What I find really frustrating in my job search is waiting for the promised call, the promised email, or even the promised contract.
I don’t know if I was ever guilty of promising a call or email and failed to do so. Probably. OK, OK, OK, I know I have been guilty of promising a call back and not making it. It dates back to my teenage days when a promised phone call was confronting and I would do everything to avoid it. If a boy called me who I wasn’t interested in, I would ask my mum to lie for me and tell him I would call back. She never lied, a woman of very strong integrity – so I would have to take the initial call and promise a call back pretending I was in the middle of something else. I never did call back. I doubt these boys sat in their mothers lounge room for too long, but nonetheless I had very little regard for the other person by not making that call. Oh, how I have learnt a lesson.
My job search has been particularly frustrating when people have promised a call back (or any kind of contact) and have failed to follow through with it. While I understand other people’s lives are moving a little faster than my own right now, a promised phone is a small action that can have a huge impact. I find myself stalking my own emails (every 5 minutes) and phone to see if I have missed anything.
I asked my executive coach when the right time to follow up is. He didn’t really know how to answer this, but suggested I follow up once only because after that its considered stalking. I’m not too sure I subscribe to his theories, but he’s the one working and I’m not.
I have been very polite and waited until after the promised phone call to either call or send a polite email to follow up. And then nothing. No returned call, no replied emails..... nada, zip, nothing!
I appreciate that everyone is busy and my job hunt is not all consuming for anyone else but myself, but the simple courtesy of a call or email to let me know either way would make such a huge difference to my day.
Signing off now to check my emails and phone again……
Image by Melissa Galt
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