Should I Follow-Up With The Company After I Send Then My Resume?

iStockphoto.com | Denis_Vermenko

It’s a story that is all too common. After weeks of searching online for job openings, you believe you’ve finally stumbled on the perfect position and enthusiastically grind through the laborious job application process. You’ve submitted your resume! Then you sit back and wait for your Destiny with a big “D” to call. And wait.

And wait.

And wait.

Did you do something wrong? Did you click all the right buttons? You haven’t heard back from anyone, you have no idea if an actual person has seen your resume, and you feel as if your entire candidacy has disappeared into an electronic black hole. Is it okay to call the company and check on your status?

It’s natural to panic when you think you’re not getting a fair shot, and a little bit of follow-up is appropriate. But before you start wearing out your phone, please note that the most important phrase is, “a little bit”. You want to follow up and the good news is that you can, but it’s a delicate play that can work against you if you take it too far.

Remember that everyone who makes up the hiring chain are busy – hiring authorities, recruiters, and HR representatives are juggling many things at once and have limited time. So, what is appropriate? What can you do while maintaining sensitivity to work realities and keep in the good graces of all involved?

• Be judicious with your contacts. That means a single follow up with one person is appropriate. You do not contact multiple people and you should probably not contact anyone more than once, unless you’re actively engaged in a conversation about your candidacy. Fair or not, to follow up a second time may accomplish the opposite of your goal – getting a new job – as enthusiasm for your candidacy, and as a possible co-worker, will wane with each extra call or email.

• Be judicious who you contact. If you interviewed for a job that involved multiple people (e.g. hiring managers and recruiters), give some thought to who is the best person with whom to follow up. Will you get more mileage out of the recruiter, who most likely is working on many job openings at once, or with the hiring authority, who is a manager with an even more hectic schedule? Ideally, you want to reach the person with the most influence over the decision to hire you. 

• Be concise. Be strategic in your email or voicemail. Here’s how the formula “Be concise” breaks down into three sentences – Sentence # 1: Who you are and the position for which you applied. Sentence #2: Reason you are following up. So, for example, “I understand you have a busy schedule so I appreciate any status update you may be able to provide me.” Sentence #3: Use your big finish as an opportunity to reiterate your qualifications for the role and the added value you will bring to the company. Then say thank you. Always be polite. That goes a long way.

• Know when to walk away. There are a lot of companies out there that do not place a priority on contacting candidates during the job hiring process, or they’re just plain bad at it. After you play your follow-up card, if you don’t hear back  within a reasonable time frame, cut your losses and move on. Don’t look back. You will quickly reach a point of diminishing returns. Time spent chasing updates would be better spent focusing on other job opportunities.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

How Many Pages Should My Resume Be?

iStockphoto.com | Jirapong Manustrong

Many common questions about resumes revolve around “the rules.” Specifically, job seekers asking what “the rule” is for this or that, when the truth of the matter is that when you receive judgement, feedback, or criticism about your resume it’s more opinion than fact. You’re dealing with guidelines not rules. One point of contention that always ignites a fierce debate is how many pages a resume should be.

Instead of focusing on any such hard “rules” about resume length, instead think through a series of questions that will allow you to make an informed decision based on what norms are most likely to advance your resume in the application process, if followed.

Question #1 – How much experience do you have?

If you are a recent graduate, you should stick to one page. Your “professional story” should be easy to tell.  After two or more years of professional experience, it’s probably appropriate to have a multi-page resume. With notable exceptions (keep reading), multi-page means two pages.

Question #2 – Are you a college student or MBA student?

If you answer “yes” to this question, you may (should) work through your school’s career center. Career centers typically have uniform standards, regardless of graduate level, and they typically want a one-page resume that is traditional and effective when submitting you to employers. This business format has a name – The Wharton Format – named for the famed business school, so even if you’re an MBA student who has several years of real-world professional experience between degrees, plan on one page.

Question #3 – Are you a techie?

Are you in IT? Engineering? A technology-related field?

Due the complex and numerous skills technology professionals must possess and the nature of project-to-project tech work-flows, it is often expected that your resume will be two pages and it’s perfectly acceptable to include a third page that highlights knowledge, skills, and education that are unique to your technological specialty. However, brevity still wins the day, so if you can effectively keep it to two pages, do.

Question #4 – Are you a “C” Level Executive?

If you are the Chief of Something (CEO, CTO, CIO, etc.) you have license to go longer, two to three pages. that tells the story of your rise to the top – media appearances, publications, awards, etc. You’re going to be the leader who guides your next venture to previously unthinkable levels of success and fortune, so your resume should read like it. That may take an extra page.

Question #5 – Does the potential employer/partner/investor request a certain length?

This supercedes all previous answers. This is as close a guideline gets to being a rule. If a certain length is requested, adhere to it. There are reasons parameters have been created and 1) you risk automatic disqualification for not following them, and 2) you should consider it may be a test to see if you can follow simple instructions.

Question #6 - Are you an academic?

Let’s define our terms. “Academic” means professor or researcher in a college setting, tenured or not. If you fall into that category, you already know that 1-3 pages is just the introduction to the beginning of the start of what is known as a your curriculum vitae, or CV. Rather than a standard resume, academics use this extended format which details what you’ve done and all your amazing accomplishments are valued like anywhere else. But this is far from brief, it’s a catalog. Employers also want to know what you know, and this includes details of research, classes taught, papers submitted or published, forums at which you’ve presented, et cetera, et cetera, et cetera. It’s not unheard of for a CV to hit fifty (!) pages.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.

Should I Drop Out of the Workforce and Go Back to School During the Pandemic?

iStockphoto.com | kzenon

In our recent past, deciding whether or not to go back to school was a big, life-altering, decision (“Do I Need to Go Back to College to Change Careers?” / “5 Pieces of Good News for Online Students”). Because of the COVID-19 pandemic, this already difficult decision is even more complex.

It’s no secret that COVID has fundamentally altered every aspect of life, transforming business, labor, and education. There is no reliable way to predict how deep the changes will be and how long they will last.

Thus, it may be tempting to ditch this horrific job market (with a national US unemployment rate of 8.6%, and much higher in places), and go back to school full time to earn another degree. Is that a good idea right now? There’s no easy answer.

Pandemic or not, the first and primary step, is an objective assessment of your personal circumstances and an informed projection of the Return on Investment (ROI) you can realistically expect under the best circumstances. According to U.S. News, “tuition and fees for the 2020–2021 school year was $41,411 at private colleges, $11,171 for state residents at public colleges and $26,809 for out-of-state students at state schools.” When you consider that colleges have been consistent in raising tuition on a regular basis, the above numbers are starting points. 

Ask yourself:

• How much will it cost to earn the degree I want?

• How long will it take?

• What is the average market salary for professionals with the degree I wish to obtain?

• If I do not have the resources, how does a student loan alter my calculations?

• How long will it take to pay back, and what kind of salary will I need to pay it back?

Really run the numbers, then add 10% for good measure. And keep in mind, an MBA, law degree, or other advanced diploma doesn’t come cheap, and can be more expensive per credit than other programs. But with COVID-19, we’re in uncharted territory and even the questions above might not provide a complete picture.

Let’s look at the arguments for returning to school:

• The labor market is crowded and uncertain. By returning to school you are taking yourself out of a hyper competitive and uncertain labor market. In traditional downturns, economists are able to make reasonable projections about the course a recession will take and steps that can be taken to alleviate the crisis. In our current situation, there is no reliable historical data to make predictions with any kind of certainty.

• When you return to the workforce, it may be less competitive in an improved overall economy. Consider the normal time frames required to earn  bachelor and advanced degrees – four years for most bachelor degrees, four years (+ residency) for an M.D., four years to become an RN, three years for a law degree, three years for many Master’s degrees, and two years for an MBA. There are intensive one-year diploma programs and Associate degrees of various types that may take less time, but you get the idea – the economy may or may not be better by the time you earn a degree, but you know for a fact that right now it’s terrible. This might be a good time to take a break.

• When you return to the workforce, certain degrees should put you in a better position. Depending upon your starting point, if you’ve earned an MBA, or a J.D., or a specialized Master’s Degree from a highly ranked program, it could potentially make you a stronger candidate for more types of positions at higher salaries than you historically earned.

• If you are in an industry that’s becoming obsolete there may be no better time to return to school than right now. For example, brick and mortal retail was a rapidly shrinking sector before COVID-19, and now its troubles have accelerated. However, virtual retail is booming. A shiny new degree in Digital Marketing or E-Commerce may an intelligent path forward.

Let’s look at some of the unique challenges of returning to school:

• Schools are operating on the fly, already demonstrating a start/stop pattern and operational uncertainty when outbreaks hit. This could be the standard for a while; if you return to school now, you should expect an uncertain first year, at minimum.

• Many schools and programs are going all virtual. You must determine for yourself how you believe virtual learning affects the quality and value of the education you receive; however, collective in-person learning can have a great amount of value through interactions with peers and professors. In addition, virtual learning requires a different level of personal discipline than showing up to class. Do you have the discipline?

• One of the great assets of earning a degree are the connections you make while you do it. Some of the people you meet in school will become the foundation of your new professional network. Are the connections as strong and actionable in a virtual environment? Just as interaction with one’s peers is important from a scholarly perspective, establishing long-lasting professional connections requires it. In the current environment, new students may find these connections lacking.

• COVID-19 has curtailed campus recruiting. Many colleges maintain regular relationships with corporate recruiters, serving an important nexus for graduates launching new careers. Much of these relationships is based on personal visits and interaction with both students and staff that have now been disrupted by the pandemic. While both schools and employers are working hard to maintain these relationships, it’s stressful for everyone.

• Internship programs can be a bedrock component of a particular degree. For example, MBA candidates often use their summers for internships, and law students perform clerkships or summer associate roles. These not only provide the student with experience; they also make them more valuable upon graduation. Many of these programs have been scaled back, eliminated, or made all-virtual.

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Philip Roufail contributed to this article.

Scott Singer is the President and Founder of Insider Career Strategies Resume Writing & Career Coaching, a firm dedicated to guiding job seekers and companies through the job search and hiring process. Insider Career Strategies provides resume writing, LinkedIn profile development, career coaching services, and outplacement services. You can email Scott Singer at scott.singer@insidercs.com, or via the website, www.insidercs.com.