many pages makes us lost interest in reading, especially if we have A LOT of CV we need to read

11. Put you Photo in your CV, don’t put it in separate file, and please, unless you’re applying to become a model, put a standard passport photo. Don’t take from the photos from your profile pics in facebook or friendster, or cropped version from your night out picture, it’s unprofessional and just plain silly.

12. Don’t be too creative, if the position you’re applying is a creative job like design, editor, illustrator etc, be free to create. But if you’re applying for staff jobs, keep the KISS standard, Keep It Simple Stupid, if you use too much “creativity” by using various formats and colors, it might be annoying for the people that read your CV. Maybe they don’t have the same “sophisticated” computer programs as you and your CV just end up plain messy. If you want to make it more stylish convert it to Pdf that way it won’t change and they can read it as you wrote it.

13. Don’t put too many attachment in an application E-mail, CV (important), and if requested your graduation document (certificate & GPA), sometimes they ask for TOEFL/IELTS score, and sometimes your driver license. Just put the things they demanded, don’t put things that they do not ask, no need for you and for them.

14. Put down the phone number you are probably will easiest to receive, mobile phone is more preferable, house phone is okay if you don't have a job and you stay at home most of the time, your current office phone is not recommended, I find it not convenient calling a person to have an interview for a position in my office in her/his current office phone, felt like stealing a bit you know. And if I cant reach you after 3 times I called, I just put your application in the bin, too much work to talk to you while I still have many applicants in line.

15. Make sure you google a bit about the company you’re applying to, so when they call you wont sound stupid. It’s annoying for me to answer applicant that ask the name of company, which position did they apply, which business

I’ll add some more if I remember them LOL, for now this is the basic rules

Indonesian Pride

I woke up late this morning, I had a really unfriendly week (really 2 hours to go to the office is just too much lol). so I rush to take a shower and realized that today is Batik's day, since I'm too lazy to explain I'll give a piece of article on Batik and Batik Day

Batik

"Batik (Javanese pronunciation: [ˈbateʔ]; Indonesian pronunciation: [ˈbaːtik]; English: /ˈbætɪk/ or /bəˈtiːk/) is cloth which traditionally uses a manual wax-resist dyeing technique. Due to modern advances in the textile industry, the term has been extended to include fabrics which incorporate traditional batik patterns even if they are not produced using the wax-resist dyeing techniques. Silk batik is especially popular.[citation needed]
Javanese traditional batik, especially from Yogyakarta and Surakarta, has special meanings rooted to the Javanese conceptualization of the universe. Traditional colours include indigo, dark brown, and white which represent the three major Hindu Gods (Brahmā, Visnu, and Śiva). This is related to the fact that natural dyes are only available in indigo and brown. Certain patterns can only be worn by nobility; traditionally, wider stripes or wavy lines of greater width indicated higher rank. Consequently, during Javanese ceremonies, one could determine the royal lineage of a person by the cloth he or she was wearing.
Other regions of Indonesia have their own unique patterns which normally take themes from everyday lives, incorporating patterns such as flowers, nature, animals, folklore or people. The colours of pesisir batik, from the coastal cities of northern Java, is especially vibrant, and it absorbs influence from the Javanese, Arab, Chinese and Dutch culture. In the colonial times pesisir batik was a favorite of the Peranakan Chinese, Dutch and Eurasians."

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Batik

"The word batik is thought to be derived from the word 'ambatik' which translated means 'a cloth with little dots'. The suffix 'tik' means little dot, drop, point or to make dots. Batik may also originate from the Javanese word 'tritik' which describes a resist process for dying where the patterns are reserved on the textiles by tying and sewing areas prior to dying, similar to tie dye techniques. Another Javanese phase for the mystical experience of making batik is “mbatik manah” which means “drawing a batik design on the heart”.

http://www.expat.or.id/info/batik.html

Batik Day

"Indonesians have been asked to wear batik on Oct. 2, following UNESCO’s decision to add the traditional dyeing technique to its Intangible Cultural Heritage list.
The listing, which will give the age-old batik tradition some degree of protection under the UNESCO charter, will be made official at an event in Abu Dhabi, the United Arab Emirates, between Sep. 28 and Oct. 2.
To acknowledge the listing, President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has asked all Indonesians to wear batik.
“Batik is regarded as a cultural icon with its own uniqueness. It contains symbols and a deep philosophy of the human life cycle — and it was submitted by Indonesia as a non-material element of cultural heritage,” Coordinating Minister for the People’s Welfare Aburizal Bakrie told a press conference at Bogor Presidential Palace on Monday."

http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2009/09/08/batik-selected-unesco-cultural-heritage-list.html

yeah well that's the reason LOL (laziness is a disease I guess), so I run trough my closet looking for batik, fortunately I got two (you could never go wrong with batik, so having at least one is obligatory). So I went out to go to the office and was astounded by the sea of Batik outside. I guess all Indonesian takes the event seriously by heart, I've never see so many models, colors and design of Batik. It was really astounding and heartwarming to see all those people from different background wears batik proudly. Years ago you could only see people wears batik on special occasions like weddings, formal ceremonies etc. I mean some school wears batik as their Friday uniform and also government officials, but that's not a choice, just obligation if you know what I mean.

The booming of batik I guess started when there is another country that tries to claim batik as theirs, this matter really upsets Indonesian, there are a lot of arguments, bad mouthing (normal decent thing to do when you're quarrellings between neighbors I guess hahaha) etc. After that I guess people realize if they want to keep the tradition alive, the have to utilize it to the max. So people start to make more modern design of Batik, with colors and cuts. The effect was amazing, Batik is no longer becomes a tradition, it's a lifestyle for the young and hip, it's no longer a formal wear, it's is now a casual dress code. And I personally support this noble cause.

So as i enjoy my trip to the office through the pollution, traffic jam, cramped-hot-slow public transportation and occasionally some swearing between the road user. I start to count the number of people wearing batik, ah the pleasure of doing useless thing before work. there should be at least 1000 people using Batik today, and as Indonesian, I felt proud to be one, and I'm going to wear my Batik proudly.