The times are hard and for a graduate fresh out of Grad-school – with no experience – job seeking is quite an ordeal. The first step to go about a job search would be to shortlist the potential organisation/profile that suits your education qualification. Send your resume to the company and then begins the long painful wait. But it doesn’t necessarily have to be this way. The competitiveness is not a secret and with fresher’s passing out from college and interns and trainees searching frantically everywhere for a job, you have to, just have to, work hard to land yourself in a job! The keyword here is ‘following up’! Look at this as an opportunity to show your enthusiasm and commitment to work in the organisation! Set your application apart from the hundred others for the same position by reminding the employee that you are waiting for a positive feedback and that you are still hopeful! If you are afraid that you might end up sounding desperate and annoyed then let’s tell you a secret. If you do it the right way then a follow up letter gives you the chance to sell your qualifications effectively and you also get the title of being an interested candidate. Read the following section to know how to write a job application follow up.
How To Follow Up Your Job Application
- No matter how busy you are with your job-search, always keep aside some time to follow up on previously attended interviews. Also, send a mail occasionally to the places where you have forwarded your resume and ask if there is any latest development or has the vacancy been filled already.
- Give a period of 10 days between sending the application and the follow up email.
- It is best if you maintain a log book. Note down the number of places you are applying for and the number of places you got a response from. Go about job searching in an organised and systematic manner. This is, in all probability, the defining phase of your career so, don’t let disorganization and inefficiency get in your way.
- The question is whether to send an electronic mail or via the snail mail. Well, you sure will be different from the other applicants if you send a hard copy but then this rule does not apply universally. If you are applying to many places then sending the letter via the postal department can be time consuming so send a hardcopy to the companies you are most hopeful about.
- Keeping it short and brief applies universally to all professional communications. Make sure that the follow up mail is not the same as your job application mail. A polite mail reinforcing your interest in the company can make all the difference. Check for spelling errors and grammatical mistakes and focus on making the letter crisp and concise.
- Share some latest news on the lines of a recent training that you have completed or an award you received or a recent recognition you earned at work. Such information adds selling points to your image as a candidate and makes you more hireable than others with the same background. When it comes to sharing these latest updates the same rule applies – be crisp and to the point.
- The bottom line is that HR managers are one of the busiest people in any organisation. So don’t go overboard with your follow up letters. The last thing that you want is to annoy them with your constant pestering. For instance, if you are sending a job application then your first follow up email after two weeks could be enquiring whether your earlier mail was received. And a month after the first letter you could send a third email to ask about the vacancy status of the position that you are interested in. That’s it!
When you do not receive any reply even after three mails in a period of one month then the best thing to do is move on. That is the advantage of a follow up mail. You understand where to place your hopes and where not to waste time.
