Microsoft Word is the word processing system in use by most of the Human Resources Offices of the State Agencies that are accepting e-mail applications. For those that are not, they can use the free Word Viewer to view and print out the applications received online.
Why do I get a "Password" dialog box when I open the file in Word?
See the sample Dialog Box on the right...
What you are getting is a Microsoft Word template file. It is write protected to prevent modification of the parts of the form that can't be changed I.E. the questions. You can fill in the blanks but not change the base information on the form. When you open the file in Word, you will see a dialog box that looks like the one to the right. Click on "Read Only" and the file will open for you.
You will be able to enter information only in the answer parts of the document. You can "tab" from question to question, making the form easier to complete. Once you have the form filled in, you will be able to save it under a different file name. Be sure to remember where you saved it on your machine. You then will be able to attach that Word Document to an e-mail if the position for which you are applying is one that accepts e-mail applications.
This also means that you can fill in part of the application now, save it and come back to reopen it later. You no longer have to fill the whole thing in at one sitting. Note: you will have to continue to use a new name each time you save the file, but you can come back and delete all the unused copies at your convenience.
How secure is my application?
The Internet is not a secure environment. Your e-mail is transmitted in the clear, in plain text, and it is possible but not very probable that your message can be intercepted in transit. If you are concerned about the security of your e-mail, then you should consider another transmission method to the agency to which you are applying.
Why are there so many different e-mail addresses?
In South Carolina State Government, each agency is responsible for recruitment of employees. Therefore each agency develops its job postings and transmits them to this system for posting to the Internet. Applicants responding to the postings must respond to the appropriate Agency's Human Resources Office. In some cases there is more than one HR Office in a given agency.
What about importing the application into other word processing systems?
We have tested against the following word processors:
| Word Processor | Results |
|---|---|
| Microsoft Word (See information about versions below) | Works as expected, can be saved to a different file name and re-edited. Completed application files can be attached to e-mail for return to agencies that will accept such submissions. |
| WordView (See information about versions below) | Works as expected, files can be viewed and printed out for manual filliing in on paper, same functionality as Adobe Acrobat |
| WordPad | File opens but presents gibberish to screen - unusable |
| Word Perfect 6.0 (Win) | File will not open |
| Notepad | File opens but presents gibberish to screen - unusable |
| Write | File opens but presents gibberish to screen - unusable |
What about the differences in the two versions of the file?
Word 97 can load both files but the appearance of the Word 95 file in the Word 97 word processor is incorrect. So get the Word 97 version if you are using either Word 97 or WordView 97. You can tell which one you have by watching the program's start window, or by pulling down the help menu and clicking on "about."We have noticed that attempting to use WordView 97 on the Word 95 version leads to extremely slow performance. We do not recommend that practice.
Word 95 can load the Word 97 file but it is completely unusable. If you are using Word 95, get the Word 95 version of the file. If you are using an older version of WordView, we suggest that you download the latest version from Microsoft, free, then use the Word 97 file.
Why does my version of Word put boxes in the wrong place?
This can be one of two things, either you have downloaded the wrong version of the application or you have a printer problem. First be sure that you have downloaded the correct version of the application. If you have Word for Office 95, be sure that you are using the Word 95 version. If you have word for Office 97 use the Word 97 version. If that does not solve the problem, see below.In our testing, we have discovered that certain printers will print the boxes that belong on page 5 on page 4 instead. You will see the problem on the screen as you fill in the form. This is a problem with a piece of software called a "printer driver." The best we can advise at this time is to select a different printer if you can and try that driver instead. We have done this here and find that about 5 - 10 seconds after changing the printer, the problem on the form clears up.