Calling to Follow up on Your Resume
When contacting a potential employer it is considered polite to wait between 7 - 10 days.
At that point you are able to email if you were given an email address, or call unless the ad specifically stated no calls.
You would then introduce yourself (in whichever format you are contacting them) and ask any questions you are interested in knowing.
Questions that can be asked:
- I was wondering if you could tell me the status of my resume?
- Will all candidates be contacted, with either a yes or no answer?
- Is there any further information that you need in addition to my resume?
- When will you be making a final decision?
Speak to the Right Person
When calling to contact your potential employer after having sent your resume you need to speak with the person who is hiring or the human resources manager. If they are not available, your next best choice would be leaving a voice mail for them. This gives you enough time to breathe, get ready for the message, and leave all pertinent information.
If you are unsure what to leave on a voice mail message, consider writing a script for yourself prior to making your phone call. This way you are able to focus on what needs to be said and get all of your information in without forgetting anything.
Try not to make this message like a dialogue from a play that will bore a potential employer and cause them to possibly delete your message and count you out. There is also the possibility that their voice mail system may not allow very long voice mail messages and it may cut you off at a critical juncture of your message.
It may be within your best interest to rehearse what you are going to say in your follow up call so you are not stumbling over your words. This will come across to your potential employer as a strong conversationalist, with the forethought to call about a job that he or she really wanted. That is a check on the good side for you.
Emailing to Follow up on Your Resume
A resume tip that many individuals tend to find hard to comprehend is the use of professional sounding emails. They tend to find many ways to rationalize their email address. But I can tell you that hotchicx246@hotmail.com orbasketballjones@gmail.com is NOT professional.
You want to try to use a more professional email address. Try using something likejohn.smith@gmail.com or jane_doe@hotmail.com. If you do not have access to another email address there are many free email address platforms such as Gmail,Yahoo or many others.
When emailing a query make sure to attach a resume to your query. There is a possibility that your resume may not have gotten to them.
If you are not sure of resume alignment when emailed, make sure to send it to someone (friend or family) and have them tell you if it shows up on their computer properly. You want to make sure that your document comes off as a professional resume not an amateur document.
Last Minute Follow Up Ideas
Please keep a record of whom you have sent your resumes to, that way you can keep track of whom you are following up with.
It would not be professional if you were to call someone and then realized that you had called him or her a couple of hours ago about the same job. Make sure to keep track.
It is necessary that you respect company time. Most businesses are extremely busy on Monday mornings since the vast majorities are closed on weekends.
Lunchtime, from 11am – 1pm, is normally short handed because there are several people out on lunch. So, I beseech you to be aware of the time frames that are a little busier and not call during these times.
Points to keep In Mind:
- Respect company time
- Track where you have sent resumes and follow up information
- Attach resume to email follow up
- Send resume to friend or family to double check resume format
- Have a professional email address
- Contact hiring agent or manager
- If manager is not there, leave voice mail
- Write script if unable to come up with something to say
- Rehearse your script so you don't stumble while you talk
- Wait between 7-10 days to contact
