MOL.fi’s CV-Netti “Julkaiseaika” Issue Part 2

An attempted rebranding? They should redesign the CV-Netti application first.

So, the other day I was in the local employment office (työkkäri/työvoimatoimisto). While we were talking with a rep. she looked at my online CV which is listed on MOL.fi’s CV-Netti system. She showed us that an alert window had popped up saying that my CV was not published (offline, unsearchable to potential employers). The problem was that I renewed my CV’s “Julkaiseaika” (online publish time) the week before. This is mandatory for everyone looking for a job and receiving unemployment money. If this is not done, you could lose your money for two months. This is something that I cannot afford to have happen to me.

I was angry and I did not understand why this had happened. When I came home, I looked at my CV and sure enough, the fields to list “Julkaiseaika” were blank. So, how did this happen? I figured it out real quick.

The Secret To MOL.fi’s CV-Netti Julkaiseaika

If you are living in Finland and looking for a job, chances are you have probably used The Ministry of Labor’s (Työ- ja elinkeinoministeriö) website. You have probably used, or tried to use the CV-Netti (online resume form) system on MOL.fi. It’s an idiotic piece of crap, that is in serious need of an upgrade. Besides stating that you get 2,000 characters to type in your CV when you don’t (it’s somewhere between 1900 – 2000, probably script related), but you also get to have fun trying to fill out the Julkaiseaika boxes (how long your CV is active in the system). The maximum is two months. The fun is not only trying to guess what date to end Julkaiseaika but what date format to use. Fortunately, I am here to give you a hint.

In Finland, the date is written like this: 18.05.2010 (day.month.year). Pretty simple, but this is not the format that is used to fill out Julkaiseaika. The correct date format to use for the Julkaiseaika boxes: 18-05-2010 (day-month-year).

I haven’t got the foggiest idea why they have done this and why they don’t make it simpler to use (lazy programming on their part). It’s fairly easy to make two sets of drop down boxes with dates and then restrict the Julkaiseaika ending boxes to a maximum of two months from the current date.

But then again, I forgot who I am talking about…