The value of a thank-you note can be seen most clearly after a formal interview. Suppose Barbara is making a career change from telephone operator to sales representative. One of fifteen candidates interviewed, she was told that only three would be invited back for second interviews. Ten people had sales experience, but despite Barbara's total lack of sales experience, she was ranked fourth. She enjoyed the interview and, out of habit, wrote a nice, quick, four-line thank-you note. When the note arrived, the sales manager was getting ready to call the three top candidates. In the ten seconds it took to read the note, he began recalling the interview with Barbara. A moment later he was calling Barbara, having decided it wouldn't hurt to interview a fourth person.
A thank-you note is a perfect device. It makes you stand apart from the vast majority of job seekers who never bother with them. It says that your expression of interest in the organization was genuine. Any indication of enthusiasm and interest will be interpreted as evidence that you will work harder and stay with the organization longer than others. The reason for taking five minutes to write a thank-you note is simple-it is a common courtesy and it can increase the number of second interviews by 20%. Employers feel good when they know they've been appreciated, and their feeling good about you can help dramatically.
The first note was in response to an informational interview, the second an appointment in which no opening existed, and the third, a formal job interview. Any of these letters could have been longer, but that is usually unnecessary. Write a longer note only if you have a definite purpose in doing so. For instance, you may want to write a proposal describing a problem you discovered during the interview, along with your proposed solution. Or, if you did not have an opportunity to make an important point during an interview, a letter provides you with an excellent opportunity to cover it, even if it extends the letter's length to more than a page. If an objection was raised during the interview, and you missed it, didn't handle it adequately, or simply want to attack it from another angle, you can do so in a letter. Unlike shorter thank-you notes which may be handwritten, proposals or lengthy letters should be typed.
Everyone you interview with should get a thank-you note, so whenever you have multiple interviews or a panel interview, ask for people's business cards or write their names down when you meet them. For multiple interviews where you will meet three or more people in separate interviews, ask the person who is coordinating the interviews to supply you with the names and titles of the people you'll be meeting.
Most of your appointments will be with employers who do not have current openings. Your process of following up with them can last weeks or even months. Three weeks after your first appointment, call to ask if there have been any developments. Don't worry about bothering the person; you'll only talk for a minute. When you get the person on the phone, introduce yourself, indicate when you met, and briefly describe what you talked about. Do not assume the employer will remember you. He or she may have met 40 people in the last three weeks and will probably need a reminder.
Odds are there is still no opening. In closing, emphasize your interest in the company, and perhaps bring the person up to date on your efforts, particularly if you have contacted any of the people you were referred to. If you had not received referrals before, this would be a good time to ask for the names of organizations that this person thinks you should contact. If you think the person may have a position fairly soon, however, the best suggestion would be that you avoid asking for referrals. By not asking for referrals in this type of situation, you will be indicating that the organization is one of your top choices.
When making your follow-up calls, you will frequently talk to a secretary if the person with power to hire is out or unavailable. You will generally be asked to leave a message and your number so the call can be returned. Instead, ask when a good time to call would be. After three or four unsuccessful calls, you might explain that you saw the person three weeks earlier and that you just need to talk to him or her for a minute to ask a couple questions. If the secretary has been brushing you off, it may help. Always stay on good terms with the secretary. On the second or third call, ask the secretary's name. You may talk to the secretary six or seven times, so you'll want to maintain your composure and sense of humor. Try to get to know this person. Make him or her want to help you,
After your first follow-up call, call every four to five weeks. Try to create and maintain enough interest so that if any openings occur, you'll be notified. Even if they don't call you, you're never more than five weeks away from discovering the opening through one of your calls. In the hidden job market, jobs frequently stay open for six to ten weeks.
If the person asks you to speak to the secretary in the future, that's okay as long as the secretary will know of openings as they occur. One advantage to you is that the secretary will be readily available. Seek to get to know this person and exchange pleasantries each time you call.
Another method of follow-up is to send a note accompanying an article the person may find interesting. This would usually occur after you have made two follow-up calls.
You should also follow up with your contacts. Every six weeks you'll need to call them to let them know about your experiences and your progress. If they referred you to someone, tell them what happened. Make them an integral part of your search and make them feel valued. This kind of follow-up will counter a psychological fact-with every passing week their ears become duller. In the beginning, you'll be notified if they hear of a job that remotely resembles the one you want. But by seven weeks, your contacts may assume you've found another job. By nine weeks they may hear about your perfect job but fail to even think of you.
Try A Large Mailing
A marketing letter, or a resume with a cover letter, have impact in and of them only if they arrive two weeks before or after a job has officially opened up. If your material arrives sooner, it usually ends up in a file cabinet somewhere. If it arrives later, it receives no consideration because the candidates for interviews have probably already been selected.
So, with all of this in mind, give consideration to a large mailing. This strategy still requires that you develop your list of 75-200 employers, and that you determine who the person is with the power to hire you.
Either a marketing letter or a resume with a cover letter can be quite effective. Be sure to invite the employer to call you if an opening exists.
Once you have the names of the hiring authorities, decide how the letters will be produced. If you have your own computer and "mail merge" software with your word processing software, you may want to key in the names and addresses yourself. Mail merge software enables you to merely type in the names and addresses of your prospects all at one time, then the software joins, or merges those names and addresses with your letter. It can save hours of typing.
If you don't have your own computer with mail merge software, you should take your letter and your names and addresses to a secretarial service. It will cost you under two dollars per letter for them to type the letter and the accompanying envelope. All you will need to do is sign each letter and mail your material.
Once your materials go out, you would begin concentrating on sending marketing letters to your top-twenty group of employers. You would continue sending out about 20 each week. If you get some invitations for interviews based on your resume or marketing letter, great. If not, you'll soon be getting appointments as a result of following up on your marketing letters.
Call Your Prospects
Calling your prospects is another strategy that has the advantage of speed. This strategy works most effectively when the companies you're interested in are large and have personnel departments. Once you have your list of prospects, call their personnel departments and simply ask if they are currently looking for people with your back ground. If the personnel manager is unavailable, a personnel clerk will usually know what positions are open. When speaking to someone in personnel, briefly describe your background, and suggest one or more job titles that might be suitable for you. Using this strategy you will learn only of those openings that have been made known to personnel. With whatever information you have garnered, thank the person and move on to the next one.
This strategy has several advantages over just sending a resume. Two negative things can happen when you mail a resume-a rejection or no response at all. In either case, you still don't know what the real situation is. A quick call, on the other hand, can give you a great deal of information. Whether you get a clerk or the personnel manager, ask questions. If you learn that there are no suitable openings, you could confirm that the company does in fact have the types of positions you're interested in. You can also discover whether the organization is growing, and if so, whether there are any plans to expand in your specialty.
At a rate of eight calls per hour, you can get through your entire prospect list in three to five days. With this strategy, do not expect lots of interviews. Think of it instead as a way to gain some additional information about the firm. It is another way to ensure that you are not missing out on any opportunities as you begin the longer process of meeting hiring authorities.
