the fun & frustrations of the job search
As I’ve sent out resumes, I’ve had a lot of friends ask if I’ve followed up yet. I then get a look of horror when I say no. Its not because I don’t understand the importance of follow up (instead I’ve become hyperaware of it because of how often I read about how important it is). Rather its because most of the companies I apply to receive so many applications that they flat out tell you not to follow up. I respect that, and don’t want to be seen as a pain in the ass, so I don’t.
However, not being able to follow up leaves a bit of a dilemma. As an outsider I’m missing a crucial piece of imformation – I have no idea how long a particular company or position’s job search process takes. From experience I’ve seen this take anywhere from two weeks to months. When we’ve also told that only applicants who are proceeding further in the process will be contacted not hearing anything becomes difficult to interpret. Does it mean that they haven’t made a decision/hired someone yet (meaning that there is still a possibility that I could be in the running) or does it mean that I’m not the right person for this particular job at this particular time and with this particular hiring manager. This unknown makes the job search process much harder, at least for me.
I have two suggestions to improve this.
- First, provide a timeline by which applicants could expect to receive a response at the time of application. If it typically takes your company two weeks to review resumes/cover letters after the job posting closes and I apply, I should get a message that would say something like “only applicants who were are interested in will be contacted. they will be contacted by (xx+14) date.” You’ve set an expectation which means that if I haven’t heard back after a certain date I can stop worrying.
- Second, send an email to all applicants who didn’t make the cut and let them know. I don’t want to harass you about why I didn’t make the cut (and while I would like to know so that I can get better) because I respect that you’re busy, have no reason to want to help, and I don’t want to piss you off just in case we cross paths in the future.
I recently applied for a job at ScotiaBank. I didn’t make the cut (which I’m totally fine with as I’m not going to be the right person for every job out there). I did however receive a form email from them letting me know that I didn’t make the cut and encouraging me to do things to tighten up my resume/make it more specific and to apply to other job postings in the future (both of which I assume are advice sent to everyone). I’m impressed that they took the time to code something like this. I’m impressed that they cared enough about the customer experience to even think that this was important. And for me, this could be the difference between choosing one potential job over another. So Scotia, thank you.
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when hunting for work i always make up a few different resumes geared towards the different types of jobs that I’m applying for, and i’ll almost always customize towards the specific posting. If you can include content from the post directly into your cover letter or resume, it makes you appear to be an applicant that wants the job more than others.
I realize that. Most of the jobs that I’m applying for are so similar that there isn’t a major difference.
Cover letters are always a toss up for me. I’ve seen too many bosses just tear them off and throw them away. That knowledge makes it difficult to want to spend the time to perfect and personalize them. But there’s the trade off because this one particular hiring manager might really care about them.
closure is always a good thing & hated companies that would leave you hanging… “we haven’t made a decision yet, call back next week” made me want to scream & throw the phone up against a wall.