Candidate User Guide

Harvard University

Pre-Profile Checklist
Accessing ASPIRE
Creating Your Personal Profile
Confirm Your Profile Information
Search Openings
Creating a Search Agent
Applying to a Position
Viewing Your Job Submission Status
Viewing Your Stored Resumes and Cover letters

Pre-Profile Checklist
Prior to creating your profile, you should:
•	Have an updated resume that includes your most current work, address, contact, and educational information. 
•	If applying to a job, write a job-specific cover letter expressing your interest in the position.
o	You should create a specific cover letter for each job you apply to.
o	A cover letter is only needed if applying to a job, not to establish your profile. 
Accessing ASPIRE
1.	Navigate to: http://employment.harvard.edu.
2.	Click on the right side link: Administrative /Staff Job (External Candidates)

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Creating Your Personal Profile
There are two ways to establish your profile:
1.	Click the Submit resume/CV link (from this page, you can upload your resume and quickly setup your personal profile). 
 
OR

2.	Click the click here to create a new account link (link appears on the top right side of the screen). 
Confirm Your Profile Information
After you upload your resume, you should confirm that the information on your resume has been parsed correctly within the Contact, Work Experience, and Educations tabs of your profile. 

1.	Review the Contact information tab and add any additional contact information that was not included in your resume.
2.	Review the Work experience tab and indicate your most recent job by clicking the Most Recent radio button.
3.	Review the Education tab and indicate your most recent degree by clicking the Most Recent radio button

Search Openings
1.	From the gateway home page, click the Search Openings link.  
2.	In the Search Openings page, select the criteria for your search, and then click Search.
a.	To select multiple items in a list, hold down the CTRL key on your keyboard while you click.

Field	Use this criterion to…	
Job Function	Limit your search to certain job functions. For example selecting “athletics” would limit your search results to jobs such as coaches, Director of Athletics, etc. 	
School/Unit	Limit your search to certain schools and/or units.	
Sub-Unit	Limit your search within a certain sub-unit within a school and/or unit (e.g., The Faculty club).	
Time Status	Limit your search to full or part-time work.	
Salary Grade	Limit your search to certain range of salary grades. Salary ranges can be found at: http://employment.harvard.edu/benefits/compensation/	
Location	Limit your search to jobs in a geographical area.	
Auto req ID	Enter a specific requisition number (if using this field, leave all others blank). 	
Keyword	Enter the keywords that would be applicable to the type of position you are looking for. Use AND when entering multiple keywords (e.g., “accounting AND financial”). 	
Creating a Search Agent
On the search results page, you are presented with the option of applying to the job, emailing the job to a friend, creating a search agent, or saving it in your cart.  To create a search agent, do the following:

1.	From the search results page, click the Create search agent link.  
2.	In the Create search agent pop-up window, enter the following:
a.	Enter a Search Name (e.g., “athletic jobs”)
b.	Choose a frequency for receiving emails about new jobs that fit your search criteria (e.g., Daily, Weekly, etc.)
c.	Confirm and/or change your email address to receive the search agent alerts.  

Applying to a Position
When you have identified a position you are interested in, take the following steps to apply to the job. 

1.	From the search results page, click in the left side box to select the job.  
2.	Click Apply to job(s).
3.	At the Submit resume/CV, choose the Upload my resume/CV from my computer radio button, and then do the following:
i.	Open Microsoft Word and create a single Word document consisting of your resume and cover letter (copy the contents of your cover letter into the last page of your resume document).
ii.	Save your resume document using a unique file name (e.g., web_developer_job). 
iii.	Click Browse and upload your newly saved resume document.
iv.	In the Name this resume/CV field, enter a name similar to the job you are applying for (e.g., web developer job)

Important: You do not need to copy and paste your cover letter into the open text box in the next section unless you did not combine your resume and cover letter into a single document. If you did not combine the documents, either paste your cover letter in the provided text box or add it as an attachment later on in the application process. 

4.	Click Continue.
5.	Review the image of your resume, click Continue.
6.	Review the Contact information tab, add any additional contact information that was not included in your resume, and then click Next tab. 
7.	Review the Work experience tab, indicate your most recent job by clicking the Most Recent radio button, and then click Next tab. 
8.	Review the Education tab, indicate your most recent degree by clicking the Most Recent radio button, and then click Continue.
9.	On the Attachments steps, upload any supporting documents, and then click Continue. 
10.	On the Questions section, complete all required (*) questions, and then click Continue. 
11.	On the Self Identification section, complete your self-id information, and then click Continue. 
12.	Click Submit.

Harvard has a limit of 25 applications within a 30-day rolling period.  If you try and apply to a 26th job within 30 days, you will receive an error message.  

Viewing Your Job Submission Status
After you have submitted to a job, you can view your application status by clicking the Job submission status link on the home page.

Field	Description	
Job Submission Date	The date application was submitted	
Job Title	Job title is the job code description title.  The job title may differ from the business title that you saw when applying to the job as well as any email communications you received about the position.  
•	If the job is unfamiliar, compare the requisition ID from your email communications to the requisition ID on this page to confirm the job you are viewing. 	
Job requisition ID	Requisition ID number	
HR Status	Current status of your application. Types of statuses are:
•	Application Received 
•	Under Review
•	Interview
•	Finalist
•	Offer Accepted
•	Not in Consideration	
Job Status	Current status of the job. Types of statuses include:
•	Open (candidates are still being reviewed)
•	Hold (search is temporarily suspended).
•	Cancelled (requisition is no longer going to be filled)
•	Closed (job has been filled)	
Withdraw	Use if you no longer want to be considered for the position. You can also “reactivate” your application by clicking the Reactivate button.  Doing so will return you to your original status when you withdrew. 

•	The ASPIRE system only allows you to submit an application to a job once.  So, even if you withdraw from a job, the system will not allow you to resubmit your application to the position. To renew your candidacy, click the Re-activate button. 
•	After clicking Withdraw or Re-activate, it may take up to 2 hours for your status to update. 

Note on Submission Errors and/or Corrections
If you make an error on your resume or cover letter, you cannot correct your submission by withdrawing, resubmitting, or reactivating you application.  Once you submit an application and cover letter to a position, it cannot be altered.

Viewing Your Stored Resumes and Cover letters	
To view your saved resumes and cover letters, click the Resume/CV manager link on the home page.  

The Resume/CV manager is your own personal storage spot for you to save up to 5 resumes and 5 cover letters.  Harvard staff do not see the resumes and cover letters that you store here. You may submit a different resume or cover letter for every job that you apply to, and encourage you to tailor them to each position.  The resumes and cover letters you submit when you apply are not affected by any changes you make to the documents saved in your personal Resume/CV manager.

Field	Description	
Resume/CV name	Click this link to view the resume (and cover letter if combined) that was saved under this name.	
Date Posted	This is the date the resume was saved	
History	Click the View submission link to see the jobs that you applied to using this resume.  Note:  If combining the resume and cover letter, you should have only applied to one job per saved resume.	
Edit	Clicking the Edit button allows you to re-upload a new resume under the resume/CV file name.	
View	Clicking the View button will display the resume.	
Delete	Clicking delete will remove the resume from your profile.  This will not remove the resume from the job you applied to, that remains permanently attached to the requisition.  	
Default	If you have more than one saved resume, the default button is used to determine which resume will be used first when applying to a job.  You can always select another saved resume or upload a new one at the time you are applying for the job.	

NOTE:  The maximum number of resumes and cover letters you can save to your profile is five each.  Once you have reached the maximum for either resumes or cover letters, the system will prompt you to delete one of your saved files before you can add a new one.