To call prospective employer?

[Theresmoretocome]

I applied for a job I really want a few weeks ago, the the closing date for applications was the 28th of April with interviews being held week commencing the 10th May.

The job is perfect for me and I really want it! There is no commute, fantastic salary and is close enough to the dc school where they can leave on they're own and meet me at their nan's house after.

I've never done it before but how would you look at a prospective employee if they were to call and ask how the application is progressing?

Did I mention I really want this job???

Constantly calling every second day will see your application in the bin but a call to establish time scales, was there everything you required in the application etc will be seen as a positive.

Not by me.

1. You can still hear back. In fact, I'd expect them to call potential candidates only this week.
2. I agree that contacting them would send a wrong message.
3. If you don't hear anything you could try on Friday or Monday as at this point you have nothing to lose. But when you call be upfront what you're calling about, be positive, but not nagging. Chances are that the person wouldn't want to talk to you, and then it will be time to give up.

But don't worry about any of this yet, they probably only started calling the candidates. Good luck!

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl

As an employer, I think this would annoy me. The ad clearly states timescales so your call would make me think either:

a) you haven't read the ad properly
b) you're pushy
c) you're suggesting we aren't organised enough

None of those is a good look.

Exactly this.

I recruit fairly regularly. Pushiness definitely does not move an application to the top of the pile. I’m interested in relevant experience and qualifications, not keenness.

I've done an email follow up on two jobs before and was enthusiastically received by both for following up on my application.

Both times, I was friendly, polite and not at all pushy.

I’d wait till Monday then just email to check you have not been successful, anything before then is getting in the way of them setting up interviews. I say this as someone who is recruiting intensively just now

In the public sector you’d get nowhere by doing this, and piss people off mightily - we don’t have time to fit in random calls which add nothing to the process. It also smacks of not having the required level of attention to detail - if you’re told interviews will be held on the 10th, that’s all you need to know unless someone contacts you to come in on that date. Things might still be different in the private sector but I suspect that with the push for transparency in recruiting that the old advice to nag someone into giving you a job is outdated, especially now applications are generally made online so you know straight away that it’s been received.

Please don't. It would put me off.

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl

Constantly calling every second day will see your application in the bin but a call to establish time scales, was there everything you required in the application etc will be seen as a positive.

Not by me.

I agree, it wouldn’t be seen as a positive by me either - if you didn’t read the application properly and therefore aren’t sure you submitted everything needed, or weren’t clear about the timescales I put in the ad on purpose, then I don’t need you in one of my high-pressure, attention-to-detail jobs.

It would put me off, too.

I can't think of a time I've ever appreciated someone chasing me up like that about an interview (especially not the guy who pretended to be someone else to get my direct number, to do so!).

@HeyDemonsItsYaGirl

Constantly calling every second day will see your application in the bin but a call to establish time scales, was there everything you required in the application etc will be seen as a positive.

Not by me.

Nor me.

If I intended to contact you because you were a strong candidate, I will, and you've mildly irritated me by preempting me. If I didn't intend to contact you because you aren't a strong candidate, you have irritated me a lot. Which won't hurt your application because you weren't going to get anywhere anyway, but it would boot you off the "maybe" list and move you down the "yes".

The risk of doing it is greater than the potential payoff in most cases.

@Theresmoretocome

I sent it via their website and have had a confirmation email back confirming they're receiving it.

In that case, I'd wait to be contacted. I get you are keen but imagine if you are the 10th "very keen" person ringing up just on that single day wanting an update l. Not so positive all of a sudden as everyone may be busy and the process is there for a reason. Different scenario if you are not selected for interview and want to know why, or if you haven't heard anything within the specified window. Just be patient. I mean that's what I'd do, having recruited my fair share over the years.

As someone involved in recruitment I would not do this.

It would come across a bit naggy to me and would get my back up.

I work in this field and have, in fact, got an identical job that is being advertised. Phone and ask for a visit. We get lots of people doing this for our appointments. It gets your face seen, shows a real interest and gives you a good insight for the work involved, which is a huge advantage at interview.

In the nicest possible way, how have you got time to give tours to every prospective applicant? Every time I advertise a role I’m deluged.

Even if I did have time for that, it wouldn’t confer any advantage on the applicant. I want capable people with experience. All this ‘show them you are keen!’ bollocks is too X Factor for words (“I want this so much! I will give 120%!”)

Depends on the org. Some companies have points based system and it will be purely based on your application. Your call won't make an iota of difference and you may not get passed the gate keeper

I get this a lot and it's very annoying. Lots
Of people think they're perfect for a job when really, they're totally wrong and they're there selling them self to me on the phone and it's awkward.

Having said that, this can work if.... the recruiter is overwhelmed with responses and has a lot of work to do to create a shortlist. A call could then help you stand out and bump you up

I chased recently and got the job. They said they liked the fact I was keen and pro-active.

Christ, don’t encourage everyone to try to ‘stand out’ by haranguing the person recruiting!

Someone tried this with me, the last time I advertised a role (senior finance). It did not work.

@Iamthewombat

In the nicest possible way, how have you got time to give tours to every prospective applicant? Every time I advertise a role I’m deluged.

Even if I did have time for that, it wouldn’t confer any advantage on the applicant. I want capable people with experience. All this ‘show them you are keen!’ bollocks is too X Factor for words (“I want this so much! I will give 120%!”)

Completely agree. I had 88 applicants for my last vacancy. Impossible to engage individually in advance of interviews and still do my day job. We do give interviewees a brief tour and chance to chat to some of the team, though, after their interview.

I did this recently and got called for an interview the next day.

I simply called and said I was aware the closing date hadn't yet passed but I was very interested in the role and was there any update on my application. How that is construed as being pushy by some posters on here is beyond me. I was always told it showed willingness and that you really were interested in working for their company.

Makes me laugh all the recruiters on here who actually seem to despise recruiting

I interview for my team it annoys me when I inevitably get these calls/emails. We recruit through job boards, you get a notification.

I find it a bit desperate and pushy.

It's also Tuesday after a bank holiday, that's never a good day.

I do always eventually send a thanks but no thanks email once shortlisted.

I would have probably spent the weekend looking over the application properly and discussed today with other decision makers. Making calls tomorrow for invitation.

@Whosthatbehindthemask

I did this recently and got called for an interview the next day.

I simply called and said I was aware the closing date hadn't yet passed but I was very interested in the role and was there any update on my application. How that is construed as being pushy by some posters on here is beyond me. I was always told it showed willingness and that you really were interested in working for their company.

Makes me laugh all the recruiters on here who actually seem to despise recruiting

Recruiters aren’t usually recruiters, though. They are people who manage the role to which they’re recruiting, so they are juggling their own job and the work of their team, which will be, perforce if they have a vacancy, at least one body short at the time. No organisation has people sitting around waiting for calls from applicants.

We can tell you’re interested in working for us because you applied for a job, and if you were enthusiastic enough to make a good application and have shown you have what we’re looking for, we’ll interview you.

Recruiters aren’t usually recruiters, though. They are people who manage the role to which they’re recruiting, so they are juggling their own job and the work of their team, which will be, perforce if they have a vacancy, at least one body short at the time.

Exactly this. The internal recruitment team manage the admin but they aren’t choosing candidates. I am. So you are wasting your time either way: if you call the internal recruitment team they have no power at all to boost you up the list, and if you call me to ask whether the internal recruiting team have seen your application I’ll be annoyed because I’ve got a day job to do and I’m a body down, hence the vacancy!

I was always told it showed willingness and that you really were interested in working for their company

Told by who, and when? By your school careers teacher in 1987? The world has moved on a bit since then.

I think it’s a bit of a gamble. At my work, initial invites to interview are based on scoring of applications. It’s an HR process so if you called up all I’d be able to say is that we were processing the applications and would be in touch in due course. I’d probably be a bit grumpy as I have a busy workload (typical of charity sector) which would cancel out the positive impression of your keenness. I do like it when people follow up after an interview with an email to say thank you and express their keenness then however.

But, recruitment is a small part of my job, and not one I enjoy. Plus a small local organisation might be more open to a direct approach. The fact it’s a convenient job for you doesn’t really matter to me (sorry!) but if you had something you wanted to reiterate about why you were passionate about the cause, that might soften me a little.

I simply called and said I was aware the closing date hadn't yet passed but I was very interested in the role and was there any update on my application.

Before the closing date?!

That would massively piss me off.