Contacting a Potential Employer

[DistCoop]

All,

I've posted a few questions related to job searches, and have yet another. I have sent my resume to a few companies this week, some large, some small. For one of the smaller companies, I have corresponded with an HR/secretary person, and she told me that she sent my resume to the head of that particular department. I will be contacted if they're interested.

With some googling, I've managed to find his email address. After perhaps two weeks, is it appropriate to email him and speak a bit? I wonder if it will be viewed as pushy or sneaky since I wasn't actually given his contact info... I just scrounged it up. He could view me as a pushy bother, or perhaps he won't care and I'm making too big a deal of this.

Now, I have his email. With some more googling I suspect I could find his phone number. Would a phone call be more appropriate, or would that be a greater bother? I'm sure he's busy, but I want to somehow keep myself on his desk.

Any thoughts would be appreciated. Thank you

 

[IRstuff]

There was a famous used car salesman by the name of Cal Worthington, who had outrageous commercials where he stood on his head and ate bugs to sell a car. Would you do the same thing to get a job?

I guess it depends on how desperate you are and/or how risk averse you are. I don't know what type of job you're applying for, but many managers are looking for people who will cut to the chase and get things done.

TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529

 

[hokie66]

A phone call would be my choice.

 

[ewh]

Contacting him (email or phone) is a very good way to get his attention! It is then up to you as to what type of impression he gets.

“Know the rules well, so you can break them effectively.”
-Dalai Lama XIV

 

[77JQX]

Call. Use this as a networking opportunity. Ask his advice for a jobseeker in his industry. Ask if he knows anyone else hiring, or that you should call for advice. Ask what professional orginizations he belongs to.

 

[tickle]

It depends on the manager and where they are at, but I would err on the side of caution. At some companies, there may be several people who you might work for, and if you contact all of them you will be labelled as a serial pest.

I send direct enquiries to either the bin or to HR. HR know who in an organisation is looking (or should) and it is their responsibility to assess all applications. I have a relationship with HR and trust them to manage the recruitment process, so I can get on with management and engineering.

Also, I will never accept a Linkedin request from someone who was looking for employment.

I know that this seems callous, and there are several areas where people might disagree with me, but I was just giving you my view from someone who will say yes or no to an applicant.

 

[zdas04]

I get these kinds of calls and e-mails all the time. The calls always seem to interrupt something I'm supposed to be doing and I'm rarely civil to cold callers. When I am civil, I listen for some indication of what I'm going to get for the time that they are wasting. If the call is all about how much they need a job I usually lose my "civil" really quickly. If they tell me what they can do for me I listen for some indication that they have a clue what MuleShoe Engineering does. If they don't have a clue and they're just running down lists of Engineering firms I get kind of nasty. If they've actually looked for information about my company then I'll try to help them focus their efforts (and I've directed a couple of them to my clients who were hiring--two out of several hundred calls isn't a great percentage.

I do better with e-mails, but that is just me. I will always answer an e-mail that is answerable (I've gotten several from URL's associated with universities who have been banned from reputable e-mail providers for their SPAM and malware, I try to respond but Earthlink throws the response in the trash). I got one last week that the account was cancelled in the hour between opening the e-mail and responding.

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

Law is the common force organized to act as an obstacle of injustice Frédéric Bastiat

 

[MintJulep]

This may be a case where LinkedIn could actually be useful.

So now you know his email. See if he has a LinkedIn profile. Find out if you have some "connection" to him. Work though those connections - Outside of LinkedIn.

Having someone that the manager already knows giving him a call and saying "Hey, I know someone you might be interested in" will be far more useful than you calling directly and asking "Did you get my resume from HR yet?"

 

[DistCoop]

Thank you for the advice. Seems like the consensus is to email. I'll give it some more thought. I don't believe I'd come off as desperate (I am currently employed), but maybe an email asking for a time to call at his convenience is the preferred way to go.

 

[remqnf]

I would talk to the HR contact you have with a pretense of asking for a status update. Then ask if HR can provide you with the hiring manager's contact info so you can offer to clarify or expand on any questions he/she has about your resume. This would allow you to start your conversation with the hiring manager a little less awkward than saying you found his/her email on whatever website. Then again, HR might come back saying it's against thier policy to provide that info, but I don't think that's too likely.

There's a fine line between persistant and pushy, but I think it's better to risk coming off pushy than become passive in your job hunt and just wait for the phone to ring. Good luck!

 

[KENAT]

"HR might come back saying it's against thier policy to provide that info, but I don't think that's too likely"

Actually I'd guess that might be quite likely in some organizations.

Posting guidelines faq731-376

http://eng-tips.com/market.cfm?

(probably not aimed specifically at you)
What is Engineering anyway: faq1088-1484​

 

[DistCoop]

Seems like a blend of the strategies could be the best route. I'll send an email after two weeks offering to clarify or be available for questions, and note that he is free to contact me or to respond via email to set up a time to speak. If I haven't heard from him one week after this email, I'll call, figuring at that point I have nothing to lose.

This is for small companies. For big companies, it seems I may be at their whim.

Thanks all for the comments