Faking It and Following Up

Seán commented on Wednesday’s post:

Be careful with the template resume though; I dismiss resumes I get which are not for the job on offer and are just boilerplate stuff.

A very good point. As best you can, you should include information given in the job posting, just to show you actually know what job you’re applying to. They don’t want to feel like they’re the thousandth person to get this same email.

Of course, they know that you’re applying to a thousand jobs. But you don’t need to remind them of that fact. Make them feel like a special, unique snowflake. Like the job they’re offering is the one you’ve been dreaming of.

It’s not. It’s probably a shitty job. But don’t tell them that.

* * *

Yesterday, Lexy wrote:

What do you think about sending follow-up emails? How long after sending in your resume should a follow-up email be sent, if at all?

Sometime next never.

They got your email. They may not have read it, as I noted Wednesday. Or, your resume just wasn’t as good as some others they received. Or, they had to give the job to some producer’s nephew.

Whatever the case, there is a 0% chance that you’ll help things by following up. You’re not applying to Project Mayhem.

There is, however, a medium-to-high likelihood of annoying someone with multiple emails. And that can’t be good for future job prospects.

Instead of sending follow-up emails, just forget about that job. Move on. Send your resume to a thousand other places. Just be sure to not make it sound boiler-plate.