Posts tagged with “FollowUp”

I have gone over ways to format your resume, interview effectively, and send a thank you letter, but what if you never hear back when you send your resume? Then what? Most people typically move on and send their resumes to more companies and positions and hope that the old adage of quantity or quality pays off. However, if you are smart about your job search and interested in improving yourself then it would be to your advantage to get feedback from initially submitting your resume.

"Stephen," you ask, "how would I do that? I don't even know who the manager is!" Well here I am to offer you some help!

Childhood... it was great time. Minimal responsibilities, food on the table, free rent, the list could go on. Remember when you wanted to go with a friend somewhere or spend the night at a friend's house one weekend? Everything was so simple then. There was only one thing you needed to remember and I think we all heard from our parents growing up, "Remember to say "Please" and "Thank You" and you better be on your best behavior!"

As adults the responsibility has grown and sometimes we forget the basic rules we need to engage in to assure we look our best. Sending a thank you letter after attending an interview has become less prevalent in recent years, but has never lost its importance. In today's tough economy and competitive market, it may in fact be the little bit extra that you need to assure you get that position you interviewed for. As such, here are some tips on what to cover in a thank you letter to make sure you get noticed and keep your name fresh on the hiring managers' mind.

#1 Send a hand written letter.
It may take ten minutes and you may have to write it a couple times before it looks clean and organized, but a hand written letter carries more weight now than ever. With the advent of email, web conferencing, and text messages the hand written letter has gained more appeal as a means of showing personal interest and appreciation. An email can take ten seconds to read and toss to the side. However, when a hiring manager needs to open a letter and read the card it will get you noticed, in a good way.

It's been a couple weeks and you haven't heard back. Is it time to follow up with HR?

Laurie Ruettimann from PunkRockHR.com says no. The goal isn't to follow up with HR, but to figure out who the hiring manager is and follow up directly with them. While this may seem difficult, plenty of search and social networking sites are around to help make this task far easier than it used to be.

Laurie also points out one key point to remember no matter who you are following up with -- Stalkers don't get hired. Don't go overboard.