2 min read

I know you’ve heard it before … follow-up is extremely important.  It’s one of those things that we know but we sometimes forget, or choose not, to do.

When I know of someone who is job hunting, I always tell them to phone and follow-up.  Don’t just send in your resume and assume that they received it, follow-up.

Of course, I don’t always follow my own advice.  Sometimes I see the follow-up reminder in my calendar and think that I don’t want to bother anyone and that they’ll contact me if they are interested.

Example number one proving the above assumption to be false:  A friend of mine applied for a job at a local store – part of a chain.  She went for an interview and then waited to hear back.  She didn’t.  A few weeks later she was shopping in the store and saw one of the people who had interviewed her.  She stopped him to ask if it would be alright if she applied again.  He gave her a funny look and said that he was pretty sure she got the job.  I don’t know if they lost her application but she got the job and they didn’t call her.  If she hadn’t followed-up, she never would have known.

Example number two, a little more personal but a good example none the less:  I didn’t hear back from my, now, husband after our first date.  The date had gone really well and I liked him.  I decided to phone him rather than wait for him to call me (I’m not very patient, so I think I waited about a day).  We had a good conversation and arranged date number two.  My husband and I are very different and he later told me that he had decided not to call me again because of those differences (I was a vegetarian and had five cats).  That was over 18 years ago and we are, in my opinion, very happily married.  No follow-up call, no husband.

Okay, I think I have made my point.  Follow-up is extremely important.  It pays to go after what you want.  What have you been putting off?