What To Do When The Phone Is Not Ringing

The holiday season is over and you have been waiting for the phone to ring. Silence. Now what? Follow-up is a very important part of your job search. If your phone is not ringing take the initiative and follow-up with the organization.

Here are a few things to keep in mind when you follow-up:

1. When you call, make sure you speak to the decision maker, assuming you have interviewed with the hiring manager. When you have them on the phone you can say, “This is _____________ (put your name in the blank), and I wanted to touch base with you regarding ____________ (you can put the name of the position you interviewed for in here). When we spoke last you mentioned that you would make a decision by _________________. I wanted to find out when you anticipate making a hiring decision.”

At this point, stop talking and listen. Let them tell you the status. If they have not made a decision, they should be able to tell you when they are going to make a decision.

2. Don’t sound desperate. Usually this feeling of desperation comes out of limited option. In other words, you are waiting for one job offer and if they don’t hire you, than you are back to the drawing board. I can’t stress enough to you how important it is to have lots of interviews, lots of applications and resumes in the hands of various organizations. Give yourself options. Multiple options allows you to be the decision maker about which job you will take rather than being at the mercy of one organization.

3. Be polite, no matter what is said to you.

4. If you get a voicemail, leave a message asking for a return call. You can use my recommendation above in number one on the voicemail message.

5. Email follow-up works well too. Be professional, check your spelling and grammar. Be brief and specific. Again you are looking for a status on their hiring decision.

6. If you haven’t sent a thank you note, send one. It may help you get a call back.

If you are having no luck with multiple opportunities I recommend you step back and evaluate your approach. What is it that you could do differently so that you get a different result. Review your resume, ask for feedback about your interviews. If you can’t get feedback from HR recruiters or hiring managers, you will need to evaluate your performance and make some adjustment. The old adage, “If you keep doing what you’ve been doing, you are going to get the same results.” So do something different.

Also, you may want to take a look at the job opportunities you are responding to. If your phone is not ringing, you may not be qualified for the position. You may want to go back and review some of the job descriptions. What are you missing? Where are your gaps? How can you sure them up so that you can improve your candidacy? Keep in mind that this is an employers market. Employers do not need to settle. If you are not qualified, you will want to reevaluate the types of jobs you are applying for. If you are qualified and no one is calling, than you redo your resume, or make some adjustments in how you are interviewing.

Image Credit: Newscom

Tags: Interview Chatter, Phone is not Ringing, Email, Follow-up, Thank you Note, Job Opportunity, Be Professional, Resume, Interview

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