I have a very good job that pays well however it is boring and has some other tendencies I do not care for. The company I work for appreciates me and is trying to build up business in the area (Dakotas, they are based in Ohio and 90% of their business is out there, I manage a lone remote outpost so to speak) so that they can expand my role. However, I have no idea how long this will take if it ever happens. I’m an anxious person who really wants a career pop. I randomly put in a general application on the website of a company in a very similar field which I know has business in my area along with a major branch an hour away. I get an email from their HR lady saying their Technical Director liked my resume and wanted HR to give me a phone screening.
Video chat phone screening went well, the HR lady outlined a position that sounds very titillating to me, even more so than what my present employer can create for me down the road. She said, and I knew this going in, that we do not currently have a position like this in your area, we would have to create one. She told me the interview went well and she would forward my resume and her notes to the hiring manager and get back to me in a week.
She got back to me: “I just wanted to follow up as I said I would. I forwarded my notes and your resume off to the hiring manager. Since we do not have a position in your are presently, I cannot promise anything to move forward, however, it does not hurt for the hiring manager (his name), to have your resume to review and possibly get back to me to set up another interview, I will let you know when that happens.”
Now I certainly don’t expect the red carpet to be rolled out for me and to have a position created because I’m that awesome but the gig we spoke about is one I’ve been striving and building up my skill-set for quite awhile. I’m sure the hiring manager has a lot on his plate. Would it be appropriate for me to send the HR lady a follow up “hey I’m still interested” nudge in a month or two? I used to do this all the time when I was in high school, however I am now talking about an $80k a year home office job, not $12 an hour at a mill; I don’t want to screw anything up. They must be a pretty open company to accept unsolicited applications for real jobs on their website with none posted, you don’t see that much in this day and age. BTW, I know in this economy, there are no safe bets, but the industry in question is an essential utility provider.
The HR lady got back to you once already, which is a half decent indication that you’ll hear from her again. I don’t think there’s anything wrong with you following up at some point, maybe in mid-September or later. It’s difficult to work out timing on something like that with the disorder we have in the world right now, someone who would normally get back to you in a reasonable time frame could easily become overloaded in their job and fail to do so. You’ll have to figure out how much time has to pass so you don’t sound desperate and aren’t pestering her.
Did you get the number of their Technical Director? For a reasonably high level position like yours you are not likely to be hired with only HR interviews. Contact the hiring manager - do not ask for a job but just say you wanted to touch base, since you researched the company and was impressed. More like if you ran into him in a bar or something. You can probably tell from his reaction if he is really interested in your resume or the HR person was trying to keep you hanging.
If he has no idea of who you are, you have your answer.
TriPolar: thank you for the advice and the words of encouragement that I may be hearing from her again. I will nudge her in a month or two if I do not hear anything.
Voyager: I do not have contact info of anyone other than the HR person. I have the first name of the hiring manager and I am a pretty good LinkedIn stalker but I cannot confirm who anyone is within the company. I know two things are for certain at least: there is someone in the company who liked me on paper, and someone who liked me via video conference.
Update even tho nobody probably cares. I started a more than casual job search a month ago. I had a ery good Skype interview with a company in a somewhat similar although slightly less favorable role than the OP. The next day I used the momentum I had to send a follow up email to the HR gal in the OP, one month after our phone screening. Later that afternoon I get a phone call from the hiring manager. He says we are interested but no available positions, are you actively looking? I say yes. He says I tell you what, ill talk to my boss. We have a guy in your territory who is 65 and will retire soon.
I called him 10 days later. He says him and his boss are crunching numbers. He calls back Friday at 5:20 PM and says we are interested. His boss, the technical director who liked my resume to begin with, wants to have a phone interview with me after his week long Labor Day weekend vacation. The guy is willing to put in a request to have a position created if im firing on all cylinders.
Judging by the amount of contact I’ve had with the hiring manager already, I’m feeling really good about this. Hopefully we can build up some momentum and i can land my dream job.