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I am applying for a job through the company website and in the application there is a section which asks for my time availability per day.
Question:
How exact should I be when providing such information, since my schedule is tentative and I am more likely to have extra hours available?
Do they give you a place for free-form comments? If so, I'd put it in there. Then either leave the specific question blank or fill in a best guess. If they don't give a place for comments, my inclination would be to leave it blank and explain if and when you get as far as an interview. If the computer won't accept blank, I'd put in a best guess, and again, explain at the interview.
The worst case I can see is if they're trying to fill people in to specific slots, and giving the wrong times would rule you out. You don't say what the job is. Most jobs either expect people to work regular business hours, or if they have shifts, they typically move people around anyway. Everybody I know who does "shift work" is getting "shifted" all the time.
Try and be as accurate as you can, and show the maximum availability that you think is reasonably achievable. If this then differs from your actual availability in the future, a simple explanation (provided the excuse is legitimate) at the interview of the changes should be acceptable to the employer.
Whenever I have applied to jobs where availability listing is required, I have never ended up working strictly the hours/days I put down. It is usually a guide so they can rule out people who have very limited or unreasonable availability, for example not being available on a Saturday when that is the busiest time that they need staff for.
Reply that your time is flexible to meet any needs required. That's as exact as you need to be.
