Free Career and Job Search Advice

kinz · Newbie Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 3 Career Advice: +0/-0

I had an interview 2 weeks ago. I sent thank-you emails the day after the interview, said I was interested, etc. I was told I may hear back this week, but did not. Is next week too soon to follow-up? I know they are busy, and there were some vacations over the past couple of weeks. On the other hand, I don't want to let a lot of time go by wit no answer, and I defnitely want the job. Also, is it a bad sign if I received no reply to my thank you email?

abhi · New User Joined: 11 Nov 2006 Posts: 6 Career Advice: +0/-0

In this economy, companies often take much longer than they plan to, or promise to, make a decision about hiring. Next week would be fine to follow up. It is rare, very rare, in my experience that applicants receive a response to their thank you notes. Please note that, once you've been interviewed, it's strictly in their hands in most cases, and following up, while a good thing to do in a polite non-pushy way, won't tilt the scale generally because you've shot your wad at the interview, for better or worse, and they're probably making their decision on what happened then.

kinz · Newbie Joined: 15 Nov 2006 Posts: 3 Career Advice: +0/-0

Thanks! This is helpful and makes me feel better about the length of time. I think the interview went well, at least I don't think I said or did anything that would hurt me. I'll follow-up next week.

jason11 · New User Joined: 31 Oct 2006 Posts: 5 Career Advice: +0/-0

I have a follow-up question. I received as an answer that they cannot update me on my status yet, as they are waiting for approval from HR for the number of positions they want to hire (the original position was filled, but the are really looking for 4-5 people). I was told I would receive an update once they hear from HR. Should I continue to follow-up, or just wait for them to contact me?

jobseeker1 · New User Joined: 31 Oct 2006 Posts: 6 Career Advice: +0/-0

It's always OK to follow up, as long as you're not a pest, but (I hate to say it) most of the time it doesn't do much good. The HR group is usually very busy; if it's not the HR group that you're following up with, they're also very busy; and people calling to follow up when they haven't finished the decision-making process just can become an annoyance. If they're interested, contrary to what most counselors preach, they'll get back to you as soon as possible; if they're not, they won't: it's as simple as that. The best thing to do is go on pursuing other opportunities.

vinz · New User Joined: 11 Nov 2006 Posts: 5 Career Advice: +0/-0

I have no return e-mail for you, so am not sure who I'm writing to.

As background, I often remind people of the story that they heard as kids, about the dog with the bone in its mouth who came to the waters edge and looked down. In doing so, he saw a dog with what seemed to be a bigger bone in its mouth. So he lunged at the dog, expecting to take the bigger bone away. Lo and behold, he dropped his bone into the water. The result was he had no bone. The other dog, of course, was his reflection. The other old saying is, a bird in the hand... You can always take a job and continue looking, if you need the immediate salary. And, if a better job comes up, you can leave when you get the new offer.

About finding jobs you're not suited for, I often re-position clients' resumes so they can move to a field by re-casting their experience in a slightly different light. For example, I worked with a client who now has an operations resume and a project management resume. He wants to move to project management but still wants to try for operations jobs, just in case. This takes some finessing however and isn't always easy to do convincingly. I'd be glad to talk with you about this directly.

I always believe that the reaction of the potential employer to your resume is what you're evoking; you can protest that you're not evoking something different from what you want, but whatever is, is. To get a different result, you have to change your resume, obviously; and you also have to learn how to "read" the job description clearly to understand what it's really asking for.

Ciprian13 · Expert Joined: 25 Oct 2006 Posts: 240 Career Advice: +0/-0

If they mentioned that "they will contact you in the future"-this is a catcy phrase to say nicely that they consider than you aren't the right guy for the job.If not I believe that already they've found the right employe for the vacancy job or they are still waiting.Try to give them an ultimatum,to tell tham that you have another offer,to tell if you made the interview or not.You cannot stay and wait for ever for an answer.

julian · Expert Joined: 20 Sep 2006 Posts: 255 Career Advice: +2/-0

Umm...nothing wrong with the fact that you didn't receive answers to your thank you letters.....did you say letters as in more than one? I don't know if mre than one thank you letters are necessary.
About the follow up letter, here:

http://www.cvtips.com/letter_after_interview.html

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