Impressive Follow-up

What do you think is the purpose of follow-up? How do you follow-up?
Most people know to follow-up after each interview. Many, however, follow-up ineffectively. Too many people sit at home waiting for the phone to ring or the email to come. Others irritate the interviewer by asking “Have you made a decision yet?”. They fail to realize the power of impressive follow-up.
Continuing to convince the interviewer remains the purpose of follow-up. AS I mentioned in previous blogs, you must convince them you can:

1. Do the job they want done
2. Fit into their team or organization
3. Provide a good return on their investment

Immediately After the Interview
Evaluate the interview before anything can distract you (car radio, phone calls, texting). Write down the following information:

• Correct spelling of the names and email of everyone involved in the interview
• Topics covered by the interview or meeting
• The answers to four questions
• What went well in the interview?
• What did you say that you wish you had not said?
• What did you not say that you wish you had said?
• What requirement did they have that you did not meet?

Four Steps to Impressive Follow-up
My suggestion for impressive follow-up involves four steps:

1. Send a thank you card or email to each person in the interview the same day as the interview. In fact, I suggest you take 4-5 thank you cards to the interview. Complete them before you leave and leave them with the receptionist. Your thank you card should restate what went well in the interview.
2. Make a phone call 3-4 business days after the interview. The phone call should last less than 3 minutes. It should fix what you said that you wish you had not said. End the phone call with a simple “I really want to work with you. Is now a good time to set up a second interview?” Do not press it more than that. Just ask and let it go—unless they accept your offer for the interview.
3. Make a second call 3-4 days after the first phone call. Once again, do not take more than 3 minutes. This time, you say what you wish you had said. In other words, give the great answer that came to you after the interview ended. End your conversation with the same “I really want to work for you. Is now a good time to set up a second interview?”
4. Make a third call another 3-4 days after the second call. This call should highlight how you compensate for the requirement you did not meet. For example, if you lacked experience with a certain software program, spend 4-6 hours with someone teaching you how to run the software. In the phone call explain the training you received, and detail how it prepared you to do the job. You obviously did not learn everything you needed to know, but your initiative will demonstrate your willingness and ability to solve problems.

Remember, your follow-up continues to impress the interviewer that you will do the job, fit into their team, and provide a great return on investment. You avoid irritating the interviewer by asking if they have made a decision. Nor do you sit by the phone waiting for them to call you. You follow these four steps to impressive follow-up.
Read the blog on Wednesday when I share how to prepare a 10-minute reusable resume
Please share what follow-up techniques work for you

You Really Can Call 10 a Day

Please share your experiences about finding a job or your reaction to this post

One of the vital behaviors to land the job you love: call 10 people a day.

Most people roll their eyes, shudder, and dismiss the idea immediately when they hear or read this. They don’t even hear the rest because they already reject the idea. They continue to believe the outdated idea that good jobs get advertised, and that they cannot call the company because the website said not to. I agree do not call human resources unless you want a job in human resources.

Chad’s Story

Chad spent 15 months looking for a financial analyst job. He had sent 1,798 resumes in the 15 months. Less than 100 responded. Auto responders accounted for most of the 100. No one offered to interview him. No one offered him a job. He became despondent, but did not give up. He still sat in front of his computer 8-10 hours a day sending out resumes.

A neighbor recommended he come to us for service. We introduced him to “the 10’s”. He blanched when we explained making 10 phone calls a day and scheduling 10 face-to-face meetings a week. He thought we meant 10 job openings a day and 10 job interviews a week. We did not.

He relaxed once he realized the 10 phone calls included thank you calls, friends, people working in companies that were not advertising. He especially appreciated when we taught him how to find 10 people a day. He calmed even more when he realized the 10 meetings included due diligence meetings.

He started making his phone calls the next week, and had 3 job offers within 5 weeks.

Call 10 People a Day and Get a Job Faster

You will get a job faster by calling 10 people a day. Our group tested this hypothesis with people, like Chad, who sought jobs paying $40-250,000 annually. In every situation, once they understood and began making the calls (and setting the meetings) they found work within 5-8 weeks. We next tested it with people in lower income brackets (minimum wage –$13.00 per hour). 80% found work within 6 weeks (40% found jobs in 2 weeks). People in the last group faced serious obstacles to finding work: felony arrests, disabilities, and behavioral challenges.

You must make a couple of changes in your paradigm to see the value of 10 phone calls a day. We discussed these paradigms in previous posts: How People Really Get Hired, Where to Find the Best Jobs, and Do Your Due Diligence. Review those posts to remember the reasons for the 10 calls.

Purpose of Your 10 Calls a Day

Your 10 phone calls serve three main purposes:

1. Do your due diligence by discovering and verifying with friends, potential co-workers and support staff whether your past experience (use home run statements) would benefit the organization or team
• What tasks, responsibilities, or projects the decision makers want done; or what problems or challenges the organization needs resolved
• Nature of the organizational culture, environment, and work teams—and how well you would fit into that organization or team
• Management’s expectations for their return on investment and how your past ROI meets their expectations
2. Set appointments to prove to decision makers how you can help them achieve their goals or resolve their problems.
• Refer to the people you talked to in the calls outlined in point 1.
• Verify that the essence of the information they gave you was accurate
• Present your home run statements that apply to the hiring authority’s goals or challenges
• Ask if your experience is what they want on their team (not you, yet)
• Set a time and place to meet to discuss how you can help them achieve their goals or resolve their problems
3. Follow-up on previous meetings with decision makers, sources of information for your due diligence, or sources of additional people you talked to or with whom you met (I’ll discuss follow-up in a later post.

Some Final Tips to Enhance Your 10 Calls a Day

• You can identify all 50 of the people to call in 2 hours on a Monday morning or Friday afternoon (which are lousy times to call or meet people anyway) from the sources we discussed in Where to Find the Best Jobs
• Keep phone calls to 3-8 minutes maximum. Any longer and they may worry that you might monopolize their time if they hire you. Instead prove you can conduct business briefly and appropriately
• 4-5 brief phone calls over a couple of weeks, with perhaps a face-to-face meeting with a key source, builds better relationships than one long phone call
• Do not ask if they are hiring at that moment or if they can help you get a job
• Do not tell them you are unemployed
• Focus on how you can help them achieve what they want
• Practice your phone calls with your job coach, friends, and close network contacts before calling the company you really, really want to work for (make your mistakes where they don’t count)
• Always say “You have been very helpful. May call you back if I have more questions?” and “Is there anyone else you suggest I talk to?”

Calling 10 people a day really can shorten your job search. While it seems intimidating, talking to people reduces the despair or isolation that follows spending 8 hours at a computer.

Join us next week when we discuss scheduling 10 face-to-face meetings/interviews a week

What do you think? Please share your experiences or reaction to this post