Follow Up, No Matter What
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Published December 13, 2009 What if you send out résumés and the mailbox remains empty, the phone doesn’t ring and you receive no e-mail reply?For starters, you should feel like you’re in good company. Job counselors estimate that applicants receive as few as 2-5 responses for every 100 résumés they send out. This is not very encouraging news. But what should one do? Most people do nothing. Some will send out another batch of résumés to new employers and write off the first batch. Others will get so discouraged that they simply quit hunting. Few do what I recommend: concerted follow-up. A job seeker should follow up no matter what: after sending a résumé in response to an opening, after sending an unsolicited résumé, after calling to apply for an advertised opening, after a job interview and after a personal visit. May job seekers inexplicably fail to follow up and even resist the suggestion that they do so. Some of this resistance is based on cost. Others are discouraged by the lack of a response. “If they can’t call me, why should I call them?” job seekers have asked me. They often take the lack of a reply from an employer personally. The typical job seeker views the job hunt as an informational campaign. They view the résumé is a news release or fact sheet. But if one looks at a job search as an advertising campaign, the issue of follow-up takes a new meaning. Think back. Did you receive any advertising circulars last week? Did you read each one carefully? Probably not. So why should you be hurt and angry when a business does not respond to your résumé when they didn’t need your product – your skills – at that particular time? What do you think will happen to any business that relies on one and only one ad? Wise business people know that money spent on repeat advertising in varied media results in increased sales. Maybe it’s time for you to think of follow-up as repeat advertising in your job search. The primary reason for follow-up is that it greatly increases the number of interviews per résumé. Various sources claim that one can expand 2 interviews for every 100 résumés to 20 to 25 per résumé. That is a ten-fold increase. Some job seekers perform follow-up for the wrong reason. They want the employer to tell them why they were not hired or why the employer did respond to their résumé. Employers in most states do not have to explain their reasons for not hiring or not granting an interview and most choose not to. It’s particularly important that a job seeker not call a prospective employer in an argumentative frame of mind. No response to your résumé? Send it again! Or call or make a visit. Be professional each time. A follow-up contact can range anywhere from two to six weeks after you send a résumé or have an interview. The follow-process does not have to be complicated. You set the ground rules. At the end of an interview, the job seeker can conclude by asking the interviewer if you can call him or her back to determine your status. Another tool is the thank-you letter. Some people limit thank-you notes to interview follow-up. However, I suggest a note after you have been to a place of business to submit an application. Sending a thank-you to the clerical person who helps you with the company application is a very good tool. Hiring managers often ask these receptionists for their opinions on applicants. I guarantee, the keeper of the applications will remember the person sends a thank-you note. Another key to effective follow-up is to keep detailed records. Before making a follow-up call review the name, title and business of your contact, the job title and description and the content and date of your cover letter and résumé. Keep notes of recommendation Bob Lankard, a business columnist for the Indiana Gazette and former program manager at the state Job Center in Indiana, Pa., offers common-sense advice and innovative tactics to help all levels of job seekers satisfy their employment ambitions. - Written By Bob Lankard |