The Job Application Follow Up Call: Your Saving Grace
Posted July 22, 2013 & filed under Job Search
We all have experienced that sense of anxiety after sending a job application, refreshing our email account every microsecond with the hope that some tech lag is all that’s keeping us from that long awaited job interview. When a week of this routine goes by, you may start to doubt your chances. Before giving up, follow up with the hiring manager. It could be your saving grace.
Remember: you are not the only person one who applied. Depending on the company, your industry, and the number of your peers elbowing for room in the local market, it’s possible that your job application is buried under hundreds of others. Even if a screening program eliminates any underqualified candidates, you still might be lost in the white noise. A follow up call can show your continued interest and raise your voice a few decibels higher than the other candidates’.
Hunt Down the Number
Most job advertisements don’t give out the company’s phone number for free: you have to earn it. Companies expect that if you are really smitten with the position, you are going to be proactive enough to contact them. With a little bit of sleuth work, you can normally find the company’s main line or even the department’s extension on the Contact Us or About Us page of the company’s website.
No luck there? Try LinkedIn. If you know the name of the hiring manager, you might be able to find a business number listed under his or her LinkedIn contact info. If that’s a dead end, turn to any of the major search engines; if a number exists, you’ll find it there.
Talk to a Real, Live Person
Once, you have the number, your next objective is to talk with a real, live person who can actually make decisions about the position. If you’ve done your homework right, you know the name of the hiring manager. If not, you risk wandering through labyrinthine phone systems or being barred by an overprotective receptionist. If you get to a person, ask for the hiring manager by name. Your request to double check the status of your application will have more weight if you can name drop an actual employee.
Moreover, don’t let yourself be pawned off to voice mail. If you can’t speak with the hiring manager immediately, ask for the best time to call back. As a rule of thumb, those times are often early in the morning or right around closing time as the hiring manager winds up or winds down the day’s work. But everyone’s schedule is different, so get a verbal confirmation on the manager’s schedule before you get off the phone.
Be Persistent, Not Pesky
If your phone number flashes on the company’s caller ID with strobe light frequency, you may start to wear on people’s nerves. If you missed the hiring manager on your first follow up call, you’re given some leeway to call back at the next convenient time. After that, you want to space out your follow up calls so you don’t become an annoyance or burden. No one wants to hire the type of obnoxious person who can’t be reasonably patient for a short stretch of time.
Wait at least a week in between follow up calls and don’t waste your time on a company that won’t call you back after your second attempt. At that point, you have to leave the ball in their court. If you’re lucky, they’ll give you a call back after an extended period of time, so don’t get caught up in your emotions or hold any communications gap against the hiring manager.
With all the candidates to sort through, in addition to his or her daily duties, this might have been the earliest convenient time to give you a call. So, if you handle the communications gap with the same patience and professionalism you’ve handled everything else, you’ll have made the right impression and improved your chances of getting face time with an interview.
by James Walsh
