A Follow-Up Call Wins the Interview
By Joe Turner
You've sent your resume to three (or 16 or 110) prospective employers, so you've done your
part. Now all you have to do is sit back and wait for the phone to ring. But why is nothing
happening?
We've got news for you: Your phone will never ring. The fact you sent your resume in
response to job postings means very little in the grand scheme of things. The search industry
has designed the search process to cater to employers' needs, not yours -- even if you're a
perfect match for a posted job. By falling into this trap, you've aligned yourself with the
masses to take a number and wait and play the game on their terms.
Meanwhile, another more enterprising candidate slips in by way of a referral or a well- placed
phone call and gets an interview and a possible job offer. All this happened while your resume
sat, forever lost in the crush of paper and electrons as you waited by the phone.
So how do you get past the pile of resumes and in the door? After you send a resume or an
introductory letter, always make a follow-up call. Remember, it's the conversation that gets
you the interview. Here's how to get on the phone and into the interview process.
Why Should You Follow Up?
Consider this scenario: Yours may be one of more than 100 resumes sent in response to a job
posting. Three days later, you call the manager to follow up. You are most likely the only
candidate with the initiative and drive to do this. With a decent presentation, you could win an
interview for later that week. Meanwhile, your resume might have stayed buried in a huge
stack and never discovered. Don't leave this to chance. This is no time to be bashful about
initiating these calls.
Whom Do You Call?
Never call human resources or an in-house recruiter. These people have no vested interest in
talking with you. In fact, they don't want to talk to you. You'll only foul up their process. If
you want to get hired, you need to talk with an actual hiring manager. If that's a midlevel
project supervisor or the vice president of engineering, so be it.
Find out who this person is before you send your resume anywhere. You can locate the
names of these people through various sources, including the
company Web site
's About
Us/Management Team page, phoning the company receptionist, or subscribing to a corporate
research service like Hoovers, ThomasNet or Lead411.
In short, your job search is just that: Your job search. Take control and drive the process
yourself. Don't play by others' rules, putting your future in the hands of search industry
bureaucrats. Get into the driver's seat and make their phone ring with a follow-up call every
time you send a resume or introductory letter.
[As a recruiter, Joe Turner has spent the past 15 years finding and placing top candidates in
some of the best jobs of their careers. He makes it easy for anyone to find and land the job
they really want -- all on their own in the shortest time possible. Discover more insider job
search secrets by visiting
Job Change Secrets
.] 
