Your Secret Weapon

One of the most effective tools for getting yourself hired is your ability to follow-up with employers that you've contacted. This is not so secret, you say? Perhaps, but employers still report to us that this is one of the important things they pay attention to and they find that very few job seekers do it.

We've all heard about how follow-up can help so why do so few of us use it consistently in our job search? Like anything, the reasons vary from person to person, but commonly we don't tend to use it for any of the following:

This page will give you some tips and ideas about how to follow-up with employers, increase your chances of landing that job, and manage some of those barriers discussed above in order to feel comfortable in doing so (or at least comfortable enough so you can accomplish it).

How to Follow-up Job Leads

Here is a step-by-step way of initiating contact with employers and keeping it going until you've landed the job or established that this is a dead-end (for now). We have laid out this process in this way only for simplicity's sake. It really is a circular or spiraling process where you start with what you know and keep expanding the circle until you've accomplished what you set out to do.

1. Identify who you want to work for
Start by figuring you what industries or types of businesses could use someone with your talents. Narrow this down to your first choice of industry (we know you are flexible, but this will be hard work, so you might as well start with what you really want).

Put a list together of all the businesses in the locale where you want to work. Start with the yellow pages and write down their phone numbers and any contact names (and/or addresses, websites, or other information which will help you research and locate the company)
2. Find out more about each company
You will want to research the company until you know the bare minimum of:

The name of the person who hires people like you

What the company does (and how you can help them accomplish this)

You can find out a lot about a company by:

checking out their website
checking out business directories kept at your local library
checking with people you know who may know of them, worked for or with them

3. Use your network to identify more job leads

Although you may find it hard to talk about being out of work, you can dramatically cut down the amount of time between jobs by talking to everyone you know, or meet, about what kind of work you are looking for and asking if they know of anyone or any place that could use someone with your skills.

Don't just ask about if they've heard of any jobs, because most people won't know. It is more important to ask if they know of any employers or businesses in your field and/or whether they would be willing to let you use their name in approaching them. Also talk to them about what they know about the employer to help you evaluate whether this is an employer worth pursuing.

4. Read between the lines in the newspapers for more possible job leads
Newspapers and the classifieds can give you some other job leads besides those openings that are advertised. Newspapers are full of articles of 'new' things going on and problems to be solved. When reading through an article, play a game of listing all the different kinds of work that might be created from a news event or work solutions to a bad news story. This will help you identify potential opportunities and job leads that aren't advertised and therefore, have less people competing for the work.

The help wanted or employment ads can also hint of hidden job opportunities. For example, look for companies who advertise multiple openings (this can indicate that there is some expansion going on and perhaps, they can use your skills and just don't know that yet), or lots of job ads for the same occupation. Frequently, help wanted ads are organized by occupation, which can give you some clues about what's happening with different industries. You can start to see patterns in any classified ad section over time (just as an example, you might note that there always 3 pages worth of accounting ads, and hardly ever any looking for a flagperson).

Patterns in the classifieds can help you target industries or occupations that are in demand. This can be valuable in any job search, but especially during a distance job search because it will help familiarize you with the 'players' and opportunities that may exist elsewhere.

5. Prioritize/organize your list and yourself.

Figure out some way to organize your list of leads. Some people prefer to have it all on one page. Others like something like a notebook where they can devote a whole page to each business they contact. If you like working with computers, there are also easy template databases associated with office type software that comes with your computer that help you do both kinds of functions (and more). The key is to have some way of recording who you talked to, about what, when, and what is your next step.

Identify who is your first choice to start with and contact in order of priority.

6. Start contacting employers
For many of us, this is the hardest part, as it often means calling and speaking to people you don't know and 'selling' them on what you can do for them. Here are some tips that can help make it easier on you:

E-mail or write a short letter introducing yourself, why you are contacting them and your main qualifications. Explain that you would like to call them to discuss possible present or future work opportunities and mention when you will contact them (or with e-mail, you can ask when it would be convenient for them to contact you). Offer to send a resume so they can preview this before talking with you.
Or, use the above letter like a script, to place a phone call to the employer (or the employer's 'gatekeeper')
If you have a friend whose name you can use, this helps both parties feel more at ease with the first call
Do you have friends who are willing and able to approach an employer they know and mention you beforehand or arrange an introduction
Prepare what you want to say before picking up the phone and rehearse with a friend or just out loud to yourself
Have your information in front of you so that you can easily refer to it on the phone. MAKE SURE YOU HAVE SOMETHING TO WRITE WITH AND ON!
Always follow through on what you said you would do when you said you would do it. Nothing lowers your value as a potential employee faster than not doing something you promised you would. Call back at the time you arranged (even if the employer turns out not to be available), or fax that resume this afternoon if you said that is what you would do
Technical difficulties fouled you up? Call the employer and at least leave a message about what happened and when you will have the problem resolved.

7. Re-contact all employers as often as appropriate
Once the initial contact has been made, it gets easier to re-contact the person about work potential. Still, many of us don't follow-up with employers appropriately or at all and so we never hear about any job leads. The employer is never going to phone you back unless they know you, and think they can use you right now. So it is to your advantage to remind the employer you are there and available at the right times.

How to be in the right place at the right time is not pure luck, it has a lot to do with preparation colliding with an opportunity. Here are some tips to help make that happen:

Break your job search information into steps that you can feed to the employer in stages to start developing the relationship.
1. For example, start with a letter of introduction and a business/calling card.
2. Then ask when it would be good to send your resume.
3. Call employer to make sure they got it and plan a time when they could review your qualifications with you over the phone (or in person).
4. Let them know of any new development in your qualifications (like when you complete some vital training or obtain a ticket)

Contact the employer periodically to let them know you are available for work. Many people ask how often they should do this. The safest answer is to ask the employer when you should call them back. Make sure you do so when they say. Some employers may say, "oh, we'll call you". You may want to test that by re-contacting them a month later and courteously let them know you are available just to keep your options open. Depending on the circumstances, it may be a matter of that they are very busy to field calls and are worried that you'll be calling every week to ask for work, or, they may have decided that you are missing something big enough that they would consider hiring you. If you listen to their tone of voice and figure it's the latter, you might ask them if there is anything they could suggest to upgrade your qualifications

8. Keep your spirits up

It can be frustrating and disheartening to keep hearing 'no' especially when you are working so hard at things and having to put yourself 'out there' so much. Doing any kind of job search, especially from a distance can also be isolating, which can sometimes lead to losing your perspective.

It is very important to keep your spirits and your confidence going. Make sure you take time each day to do any and all of the following:

Have some fun. Do something you enjoy.

Get out with friends and family (and do the above)

Try to get some physical exercise and/or fresh air (see above)

Use positive self talk

Find little ways to reward yourself along the way for all your hard efforts

Get support from others who can encourage you and/or are going through the same thing

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Tips for plugging yourself without bugging the employer

Try to anticipate your employers' needs - try to call them when you know they are less likely to be busy doing or running their business

If you don't know their needs - Ask.

Not sure how often is too much for employers? Try asking the employer when they would prefer you contact them next
Remember, most employers will view your efforts to keep in contact with them as a sign that you are interested in their business and working for them (make sure your tone of voice also conveys that enthusiasm).
If unsure as to whether you are crossing the line into 'bugging' an employers, use an unobtrusive method of contacting them such as e-mail (e-mail offers people the option to deal with things on their own time schedule whereas a phone call is less that way).

Make it easy for employers to reach you and stay in touch.
You are responsible for and need to do all the work to make this happen. So accept that you will be doing all the work to contact the employer and making sure that they know you are alive and looking to work for them. After all, you are the one wanting a job.
So, you make the offer to call at the agreed upon times (and do it!). You offer to fax, email, or otherwise get a resume or your qualifications to them according to their preference, even if they request something off the wall like a singing telegram (and do it!). And when they forget your pre-arrangements… forgive and forget. Be prepared to follow-up when you haven't heard back and be happy about it (and do it!).

COMING SOON:

Tools for organizing your job search- under construction

Distance Job seach planner.pdf

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Going the Distance

Distance Job Search Tools

Relocation Planner

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