Following up on a resume.

LedZeppelin

FI applied for a new job last week. My friend's bf's company is hiring and the bf has been trying to help FI get the job. Monday of last week FI sent his portfolio and resume to the bf's boss. A few days later The bf talked to the boss and told FI that he should be hearing from the boss soon. FI still has not heard from the boss. Would it be appropriate for him to call the boss to follow up? What should he say? Thanks in advance!

NatesGirl16

Someone else can probably give you better advice, but I'll tell you what I usually do.  If he's just sent in the resume, and not had an interview yet, I might do a follow up call or email (depending on how formal the company is) to express his interest in meeting.  If he has spoken to the boss at some point, I would send a thank you letter wrapping up the convo.

LedZeppelin

He has not had an interview yet. The bf said if FI was going to call, he should do it tomorrow after 1:00. He also said that the boss is really busy and going out of town on Friday. So, I don't know.

NatesGirl16

Hmmm.  Ths is tricky.  He doesn't want to annoy the boss, but he also wants to seem interested.

Where are the HR KNotties?

LedZeppelin

Yes. That is exactly the conundrum I was thinking of.

akhensley81

Hi there! I'm HR. There's nothing wrong with a quick follow up phone call or e-mail. Something simple like, "I wanted to see if you had a chance to review my resume/portfolio and let you know that I would be happy to sit down with you to discuss my background and what contributions I might be able to make to your team." And then leave it at that. If he doesn't hear in another week, another call would be appropriate. I know it's tough to be patient but unless an open job is the boss' top priority, he'll make time for this when he can.

What gets annoying is when people A) Follow up every.single.day. I think people believe in that "squeaky wheel gets the grease" saying... but for me, that's a surefire way for me to put a resume on the bottom of my priority list. And Continuously dropping the name of the person in the company that the applicant already knows. In this case, the boss already knows that the BF is involved, but when it comes down to it - this is not the BF's decision. So I would advise your FI to just keep it between him & the boss. And let the BF do his work from the other side, as he sees fit.

[Deleted User]

To be honest, I find all follow ups annoying. I don't hold them against the candidate, but they do take me away from all of the other 1 million things I'm doing and I've yet to see it actually help the candidate. If we've received a resume and it's worth a talk, I promise. We'll call. But that's just us. I guess it could vary based on how organized they are with their hiring practices.

I don't know what kind of position this is, but I have one position for which I've received almost 1,000 resumes. I think I would jump out of the window if every one of those candidates decided to call for a follow up.

ETA: GL to your FI!

LedZeppelin

Thanks guy! I appreciate it!