Advice On How To Follow Up During Job Search

Advice On How To Follow Up During Job Search Have you ever asked anyone for their opinion about when or how to best follow up after sending a job application or an interview? What I bet youve found is that you get lots of different advice on when and how to follow up. And you know what- all of the advice you get is right but its all wrong too! Mixed Messages and Double Talk Some coaches suggest you wait a couple of days after youve submitted your application to follow up and some HR professionals may suggest you wait even longer. Then theres the long period after the interview where youre in limbo. Can you- should you follow up if you havent heard anything from the employer? Ever tried reaching out to a friend inside a company to ask for their help with a job you have applied to and gotten nothing, nada, zip? Concrete Answers Personal preference and bias get in the way when people provide advice on follow-up (or anything for that matter.) Once youve heard both sides, do what is best for YOU! Youve been told not to be pushy, aggressive or a stalker when following up with an employer after submitting an application or going on an interview. What exactly does this look like? The reality is, what one person may consider pushy, another person may consider demonstrating your interest. Your message is interpreted by the receiver, and each receiver has personal preferences. Your goal is to try to meet the unique preferences and needs of the person who will be listening to your voicemail or receiving your email. This means, write with the reader in mind. Write for them, not you. Application Follow-Up One of the worse mistakes any job seeker could make is not following up at all after submitting an application. How do you know your application was received? If youre lucky, the company has an automated system to notify you, otherwise, youre left to wonder. Finding out if your application was received may be as simple as contacting the human resources department; however, HR is flooded with these inquiries. Yes, it is HRs responsibility to respond to applicants inquiries, but that can become a full-time job. So what youll find is that most of the time, you wont receive any response. Many HR professionals suggest not bothering them to find out if your application made it into their system. They contend that constant emails and voicemail messages are not the way to get a response or gain the right type of attention. But you may have heard stories about applicants who were granted interviews because they persistently followed up. Which advice do you follow? Try taking an alternate route by connecting with employees inside the company to see if they might help, either by forwarding your resume to the right hiring manager or by getting you an update on where the company is in the hiring process. How Long Should You Wait? Many career professionals would say that you should follow up shortly after you apply. But what does that mean? How many hours, days or weeks do they mean by shortly? If you applied online and didnt receive any type of response that your application was received, an immediate or same-day call or email to the HR department isnt totally out of line. Technology can fail. Your priority is to ensure your materials were received, meanwhile, HRs priority is to screen the applications, not troubleshoot why yours wasnt received. When contacting HR, be polite and show empathy for their busy workload. If you do not get a response to your message, following up one week later for an update on the status of their screening process is also not out of line, as long as your wording is courteous. Giving up is a choice you may be faced with. However, if it is a job you are very interested in, dont throw in the towel. Ask connections inside the company for information about what is going on in the company and with the screening process. You Are Not Stalking Stalking can be defined as unwanted or obsessive attention. When or if you get a no thank you or dont call us, well call you response, you need to stop following up. But if youre still awaiting a response, dont cross the stalking line; instead, find alternative ways to show your interest. For instance, following the company on social networks isnt stalking, but sending regular messages to its inbox might be. Sharing some of its updates probably isnt going to mark you as a stalker, and the social media managers may even appreciate your promotional assistance if its done in moderation. Think outside the box and find alternative ways to gently remind the hiring manager that youre qualified and interested. No Two Companies Are The Same Every job and every industry is slightly different. What might work for you in one field may not work for someone else in another industry. A sales professional might be expected to be pleasantly persistent in his or her follow-up after an interview because it shows how he or she might follow through after a sales call. There is also some degree of trial and error. Dont be afraid to take a calculated risk when  you follow-up.