Hurry Up and Wait
So how long have you had to wait to hear from various and sundry employers regarding jobs that you have applied for? Two days? Two weeks? Two months?!
You are not alone.
It definitely is a Hurry-Up-And-Wait game in the job search world.
What the game board looks like:
The employer advertises that there is a job opening in their business. You put your game piece into place and start your moves around the board. You get the application, fill it in, write a cover letter, and take them back to the business or send them in, submit a resume if requested, contact your references to let them know they may be called by this employer….and wait. And wait. And WAIT!
By this time your game piece has already moved six or seven times on the board. If you are a lucky player, you were able to jump two or three spaces ahead for various reasons. You may have landed on the
“If you had a resume already prepared, move ahead three spaces.”
Or you may get to move ahead two places and jump five other applicants if
“You personally know the employer or one of your references knows the employer”.
Other extra moves may come if you land on the space that that says,
“Timing is everything. You turned in your application early so move ahead three spaces.”
Your goal is to get around the board as quickly as possible, and not have to go back any spaces because you forgot to sign the application, or you didn’t fill in every box on the application, you wore sweat pants and a T-shirt, or shorts and flip-flops when you took your application back. There are so many things that one can do to have to move backwards on the Hurry Up and Wait game board. But the clever, motivated and patient job search players have the advantage, they are always moving forward – not back.
Two moves that can help reduce the anxiety:
- Ask the employer at the beginning of the process when they expect to make a decision of who gets interviewed
- Call after a week if you have not heard anything and ask if there has been a decision made on when the employer will be interviewing applicants.
Of course the player/applicant would not ask if they specifically have been chosen to be interviewed - just when.
Patience is very important
Employers are very busy and things do come up that interfere with the interview process. For every job that is advertised, unless it is a highly technical job, there are 30-60 applicants. It takes time to review each application, to read each resume, to check references (some employers check references BEFORE they decide to interview which is why you never want to say “references upon request”), to find a time to interview 5-10 people and double check with their current employees to see if they want to move up or across and take the job. Just remember that for the employer it is also a Hurry Up And Wait process. They are not being rude. It is not personal. Just do your part and play your game well. Make the smart moves. And then of course…wait.
This guest post was written by Ginger Campbell. She has worked for the AARP Foundation for 32 years and was a Project Director for the Senior Employment program that helped over 5,500 mature job seekers in Humboldt and Sonoma Counties in. Northern CA. She is now the National Program Coordinator/WorkSearch SCSEP.
Tags: aarp, application, cover letter, job boards, resume, waiting