The Money Is In The Follow-Up

When you are looking for new career opportunities, it is critical that you treat your job search as a business relationship. After you send out your résumé, you have two options. One, sit back and want for all of the calls to come in asking you to come in for an interview (don’t hold your breath) or two, develop a system to identify your job leads and treat these leads in the same manner as any good salesperson would.

Take the time to nurture the relationship and remember to follow up with the administrator regularly. In business, as in your successful job search, conversion of sales and leads is all in the follow-up. A good follow-up is critical to building strong relationships with your prospective clients/employers. Unless you are offering them an immediate fix to an issue they have right now, a prospective client/employer will not normally buy from you on your first contact.

Finding the correct job will take time. In most cases, buying/hiring is an emotional process, and it will take time for the trust to be built between you and your client/potential employer. "Trust is a Must" in any business or employer/employee relationship.

When building trusting relationships, it is important to be very clear and consistent in your follow-up with prospects. A “No” today, might just mean a maybe tomorrow; or a "Not right now, call me again in few weeks." - could be a "Yes, I am ready to work with you."

Being committed to following up on your prospects can be the difference between not having any relationship at all and an extraordinary one. When I hear job seekers say that they don't have the time to carry out a proper follow-up regime, my response is that they can't afford not to have the time. The follow-up is an important aspect to any successful business relationship.

Consider the following: A prospective client/employer calls you in for a chat to find out more about what you can do to solve some of their current challenges - they may have been referred to you or found you via the Internet. You may have even cold called this potential prospect, in the hope of doing business with them. This is the first contact you have with the person and although they think what you have to offer is great, and you followed your sales plan close to the "T", they decide not to pursue your service.

What you do now is important! You can either file it away in the ‘too hard’ basket, like a large majority of people do, or you can put it straight into your follow-up system. Remember that effective job searches are akin to selling any product or service effectively. In order to be successful you need to develop a system that puts the focus on building trusting relationships.







Copyright © 2010, Career Matters. All Rights Reserved.Permission to Reprint: This article may be reprinted, provided it appears in its entirety with the following attribution: Copyright © 2010, Career Matters. Reprinted by permission of Mary Salvino.“Career Matters” is a blog hosted by Mary Salvino, Senior Consultant for SMART Career Planning.com. This blog is dedicated to those who are seeking advice on managing their career and future job opportunities. We welcome readers to share their experiences, post their comments or ask questions about career related matters. For any questions or comments that are better addressed privately, please feel free to e-mail Mary directly at Mary.Salvino@shaw.ca