Another Broken Promise. Were They Lying?
The nerve of them. You ask a simple favor. Send your resume to one of their contacts. Forward to you the name and number or at least the email address of their friend, or colleague, or somebody they thought could use your skills or talent. It was even their idea and they promised they would follow through! The meeting you had with them was so collegial, they even paid for the latte and muffin after you trekked halfway across town through rush hour to meet at the Starbucks (the one on the north side of the street, not the one on the south side of the street) and you were almost late. But you made it.
Of course you sent the email to them thanking them for their time and their advice and now you are waiting for some action. You just want to get in the door, to get a fair shake in this painful job search and they said they would help but it has been almost two weeks since you met. It makes you irritated, frustrated, sad and then just plain mad. What is wrong here? Why do people behave this way? What can you do about it?
In business, the failure to follow-up on promises happens all the time. Yes I know it is bad for customer service, and it is bad for professional reputation and even someone’s career if they blow off the boss’s request to get the paperwork in but it does happen and you know it because it happens to you and maybe you have been guilty of it yourself. It might be annoying when you are working but it feels really personal when you are looking for a job.
It might be personal, but it probably is not. People want to help and they may promise more than they can deliver, but it’s most likely that they walked into the office after your meeting and pressing problems pressed on them and their promise to you was displaced by the demands of others. So yes you can follow-up with the meeting. A quick email or message, “Just following up on our conversations, I know people are really swamped nowadays but I am still quite interested in following up on your suggestion to contact Bob. If you have a moment, could you forward his email…”
Give every meeting the ABC treatment. “ABC” is sales lingo for “Always Be Closing”. Seek to gain agreement and clarity for each step and each promise. The simple and low key summary approach is best. “So you suggest you send me the contact information for Sue Smith and you will also forward my resume to Mary Wallace. That would be great, thank you.” This sharpens vague “maybe I could” promises to “yes I will”.
Look behind the curtain. Every organization has its way of doing things procedurally and politically. Ask your contact how it works and who are the players. Even the simple exercise of having them draw out an organizational chart will clarify who you should talk to and where someone like you would fit in.
Build in permission to follow-up. Always wrap up meetings with, “This has been very helpful. Would it be OK if I follow-up on our discussion to keep you posted on my progress with your suggestions and in the event if I have a specific follow-up question?” Nine times out of ten the answer will be, “Sure”. For the tenth person…well , at least you know where they stand. For the rest, you now have permission to follow-up when they fail to follow-through.
Tags: hidden job market, job search advice, networking, Re-energize the search
This entry was posted on Thursday, November 5th, 2009 at 4:53 pm and is filed under Blog. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
Nice writing style. I look forward to reading more in the future.
Finding a good job can be pretty troublesome. Especially when you have high expectations.
Here are some tips that helped me land the job of my dreams:
* Plan out your CV, if you’ve never done a CV before, this is the time to learn.
* Take into consideration what skills do you have. You may have more choices if you consider additional job titles.
* Don’t neglect any source of jobs : internet, newspaper, radio and other media. Ask your friends that have similar jobs if there may be an opening in their company.
* Don’t just send the resume by email and wait for an answer. You need to call them and have them confirm the job opening and receiving your resume.
Finding a job is pretty much a job in itself and it’s all about how well can you market your abilities.
Mostly I have found that people are just overwhelmed getting on with their own lives and jobs. Things they promise to do fall through the cracks. So it falls to us to be diligent in following up – without making people feel guilty. Build a habit to reach out to the people you are asking for help. Don’t even remind them of their offer – send an interesting news clip or an event they might like to attend. Their little light bulb may just switch on and they will often follow through.