F. U. Interviews

Bev Rautenberg

I have a client that always reminds me that I was the first to tell her to F. U. I’m always a tad nonplussed when she says this until I remember that F. U. is not an expletive.

Following Up (F. U.) after interviews is one of the more neglected aspects of a job search. Some research have cited 60% of job seekers fail to follow up after the interview. Client’s have told me...  “They said they would be making a decision is two weeks I’ll check in then.” Other’s say, “I don’t want to look too desperate.” And still others say, “The ball’s in their court, if they want me they’ll call me.” Sitting by the phone waiting for the phone to ring is a sad and lonely task. “But the interview went very well; I thought I hit a home run. Why haven’t they called? Maybe I should call them, but it’s been too long for me to follow up now!”

Following up is sometimes scary for the job seeker. “What if they tell me that I didn’t get the job?” or “I don’t know what to say.” So what if they tell you that they decided to go a different direction! Is that really bad? Sure, it doesn’t feel good to be told you didn’t get the job, however, two things are available for the job seeker if they give you this message.

First, express your disappointment, and wish them success with their choice. Then ask if they know of anything else that could utilize someone with your skills and abilities. “Gee, I’m sorry to hear that I didn’t get the job; I wish you success with the person you selected. You and I spent enough time together that I’m wondering if you would know of any other opportunities that could utilize someone with my experience and talents?”

Second, the job seeker can continue to create networking opportunities and follow up with other job leads. Just because you have an interview doesn’t mean that you will land the job. Having several so called irons in the fire allows you to relax a little. If you get a no, you have something else to follow up on. It’s just one more no which brings you closer to the yes. The sales adage goes, you have to get through the nos to get to the yeses. “So I’ve got another no, yea!!! I’m that much closer to the job offer.” Maybe that sounds a little Pollyannaish, but that really is the right attitude to have in times like today.

Success comes out of persistence and constancy. Doing what you need to do and staying the course when you meet defeat or disappointment is the path to success. Thomas Edison once said, “Many of life's failures are men who did not realize how close they were to success when they gave up.” So even though you’ve not heard back from the interviewer or the HR rep; don’t quit and give up. Call them back with a positive expectation that you’re the right candidate... it may be that they are too busy because they don’t have you on their team.

The coach says, keep  following up (F. U.) until you get a definite yes or no.

Check Your Email !

One of my co-workers pointed out the large percentage of our clients who don’t check their email regularly. We’ll send out important notices and we’ll check and only about 30% of the addressees will have opened (and hopefully read) the email. The question that jumps to mind is what other emails are getting past our job seekers?

Email is the principle ways that companies and recruiters will contact the job seeker. There is a problem if the job seeker isn’t reading their email. This might happen for two reasons. The Job Seeker is not reading their email on a regular basis three, four or five times a day so that nothing gets past them. Second, the Job Seeker’s email box is too cluttered and the reader is overwhelmed. If you are in the hunt for a new job and you aren’t checking your mail in a systematic and regular manner, start now!

If you are a job hunter but overwhelmed by the shear volume of email in your mailbox then there are a few things to consider. Realize that if you have an account on CareerBuilder and another on Monster and maybe one or two more Job Boards, you’ll be inundated with all kinds of email; most of which are not going to lead to an interview. With all the dozens and dozens of email overwhelming your attention you may be missing really important communications.

How can you cut down on all the email? First, cut down to one job board either CareerBuilder or Monster; in fact, recruiters search all the job boards for new candidates.  Updating your profile or resume keeps recruiters seeing you at the top of their searches.

Consider setting up an email just for job search, or set up one just for the job boards. I encourage my clients to set up an email address just for their job search. Especially if their email is a family email or a non professional ring to it. (e.g., hotmomma@hotmail.com or kate&billsdad@yahoo.com)

Voice mail is the other means of communicating between job seekers and potential employers. Greetings need to be professional too. (e.g., The kids saying, “Hi... you called the Smith family, we’re out doing family stuff and aren’t home to talk to you... at the tone, you know what to do.”) While it’s cute it’s hardly professional. Consider setting up a Google Voice account for your job search and this way you’ll sound professional and most likely not lose any messages due to family interaction.

If you are in the hunt for a new job, consider your email and how you use it. It’s a tool and a tool that requires a higher level of attention than some others. Also the phone and voice mail is a tool that requires a professional approach. Remember that first impressions are lasting impressions, don’t allow your email procedure or your voice mail greeting to set the wrong tone.

Be on fire about your career

The news this week  had a story of not one, but two couch fires in the Chicagoland area. Holy smokes, how much time does someone have to sit on the couch to get it to combust? I actually don’t know the cause of the fires in the stories, but I hope these fires did not cause any additional financial burden for anyone suffering from job loss.

Activity in the job search means that you are out and about, talking and networking with people. Actually the job seeker needs to be on fire about finding a job. Meaning, you need to have a passion about your career, the opportunities and the abilities you bring to the job market.

After a job seeker has many weeks of looking for work under her belt, she starts to lose the expectation that she’ll find a job soon. Doubt starts to insert itself into the job seeker’s consciousness. Doubt can lead to negative thoughts and negative self-talk which start to feed on themselves and the job seeker can soon lose hope of ever finding gainful employment.

Back in 2009 I told the story of being as enthusiastic as a puppy dog when the doorbell rings. <Link> Keeping a positive attitude isn’t easy especially in a job search that seems to go on and on. But, I believe that one of the things that allows doubts to grow into depression is inactivity. Being a couch potato is one of the best ways to kill a job search. Focused activity leads to proficiency of your job search skills,  which leads to more network meetings, which leads to interviews, which leads to job offers.

Note the terminology focused activity: what do I mean by “focused activity?” Not all activity is productive and sometimes can be distracting the job seeker from meeting job search goals.  So, activity for activity’s sake can be counter productive and even destructive. When your activity is focused, it clearly enables you to achieve a short-term or long-term goal... getting you that much closer to landing the job.  

Be on fire about your job search, passionate about your next job and the future you’ll have. Don’t, however, let you the couch suck you into killing your job search and burn up your dreams.

Why is Asking for Help So Hard?

In my December 2009 blog, “The 80/20 Rule” I brought up the subject of networking and asking for help or advice from those we network with. I pointed to the fact that men are so unlikely to ask for help it has become a punchline of jokes. Some people say that the GPS became such a successful product for this reason and others point out that using a female voice for the GPS is just plain irony.

But it’s not just men; many women don’t like to ask for help anymore then most men. Back in March 2010 my blog “Asking for Help and Advice in Your Job Search” I wrote, “This is what I say to my clients who tell me that they are uncomfortable asking for help: "Get over it if you want a job. It's a numbers game and you'll need to ask a lot of people for their help and advice in order to meet the person that knows about your job."

Recently, I’ve meet a number of people that voice this same issue about asking for help. So I asked myself and others why is this so hard? Let’s first point out that this isn’t only a problem for people in job search; it really is an issue for most of us at every stage of our careers. In fact, even as students it’s hard for us to ask for assistance or help. Still, why?

Fear of rejection
Most commonly this seems a reason not to ask for someone’s help. Is this irrational? Normally I would have to admit that if you ask people for help or advice they give it freely, willingly, with joy. Yet, folks will say to me, “What if they say no?” Of course the response to that is, “What if they say yes!” if you don’t ask you’ll never learn what not being rejected feels like.

Feeling vulnerable
Now, it is true that if we are asking for help, we are admitting that we need help. We are not strong enough, smart enough, connected enough to do it ourself. If I have to ask for help, I tell myself, “I suck” or something equally demeaning. However the fact is that I have never met the 100% perfect, totally fulfilled, absolutely self-reliant human being. In fact, many of the people that we look up to in sports, business or the media have been found cheating, using drugs or covering up because they couldn’t admit that they weren’t perfect. We all feel vulnerable, so what!

Owing someone
Along with feeling vulnerable, people will say, “I don’t want to be beholden to someone else.” This really falls into the “I don’t want to feel vulnerable” camp. What if Great Britain said back in 1939 and 1940, we don’t want to be beholden to America so we’ll pass on Lend Lease. What if Google didn’t want to be beholden to a bunch of stock holders or if any company didn’t have public offerings of stock. Would a person whose house is on fire stop to consider whether or not owing the firefighters was worth making the call to 911? Pretty silly!

It’s Change
I’m not used to asking people for help. Once upon a time, you and I weren’t used to walking, talking, driving or going to work; that didn’t stop us then. That’s what being human is all about. It’s about change and growth, and becoming better. Getting help, assistance, direction made it possible for us to walk, drive and succeed at work. Asking for help now will drastically shorten your job search.

So asking for help is very human, very normal and appropriate. Asking for advise doesn’t make you appear weak or stupid. Asking for direction in your job search or any career choice is a great way to glean insights and wisdom and make a connection to another human being. So start asking for help and advice in your job search.

Job Search Goal Setting & Project Management

I’ve been working on a goal-setting presentation geared to job seekers for the last couple of weeks. Midway through my preparations, I realized that if someone were to approach a job search as a project in need of management, rather than just applying for as many jobs as possible in an ad hoc manner, they would be far more successful. In other words, the job seeker needs to approach their job search as a Project Manager would approach a critical project.

I stopped and thought “Wow, a stalled job search has all the issues and problems of a project that is behind schedule and in danger of failure.” The elements of any project are:

• Mission statement, with goals and objectives
• Clearly defined requirements
• Selecting people for the project team
• A breakdown of work
• Schedule with milestones and realistic deadline
• Listed risks and opportunities
• A written plan with mitigations for risks
• Accountability or status meetings
• Cost control and resource management

No wonder so many job seekers drown in all the work to be done. It’s daunting, especially if you see yourself alone, with no one to share the burden of job hunting. But you’re not alone, there are people, resources, groups and organizations there to support you in your job search.

Some people hire a coach to help them better manage their job search. Others have outplacement resources and others utilize job clubs, accountability groups and support ministries to reach their goal.

So the quick lessons are: a good Project Manager would not take over a critical project with a helter skelter attitude and expect to be successful. And no Project Manager would attempt to accomplish a project all by themselves. You should have a plan and shouldn’t think that you have to find your next job all by yourself either.