To call or not to call...

[asm198]

That is my question. I applied for some jobs with one company several weeks ago. I haven't heard anything from them, but I checked their webpage (where I found the openings) and some of the jobs are still posted. Nothing on the webpage says that you can't call, but I was always under the assumption that calling wasn't a good thing to do. Thoughts? Oh, and if it matters, these are admin jobs with a local university.

[wordsmith]

I'm always shaky on the calling thing, and tend not to (although I've taken heat for that stance by those who think it's better to call). I do know (and I've told you this, but to reiterate) that university jobs are a WALL of red tape, tiers of bureaucracy, and levels of approval to even get the ball rolling on anything. It can take a while, so I wouldn't be super discouraged at this point. Things often progress very slowly with the way departments are set up.

[Moon Gazing]

You could send a letter to the hiring departments requesting an interview. I just finished a college course and the book gave sample letters about this sort of thing or it also recommended to send an email because you have more of a chance to get noticed. Call, write, email, doing one of them can't hurt, but it might help you get the job or at least an interview to get your foot in the door.

[asm198]

Yeah, I keep thinking about what you said about all the red tape. Friday will be a month since I've applied, though, and I'm wondering if that's too long, even for a university. Only two of the jobs are still on the website and both were posted a couple of months ago (one in June and one in July). The other jobs had been posted more recently, but are no longer there.

On the other hand, the jobs I applied for at the other college seem to be going a bit faster. At least, the status on one seems to have been updated yesterday. I'm going today to take a proficency test for those, since it says you have to have the scores on file.

[and1grad]

I always call. I believe in letting them know you're interested enough to follow up. I'd hate for a company to think I was just putting in an app and not seriously intent on GETTING the job.

[wordsmith]

^ This guy ^ is one who gives me flak for not calling. :p

[pisces2473]

If it's a university, good luck talking to someone. Most of the time they don't want calls. It's a very tricky process, how their HRs work.

Good luck!

[wordsmith]

Really, though, if they're firm on the "no calls" thing, they could say that specifically. Plenty of ads/postings do. If there's nothing saying, "No phone calls, please," it should really be up to your own discretion.

[Desiderata]

I'll second and1 on the calling. Though I do preface it with some kind of follow up question. Something like "wanted to be sure the attachment came through OK" if I can't think of anything relevant to the job. Atleast they see you're keen on the job, and it gets your name in someone's head a little more.

[asm198]

Well, they just called and I set up an interview for one of the positions. Now I'm nervous.

[and1grad]

Congrats! Its ok to be nervous. :)

[TinyDancer]

Good luck!!! :)

[wordsmith]

Whooooo!

[asm198]

I wanted to update you guys. I think the interview went really, really great! They told me about the job and asked some interesting questions, which I answered mostly with stories from my past jobs. In doing that, I think I made a great connection with the person who would be my boss, because she had worked in that industry. Several times they complimented my answers to questions, which I think is a good sign.

I want the job more now that I did initially. At first, I just applied for anything I think I would be qualified for, but after hearing more about the job, I think it would be interesting. And I think the work environment would be a good one to work in.

They told me at the end how many people they were interviewing for the position and that an offer would be made in a couple of weeks, so I'm hoping that it's a good sign that they offered up that information.


The ONLY bad thing happened right at the very beginning of the interview. We had just sat down and did the introductions, when my stupid phone rang. I normally put it on silent for stuff like this, but I completely spaced about it. Probably because I was nervous. It was my husband, making sure I had left home and wishing me good luck. I appologized and quickly put it on silent, but it was so embarrassing. I have no idea how major something like that is during an interview, but I've read that it's pretty bad. I hope that it doesn't keep me from getting the job.

[pisces2473]

That's funny that you posted about that snafu w/ the phone--I just read something the other day about interview gaffes. It does happen, you just have to pretend like it was nothing and go on forward.

I hope you didn't ANSWER the phone, though!

[asm198]

Ha! No, I didn't answer the phone. I just opened up my purse and hit the sound button on the side, which silents the ring for that call. However, after it went to voicemail, I did flip it open and put it on silent. After the interview was over, I did think that was probably a bad idea, but he has a habit of calling several times in a row, so I didn't want it to ring again. I did notice one of the interviewers notice what I was doing, though. And I didn't stop the interview to do any of these thing and acted like nothing was going on.