Be alert for feedback during job search

You can never afford to miss out on that all important call while on job search, but Janet missed the call. She had been on the job hunting mission for the last 5 months and had sent out lots of applications to all who would care to receive. As long as there were no returned mail messages, she assumed that her applications had reached the intended persons. By the 5^th month, she had lost track of the number of applications she had sent and the kind of jobs she had applied for.

One mid morning, while switching on her phone to update her Facebook status, she got a note that someone had tried calling her. She brushed over the message and went on to work on her Facebook account, reading other posts and checking on what her friends were up to. Later in the following week, while travelling back home on a bus, she decided to call back the number that had attempted to reach her the previous week and to her shock, as the receptionist picked up the call, she realized that it was one of the potential employers who had tried calling her for a second interview.

When she was eventually transferred to the HR department, she was informed that the office had attempted contacting her for a second interview but since they could not reach her, they had facilitated the interview for two other candidates and already considered one of them for the job. By this time, the bus conductor had been standing next to her for a few seconds requesting for her fare and in her disappointment, raised her voice and asked the conductor, ‘why should I pay for a job not offered? Ooops…she exclaimed, paid the fare and requested the driver to have her alight at the next stage though she was yet to get to her final destination.

Many people would not forgive themselves for missing out on key feedback during job search. With the knowledge of the hustle and the challenges of job search, it is important to always remain vigilant for any form of feedback from a potential employer or reference by a friend or job search partner to a potential employment opportunity.

Always have your phone on at all times. In addition to having it on, since you will find yourself in some relatively noisy places, consider having your phone vibration alert on so that should you not hear the ringtone, you would at least sense the vibration. Should you find a missed call, regardless of your experiences with many friends who ‘flash’ for you to call back, take the risk and call back as it may just be that important call for you to confirm whether you are available for an interview.

Ensure your phone battery is always beyond the 50% mark as you don’t want it to go off when receiving an important call. It is hence expected that if you must call back when you find missed calls that you should have enough phone credit to enable you call and talk to any potential employer in no hurry. You don’t want to find yourself telling the potential employer to call you back as you are out of credit. Create a great impression on phone. Have communication expenses as key on your job search budget (hoping you have such a budget and well resourced)

Finally, the other common feedback channel by many employers is email messaging. As a job seeker, consider checking your emails as part of your daily priorities. If possible, and it is now possible with the high level of phone connectivity to the internet, check your email account at least thrice a day just to be sure you are aware of any important messages sent to you. Often send yourself an email to ensure your email address is still functional and has not been hacked and currently sending out promotional messages to other people.