{"id":13333,"date":"2021-06-15T12:58:48","date_gmt":"2021-06-15T12:58:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/?p=13333"},"modified":"2022-09-25T20:43:43","modified_gmt":"2022-09-25T20:43:43","slug":"in-what-capacity-heres-what-it-means-on-a-job-application","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/in-what-capacity-heres-what-it-means-on-a-job-application\/","title":{"rendered":"In what capacity \u2014 Here’s What It Means on a Job Application"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Jargon” is the word for specialized language that you encounter in a particular field or situation.<\/p>\n

One confusing thing about encountering jargon is that it may use language that has a meaning that is familiar to you in other contexts that makes no sense in the new context.<\/p>\n

To make matters worse, there is a lot of jargon around applying and interviewing for a job. Just when you need to come across in the best way possible, this jargon is there to confuse you!<\/p>\n

“In what capacity” is one of those confusing pieces of jargon. If you’re familiar with the word “capacity,” you probably think of it as having something to do with a measurable amount that an object can hold or produce.<\/p>\n

So what does “in what capacity” have to do with job hunting? Keep reading to find out!<\/p>\n

\n

 <\/p>\n

What does “in what capacity” mean on a job application?<\/h2>\n

“In what capacity” on a job application refers to a role or function. Therefore, the item might say something like “List your previous employers and in what capacity you worked for them,” meaning that you should write your job title. <\/strong>
\n <\/p>\n

“In what capacity” on a job application<\/h2>\n

On most job applications<\/a><\/strong>, there is a part of the form where you list the previous jobs you have had.<\/p>\n

Job applications may ask you to do this even if you are attaching a separate resume<\/a> <\/strong>that also lists your job history.<\/p>\n

The design of job applications varies, but the application might look something like this:<\/p>\n

Employer:
\nIn what capacity did you work?
\nWhat were your dates of employment?<\/p>\n

Where you are asked the question, you would simply put your job title. Here’s one example:<\/p>\n

In what capacity did you work? Waitress<\/p>\n

You might also see “capacity” used in similar ways on an application:<\/p>\n

Capacity in which you worked:<\/p>\n

It would be more unusual, but you might even see it as just a single word. However, it appears, it is always asking for the same thing, your job title.<\/p>\n

It is looking for this information even if the job you are listing was a volunteer position or an unpaid internship<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

It may be a little easier to understand this usage of the word by looking at in a small dialogue instead of in isolation as it would be on a job application<\/a><\/strong>:<\/p>\n

“She worked here for three years.”
\n“Oh, really? In what capacity?”
\n“She started out as a receptionist, but she had moved up to buyer by the time she left.”<\/p>\n

Here’s another example:<\/p>\n

The police asked me in what capacity we had employed the man. I said that he was just a temporary worker and that he had answered phones and helped with the filing.
\n <\/p>\n

Other ways you might see “in what capacity” on job-related material<\/h2>\n

You may also see “in what capacity” used in terms of your relationship with another person.<\/p>\n

This is actually something that it’s more common to encounter if you are asked to give a recommendation for another person, but it’s helpful to know what it means if you see it in paperwork that you need to give to someone else.<\/p>\n

Here are a couple of ways the question might be phrased:<\/p>\n

In what capacity did you work with the applicant?<\/p>\n

In what capacity do you know the applicant?<\/p>\n

Both of these are essentially asking the same thing, which is essentially “how do you know the person who is applying for this job?”<\/p>\n

The reply to the first question might be something like “I was Suzanne’s supervisor for nine months when she worked at the Double R Diner.”<\/p>\n

The second question is not necessarily for a colleague or manager from work, so the answer might say something like, “I was Lisa’s professor for English 101 and 102.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Jargon” is the word for specialized language that you encounter in a particular field or situation. One confusing thing about encountering jargon is that it may use language that has a meaning that is familiar to you in other contexts that makes no sense in the new context. To make matters worse, there is a …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":13337,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"disable-in-feed":false,"article-schema-type":"Article","disable-critical-css":false,"_convertkit_action_broadcast_export":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[672,35,1125],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13333","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business-english","category-english","category-job-applications"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13333","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=13333"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13333\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13336,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13333\/revisions\/13336"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13337"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13333"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13333"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/linguaholic.com\/linguablog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=13333"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}