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Don't Call Us. We'll Call You (job followup)

Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
edited June 2009 in Help / Advice Forum
I am sure many of you who are like me and have the misfortune to be on the job market right now have gotten a message like this from a potential employer:
We are in receipt of your application. The posting is now closed.

Given the very high number of applicants, we will not be able to contact applicants personally beyond this email. We will be beginning the interview process as soon as possible. You will be contacted by [staff] if you are progressing to the interview process. Please do not contact [staff] further to find out where we are in our search process.

My question is, is there a good way to actually follow up with them, given a message like this? I generally follow up fairly aggressively with employers, if only because I like to know when I'm out of the running, but I'm unsure of what to do in this situation. Should I just wait by the phone? Just ignore it and call them back as normal? Or is there some middle ground?

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    MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I would try to find the name of the hiring manager for that position, and contact them by phone or email. Wait a week after sending your resume then reach out. Sometimes it's as easy as calling the headquarters/office and asking who the manager would be for that position is. Other times you might just have to poke around LinkedIN and make a best guess.

    The better option is to have a contact before you send your resume. Past co-worker, vendor contact, etc. so they can flag yours when it comes in.

    Nothing is a guarantee unless you're a relative of the mayor, but anything you can do to increase your chances of getting an interview will help.

    MichaelLC on
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    mullymully Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    There is no way to follow up with them. If I had written that message, and you called me, I would tear up your resume and throw it away because it shows you can not listen to simple instructions.

    They do not want to be contacted for information. What you seem to want to do here is contact them further for information about where they are in their search process. Perhaps you missed the line about how they do not want to be contacted by people who want to find out more about where they are in their search process?

    If they do not contact you, they aren't interested.

    Don't wait by the phone. If they want you, they'll leave a message, or they'll call more than once. Keep the job search going.

    mully on
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    SaddlerSaddler Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Yeah, just remember that one job can have anywhere from 50-hundreds of applicants. It's a pain in the ass for the person doing the hiring to take a bunch of calls. Don't do a followup unless you get an interview, and even then, follow any employer instructions on followups.

    Saddler on
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    MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    mully wrote: »
    They do not want to be contacted for information. What you seem to want to do here is contact them further for information about where they are in their search process. Perhaps you missed the line about how they do not want to be contacted by people who want to find out more about where they are in their search process?

    :lol: I see something about a search process, but I can't quite make it out....

    To me the difference is that I would only call if I could reach the hiring manager. I would not suggest just blindly calling HR, that will get you tossed/ignored. Besides, you're not calling to find out the status, you're calling to set up a time to speak with them on what your experience brings to their company, which my resume (did you get a copy?) highlights.

    Again the preferred method is to have a contact pre-submission, but not always possible.

    So to semi-agree with mully, yes it's risky, and shouldn't be done casually, but can be beneficial if you make a connection.

    MichaelLC on
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    japanjapan Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    There was an article in the paper today about a company that put up a general recruitment ad (they had 400 positions to fill, but the ad didn't mention that). They got 14000 applications within the first couple of days.

    Given the way the job market is right now, that's probably going to be pretty typical, though maybe not to the same extreme.

    There isn't a good way to follow it up, and they've specifically asked you not to. In all likelihood, it's being dealt with at this stage by an HR department that will have little to no contact or involvement in interviewing or final selection anyway, so it's likely to be at best pointless, and at worst counterproductive.

    japan on
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    mullymully Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    MichaelLC wrote: »
    Besides, you're not calling to find out the status, you're calling to set up a time to speak with them on what your experience brings to their company, which my resume (did you get a copy?) highlights.

    So you're saying that he isn't calling about their search process, he's calling about setting up a time to speak with them on how his experience might benefit their ... search process? Because it should end at him?

    (Not trying to be a jackass, just wondering if you see what I mean here, that ANY call he made would be directly linked to inquiring about their search process, be it "are you done yet" or "am i the best candidate" or "did you get the resume i submitted for your search process")

    mully on
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    japanjapan Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    I honestly can't envisage a good way for the conversation to go.

    "Hi, I'm calling about my application."
    "Did you receive an acknowledgement?"
    "Yes .."
    "The one that tells you not to call us?"
    "Uh .."

    japan on
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    RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Yeah, when they say don't call it's because they have hundreds of applicants and really, really, don't want to personally talk to all of them. Don't call. They already confirmed they received the application, there's really nothing else that you could hope to achieve when they have the volume of applications that they do. Save the follow-up calls for after your interviews, if you actually get one.

    RUNN1NGMAN on
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    DogDog Registered User, Administrator, Vanilla Staff admin
    edited June 2009
    Seriously, don't call them.

    We rip up those resumes.

    Unknown User on
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    MichaelLCMichaelLC In what furnace was thy brain? ChicagoRegistered User regular
    edited June 2009
    mully wrote: »
    MichaelLC wrote: »
    Besides, you're not calling to find out the status, you're calling to set up a time to speak with them on what your experience brings to their company, which my resume (did you get a copy?) highlights.

    So you're saying that he isn't calling about their search process, he's calling about setting up a time to speak with them on how his experience might benefit their ... search process? Because it should end at him?

    (Not trying to be a jackass, just wondering if you see what I mean here, that ANY call he made would be directly linked to inquiring about their search process, be it "are you done yet" or "am i the best candidate" or "did you get the resume i submitted for your search process")

    No worries. It's definitely something that's debatable, like a lot of resume advice. If you (as the applicant) don't feel comfortable making a call like that, then yeah, don't. I see the resume/interview process as selling yourself, and sometimes you just have to cold call & put yourself out there. I've had enough non-follow ups (when not calling) that I'd rather just take the chance, since all they can do is not call me either.

    So to not to turn this into a D&D topic, I'll recommend to the OP if they have doubts, don't call. Do research on the company through on-line, Hoovers (check your library for the PRO version) and trade rags.

    MichaelLC on
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    Eat it You Nasty Pig.Eat it You Nasty Pig. tell homeland security 'we are the bomb'Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    It's actually a fairly small nonprofit, and I do have (what I assume is) the contact information of the hiring manager, as she was listed as the point of contact for applications. That's part of the reason the tone of that email sort of threw me.

    I probably won't call'em. Unemployment is positively savage here right now, so lord only knows how many applications they have sitting in front of them. It's just frustrating because I am pretty excited about this particular opening, and would like to tell them how cool they think they are.

    Eat it You Nasty Pig. on
    NREqxl5.jpg
    it was the smallest on the list but
    Pluto was a planet and I'll never forget
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    HK5HK5 Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Did you include a cover letter with your resume? I think that's the place to express to them in a personal way how excited you are about them as an organization.

    HK5 on
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    RUNN1NGMANRUNN1NGMAN Registered User regular
    edited June 2009
    Dyscord wrote: »
    It's actually a fairly small nonprofit, and I do have (what I assume is) the contact information of the hiring manager, as she was listed as the point of contact for applications. That's part of the reason the tone of that email sort of threw me.

    I probably won't call'em. Unemployment is positively savage here right now, so lord only knows how many applications they have sitting in front of them. It's just frustrating because I am pretty excited about this particular opening, and would like to tell them how cool they think they are.

    Then there is probably just one person reviewing every single application. She'd throw herself out a window if even half the applicants called, and you're going to royally piss her off if you do call.

    You had a chance to tell them how excited you are and how cool you think they are. It's a called a cover letter. Calling is just going to make you that guy who can't follow the simplest of directions.

    RUNN1NGMAN on
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