Auto-Fill

Thank goodness for the auto-fill functions of web browsers! Sites that work with my browser to automatically fill in forms with the same information that is requested over and over--name, email, address, etc.--save me so much time. I've encountered their convenience when signing in to my regular sites (email, Twitter, Facebook, etc.) and when filling out forms for contest entries or creating new accounts.

I have especially come to greatly appreciate the function of auto-fill lately, though, when I am actively hunting for a job (I need more permanence, stability, and at least twice my current pay to comfortably provide for my daughter on my own). Career sites that upload information from my résumé, pre-filling in much of the required data, save me at least an hour each time. I've had somewhere around 14 jobs and 3 college degrees in the last 16 years, so I have a LOT of information to input each time I apply for a job. [Before you judge me on my work history, note that many of my early jobs were short-term because of school requirements and I had temporary employment positions when we moved to our present location. I was also working 3 jobs concurrently at one point. I have had my current job for 6 years.] I've filled out more than 30 job applications in the last week or two, so you can imagine just how much my gratitude is growing. Granted, these sites are only about 90% accurate, probably because they don't use the exact formatting as I use on my résumé, but any time saved means the opportunity to apply for more positions, increasing my chances of landing that job that will fulfill my financial and career needs.

I recently encountered a situation in which auto-fill saved me from having to redo about 20 minutes of typing for one of my classes as well. I was building a crossword puzzle on Angel (course management software used by my college) when I inadvertently clicked on the wrong link to edit a feature of the puzzle (adjusting the possible score after adding more words). I was about to freak out and curse fate when I saw that only 5 of the 22 words seemed to have made it into the final puzzle. I really did not want to retype all those definition clues again. Luckily, Angel's auto-fill saved the clues from each line in the form, so I could easily retrieve it with a mere push of the down-arrow key in each position after re-adding the empty spaces for them to the form.

Thank you to the wonderful geniuses who developed auto-fill and to those who continue to fine-tune it. I know I am able to accomplish more with just that one small convenience and it gives me greater piece of mind.