All iPads iPad good for resume/applying to jobs?

[ericwn]

Absolutely would recommend a laptop with a proper OS with keyboard for job applications. I’m a recruiter and would never recommend an iPad (or any tablet) to job search on.

Why?

I’ve applied to a lot of jobs via the iPad between 2015 and 2017. There were a lot of frustrating online applications with various companies that were just not ready for an iPad.

I didn’t find the CV creation tricky. I used Pages for the CV and then personalized it with a cover letter etc for each application. Exported to PDF and used PDF Expert by Readdle to occasionally work on those files.

The pain points were really the hiring portals where you often had to create new profiles from scratch. It’s probably now more common to side load data from your LinkedIn profile than it was years ago, so that might play to the advantage of the iPad.

On the other hand I had the feeling that at least in North America hiring websites are not in the 21st century and a traditional computer will likely get you to more places and quicker at that.

 

[NoBoMac]

Personally, do not recall submitting via iPad, but, should not be an issue with keeping resumes on a cloud drive and attaching from there.

Edit resume via iOS Office (can get a pretty useful version of that for free as long as you sign up for an Outlook account). If want to use something else, can invoke Print from Share Sheet, expand finger gesture on that screen, you now have a PDF to save to a cloud account. Most job sites take PDFs these days.

 

[sanItaryPAD]

- Great for writing your CV (and reading tips and guides on another split screen window)
- Great for saving it to your various cloud services
- Can export to PDF and Word / Pages format
- Good for multiple tabs and job sites (Indeed makes it REALLY easy with your CV to apply)
- Good for handling Office application forms (but I recommend the next point...)
- Good for filling out handwritten scanned forms (some 1800s employers ask for them to be handwritten)
- Good for emailing off applications, submitting queries to job advertisers

I use Notes to make a shortlist. Then I screenshot the job ad (and select iOS 13 'full page' and save it in a folder, as well as any other files - job spec, person spec etc.) so that if I get an interview and the ad is gone from existence I can read up on what they want. Then I add a text file within each folder detailing 'rejected' or status etc. Stops me applying for multiple jobs too which looks bad.

I think it's a pretty decent experience. Obviously, a bigger screen and multiple windows may have more freedom, BUT, you have limited capacity to 'multitask' and even less capacity to do a good job working between all those cluttered windows, so sometimes, iPad 'limitations' help us work more focussed in line with our human limitation. Despite the fact proper PCs can compute a billion times more than us lol

 

[floral]

Hi. I'm new here. Just came across this thread and wanted to share my 2 cents to refresh it. I personally think an iPad is a great tool for job searching and tweaking your resume. It's super portable, and you can easily edit documents on the go. Plus, there are a ton of apps you can use to make the process even easier. I've used my iPad to edit my resume and it was a breeze. As for whether you should get a MacBook, that's up to you. If you're looking for something with more power and a bigger screen, then a MacBook might be the way to go.

How did you just happen to come across a thread from over 3 years ago..?

 

[chrono1081]

I would personally go for a computer (MacBook Air M2 would be my pick but I'm biased and have one) The iPad definitely can work but unless you have an external keyboard it's going to be a pain. I've done lots of work on iPads (I wrote college papers all the time on the original iPad in Pages) but it's not as easy to do vs a laptop.