Just a note...

Dear U.S. Government,

ATTN: HR Professionals

I once worked for a federal natural resources agency. It was a wonderful experience, and I'd like to do it again. However, in the process of applying for such positions, something has come to my attention and I felt you should be aware of it.

Each and every sub-agency of every department seems to have developed its own very similar but entirely different automated application process. And although there's always a disclaimer on the website about mailing in an application, that's obviously discouraged.

Although I recognize that automated systems are all the rage, and probably help contribute to the idea of the "paperless office" that the federal government is so attached to, they are a little slice of hell.

We all know the federal government loves personal information, so I enter mine regularly in up to 38 slightly different formats. Sometimes, you require me to enter ten years of work history in order to view your list of firefighter jobs. I really wish you'd let me see the list first, since I'm not a firefighter.

You always ask if I've been in the military, so how about a little box to check if the nature of my military service makes it impossible to enter a street address for a job I did? I know you all could do this - you have lots of little boxes.

One more - I know you all think you're really onto something, because the Federal Weasel Management Office (subordinate to the Little Mammal Agency, which falls under the Department of Outside) has an automated HR system. What would be a real accomplishment would be truly centralized hiring. It would be amazing to apply for very similar jobs with both the Navy and, say, USGS, using the same data set. Just a thought.

OK. Keep up the good work. Love y'all. I'm off to run some errands and that will include faxing off a sheaf of documents, each with its own cover sheet. These same documents have been emailed in two different formats and uploaded in three. They've also been faxed to one of your sister agencies. But I understand that your hiring manager uses a different system, and so I'm faxing them again.

Thank you,

Abby