Tuesday, April 22, 2008

Communications Advice for Job Seekers

It's that time of year again. The resumes are coming in from all directions. Clients are calling with relatives looking for work. Everyone wants to be a summer intern, a fall intern, or just have an "informational" interview. It's obvious many interviewees spend a lot of time getting ready for the interview. It's also amazing how many of them drop the ball after the interview.

Steve Cody of Peppercom has an interesting post on the lost art of writing handwritten letters. I had the pleasure of meeting Steve late last year and he is one of those PR guys who "gets it," despite being stuck in New York City.

His assessment is dead on. For all you job seekers out there, don't just send a thank you e-mail. Don't text your thanks. Don't ask to be my friend on Facebook or MySpace. The time to show your new media chops is not the post-interview follow-up.

In fact, don't just send a thank you note to one of the three people you met with. Send notes to everyone you interview with, handwritten and e-mail. And if you really want to step up, do as one of our soon-to-be interns did and provide a Dawg bowl full of goodies (check out her blog and you will get the connection). And be sure you spell everyone's names right (and the name of the company).

So we hired two interns for this summer, Lizzie and Katherine, who stood out for a number of reasons, including their expertise with social media, sterling GPAs, and great recommendations. But another differentiator were their prompt well written thank-you notes and classy follow-up.

The broader point is this: we are looking for people who will shine not just when meeting with clients, but those who will demonstrate the maturity, poise, and good sense to follow up with clients and prospects in the right ways. People who understand how to make an impression. If a job candidate can't manage to do that after an interview, they probably don't belong in your organization.

2 comments:

Lizzie Azzolino said...

I read and re-read my thank you's to be sure not to mix up Brian and Bryan! Ashley was easy.

Seeing that Katherine sent over some goodies, it looks like I may have to bring in something tasty my first week of work.

I'm looking forward to the summer. Keep up the great blog posts!

Ashley said...

Great advice, Brian.

I'd like to add a couple of other thoughts:

1) Read the company's website

2) If you know whom you will be meeting with, read his/her profile on the website.

3) Think of one or two good questions about the company and for the interviewer. It shows you are engaged and interested in the position.