One of the more difficult situations in conducting a job search is attempting to move the process forward with a less-than-enthusiastic employer. You can get caught in the waiting game, hoping for the phone to ring. Your job search is your number one priority, but it may be far down the list for the employer. And most job seekers simply give up. Do not include yourself among the quitters. Many jobs have been found through simple diligence and consistent follow-up.
Call me and I will respond. Don’t wait for me to call. I am too busy responding to the others who called.
If you have an employer who is unwilling or unable to move forward, continue to make regular contact with them. You may find yourself on a weekly schedule of calling only to hear a “nothing has changed” response. If their interest in you has not changed, but has simply stalled, continue your efforts to move the process forward. It may be at the lowest point that the wheel begins to turn.
We recently interviewed a college student who did not meet our initial profile. In fact, we sent her an immediate rejection letter based on her resume. She had only an Associate degree, and we usually hire only Bachelor or Master degree graduates. To make it even more difficult, her degree was ten years old. However, she kept in touch with us and asked what she could do to prepare herself for work in our field. I suggested further training to update her previous schooling. After she completed this training, she called me back, asking to take our computer-based test to measure her increased knowledge. She did well, but we still had no immediate openings for someone with her limited skills. Bottom line, she kept in touch with us until an opportunity became available. Instead of starting a search for available candidates from scratch, we went forward with the simple solution: we hired the squeaky wheel. And now she is on her way in the job of her dreams. But only because of her tenacity. Her rejection letter proves that “No” does not always mean no. Sometimes it simply means “Not yet.”
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