Followed every guideline, submitted the master resume created after weeks of hard work, and everything went well and as envisaged. Now eagerly waiting for the hiring managers to contact you and schedule the interview?

Well, this situation filled with nervousness must have been experienced by a majority of the candidates. Should they call you first or should you make the first move, is a very perplexing problem!

Many candidates think that due to incompetence, their candidature has been neglected, but there might also be other reasons that could have involved the personnel in other tasks. The best solution for the situation is to plan an effective follow-up to get the attention of the hiring manager on your qualities.

Establishing contact with the hiring team to check the status of the job application, known as a job follow-up, is perfectly alright to clear the suspicion. A good follow-up can give the hiring personnel an impetus to have a close look at your resume and re-think their decision.    

But these things will happen only when you have strategically planned your follow-up.

Keep the following points under consideration during your plan:

1. Contact the hiring manager: In place of other HR executives, contact the hiring manager as he is in charge of hiring the right candidates, so making a good impression with him/her is of great importance.

2. Opt for e-mail: Email helps to track the conversation and offers ease to respond as and when it is convenient. So dropping an e-mail is always better than a direct call.

Even if you feel or there is needed to make a call then don’t rush to it in the morning. Select a time after lunch when in general there is a lesser load and the manager has some time to listen to you.  

3. Go through the contact policy: Many organizations, refrain the candidates from making a contact after submission of the application. Check if there is any such condition with your organization or not, as following-up after such condition will hurt your candidature.

Follow-up Plan:

The excitement and little nervousness, after producing the application, make the candidates a bit impatient to get to know their results. This leads to an urge to follow up fast. But when the hiring managers were asked about the ideal time when a candidate must make a move, then 43% told about 1-2 week being the ideal time, 30% agreed on 2-3 weeks, 19% said for less than one week and only 8% ticked right against three weeks or more. But to the delight, surprisingly, not a single one said that candidates should not follow up.       

So in 1-2 weeks, candidates must briefly confirm their interest in working with the organization and reiterate their top qualifications and achievements of relevance to the employers. Expressing the gratitude of being heard, the candidate must end the follow-up with an anticipatory thankful note for being scheduled for an interview.   

Winding Up:

The follow-up on the job application serves two good purposes at once. Firstly, it reminds the hiring manager about your application to have a look, and secondly ends the frightful uncertainty. With simple email tracking applications, one can be sure about the status of mail regarding it has been gone through or not. This helps in planning a better strategy for the follow-up!