Follow up to Call to Large Company 4

[DistCoop]

All,

I've recently applied for an engineering position at a large utility (approximately 700 people). I submitted a resume and cover letter online, and they will get back to me if they decide I'm worth considering.

Should I give them a follow up call in a week or so? They're such a large company that I wonder if they won't have anywhere to direct my call. Would I ask to speak to the person in charge of hiring?

My only experience is with very small (<10 people) companies, so I may have some things to learn about dealing with large entities. Any thoughts you have would be appreciated.

 

[zdas04]

Don't complain about HR not making decisions. They don't have the authority to make decisions and you REALLY don't want them to assume that authority. When I look at the "recommended" vs. "not recommended" stacks you get from HR in a big job hunt, they might as well be labeled "boring" and "interesting". The people that excite HR are people that I would most often call "dead weight".

David Simpson, PE
MuleShoe Engineering

"Belief" is the acceptance of an hypotheses in the absence of data.
"Prejudice" is having an opinion not supported by the preponderance of the data.
"Knowledge" is only found through the accumulation and analysis of data.
The plural of anecdote is not "data"

 

[rotw]

Oldestguy,

Within a period of two years I got two offers and definitely yes it is very time consuming.
I don't say it is a good methodology. It is what it is.

 

[IRstuff]

When you are looking for a job, you are essentially attempting to sell a product, namely, you. To that end, much of the discussion here tracks with the way salespeople attempt to engage a customer into buying a product. Interestingly, and perhaps, relevant, is the distinction between what rotaryw appears to have done, which is "direct mailing" vs. cold calling.

http://smallbusiness.chron.com/success-rate-cold-calling-10031.html

claims that cold calling is more successful (6.16% response rate) than direct mailing, so that's like placing a call into someone in the company directly.

Likewise, the recommendation to get a direct referral tracks with

http://blog.insideview.com/2010/12/29/cold-calling-is-not-working/

and

http://www.nomorecoldcalling.com/bypass-the-gatekeeper/,

which hierarchically place a live referral near the top of the pyramid of successful approaches to marketing. Therefore, networking as discussed above is considered by marketing professionals to be one of the best approaches to gaining entry into the customer's front door.

The aforementioned websites are worth perusing, if for no other reason than to compare your current approach(es) against what successful marketeers are doing.

We used to have a seminar at a previous company called GBAP (I forget what the acronym stood for) which said essentially the same things, getting to know your (potential) customers and their peer communities, having a deep understanding of the problems that your customer needs to solve, understanding the winning price, etc. So, while submitting a proposal is like saying we want a job, the guts of the proposal (resume, cover letter, peer referral, etc.) should explain why the customer should buy YOU vs. some random Tom, Dick, or Harry.

TTFN
faq731-376

Need help writing a question or understanding a reply? forum1529

 

[berkshire]

Many years ago there was a man named Dale Carnegie, who said "If you want to work for a company, you have to solve a problem that they have.", He wrote this during the depression of the 1930s when millions were out of work, and companies were scrambling for ways to survive.
B.E.

You are judged not by what you know, but by what you can do.

 

[rotw]

Excellent quote Berkshire.

 

[brandonbw]

Follow up with a call, not an email.

B+W Engineering and Design
Los Angeles Civil Engineer and Structural Engineer

http://bwengr.com

|

http://bwstructuralengineer.com

|

http://bwcivilengineer.com