They Asked For My Resume. I Sent It. Still, No Response.

They Asked For My Resume. I Sent It. Still, No Response. They Asked For My Resume. I Sent It. Still, No Response. INBOX: “I was contacted on LinkedIn by an IBM recruiter who said she was recruiting for a Senior Engineering Lead, and she asked for my resume. I sent it over to her as requested, but I've not heard back from her. I'm not really sure what to make of this. It feels like I've been rejected for a job I didn't directly apply for.” This scenario definitely started off on the right foot: LinkedIn did the exact job it’s supposed to do â€" it served as a platform for the recruiter to search for and find YOU. Then, the next thing we want to see happen is exactly what did happen: you had direct contact with a human being. But, after that the line just went dead. Let’s talk about 3 quick moves you can make to revive the opportunity in order to land the job you want. Send A Friendly Email What I suspect happened here is that the recruiter sent out a mass email for this role, and everyone was excited to respond. Perhaps the recruiter identified a handful of top candidates who tightly matched the job requirements, and you weren’t among them. It’s just reality that recruiters frequently do not make the rounds again to contact everyone who wasn’t selected. Or it’s possible the recruiter was deluged by people who happened to respond before you did, and hasn’t gotten to your email. We can’t jump inside the other person’s mind. We can only try to find out. Before you fire off an email to the recruiter, breathe, smile real big, and keep your attitude super-positive. No annoyance. No blaming. No desperation. Say, “I hope you’re having a great day! I previously sent my resume per your request last week. Have you received and reviewed it? If it happened to get lost in the shuffle, I'd be happy to resend. If you’re open to a call for 5 minutes this week, I’d love to learn more about the Senior Engineering Lead.” Dial Things Up If the follow-up email is only met with #crickets, let’s step things up. Check the contact information on the recruiter’s profile to see if her phone number is there. Google her name, her city, and IBM and see if you can uncover her number that way. Here’s a ninja trick that’s really effective. Call the particular location of IBM after hours and find her through their automated phone system. I especially favor this method for another reason: A call can be an interruption to the person on the receiving end. Should she answer in the middle of the day, the significance of your name might not immediately ring a bell for her. She may not be at her desk able to look at your resume immediately, and she’s likely to give you the brush off. However, calling after hours and using the automated phone system means you can leave a voice mail directly for her that she will pick up. “After-hours” means just after 5 or 5:30 their local time â€" doing this at 11 pm would look unprofessional, since voice mail is usually time-stamped. The voice mail you leave is largely similar to the email you sent â€" no need to fabricate completely different language. Make sure to smile and sound pleasant. Re-Direct Yourself One of the elements that makes job search long and laborious is the frustration we feel when something seems great at 1st, but then dies out. That’s a normal and natural feeling. Feel it fully. Then end it quickly. Re-direct your energy towards the next opportunity. This opportunity fell into your lap; you literally didn’t do anything to make it come to you in the 1st place. Therefore, it’s not as if this interaction set you back in your search at all. Positions come and go for a variety of reasons that you’ll never find out about. Should this recruiter re-appear, great. But don’t wait for it. Don’t hold out any expectations. Just regard it as a pleasant surprise. To feel like you have more control over the process, make sure that for every role you want to apply for, you identify the recruiter, senior HR person, or functional decision maker. Initiate real human contact with each relevant person, and be specific: why you’re interested in that particular organization, what exact expertise you offer for the role, and ask if the person is open to a short phone call this week. That’s the best practice when it comes to job search, and being consistent about it will increase your chances. U.S. labor statistics say the average time it takes to land a job is 24+ weeks. But there’s a way that jobseekers age 50+ are consistently getting hired within just 8 weeks. This video case study shows you exactly how. Register today.