Is It OK to...Reach Out Regarding My Resume?

Ok Kelly,

I’ve been sending my resume to potential employers (ones I’ve looked into and would be excited to work for) and I’m wondering, is is ok to reach out to see if they got my email? What do I say? I’m anxious to reach out as well as anxious doing nothing.

Eager Job Seeker

Ok Eager,

The short answer is yes, absolutely you can reach out to see if your email arrived in the inbox of the potential employer you’ve identified.

How do you propose to do that?

With another email to the same email address? Perhaps doubling your job-search anxiety every time you hit send…

I’ve got some concrete steps for you, and before I dish it out, let me say this: well done you on putting in the work to find employers you’d be excited to work for. Not every job seeker puts in that level of work before firing off their resume. Your intiative leads nicely into the follow-up strategy I have outlined below, based on the successful steps taken by a high-achieving young professional I connected with recently.

Follow-up strategy (after you’ve reached out, sent your inquiry, expressed your interest, identified how your skills fit the target’s needs, attached your resume):

• Step 1. 3-5 days later contact the target, by phone. If you could find an email, likely in your research on the target you found a name and number too. Use it. Ask if your “expression of interest” was received and once this is confirmed, ask how long it may take for someone to consider your request, and get back to you.
• Assuming the person you chat with does not know and promises to get back to you, move on to Step 2.
• Step 2. 1 week later, circle back via email. Acknowledge that you know the person is busy, and your email may not be their top priority, and you greatly appreciate understanding the target’s hiring process as you remain keenly interested in learning about opportunities they have.
• Assuming all you are hearing is the sound of your own fingers on your computer keyboard move on to Steps 3, 4 and 5.
• Steps 3, 4 and 5 are being bundled because (i) this is the grind and (ii) where persistence can begin to blur into annoying. I can’t tell you how to precisely craft each of these emails or when to send them, but, I strongly recommend polite determination to convey your continued interest in opportunities with the target. Perhaps there is new information or insights you’ve gleaned from your job search that could be highlighted. A mention of the target or ceo in the media, an event which impacts their industry…as I noted, this is the grind, it takes ego and imagination to persevere (and if you don’t give up, successfully tackling this stage of the job search will really set you apart).
• Step 6 (fingers crossed) a (positive) response.

I’m going to highlight this point for those who may have rushed past it at the start…the follow-up strategy above is based on the work Eager put in to identify targets for their skills, talents and ambitions. NO where does Eager say they applied willy nilly to any job opening or submitted through an online portal “just because” it may have looked ok…Eager put in the work - and potential employers notice these things.

Ok, keep up your eager persistence,

K.