A friend of mine just accepted a new job. He was very unhappy as the manager of a small family owned business because the family members could not leave the business alone. They hired him to manage the thing and but could not stay away from micro managing him. It is a shame because he is a good guy and the business owners are nice people but it could not work in this situation. The family needs to either take the management responsibility or truly stay out of the way.
So, my friend started looking. He asked if I knew of any openings and if I would keep him in mind for anything he hears about. I told him that I would. This is what would be referred to as networking and is the most common method to fill open positions. However in this situation, no opportunities came along in the short term.
He then tried the want ads in the newspapers which provided a limited number of openings but he did apply to several which suited his qualifications. The companies however never bothered to acknowledge his reply to the ad. The lack of a response was disheartening but he kept trying.
The internet has supposedly become the place to find job openings. There is careerbuilder.com, jobs.com and several others. Finally he came on Indeed which allegedly summarizes all the others. As before, he found some possibilities and applied but did not receive any acknowledgement from those requests either.
My friend is executive timber and also went to the headhunters. They seemed very interested from the start: one of them even called me since I was a reference for him. I could honestly provide a solid and very positive approval of his work. However, my friend told me that after the initial flurry of activity to gain information, he never heard from them again.
I think you can see where I am going here. It is difficult to understand why the companies cannot at least provide some response to the applicant. There are many websites and aids to help develop the best resume and the best letter of introduction but perhaps the companies and headhunters need the lesson in etiquette. I am curious why these prospective employers appear so flippant in dealing with individuals that make the effort to apply.
The job my friend finally found was because of an acquaintance. So, for him networking was successful. He still talks about how difficult it was to wait and wait after applying to openings. If you find the need to apply, do not become discouraged by the lack of response to your correspondence, just keep on looking for opportunities with others. We can rationalize that these inconsiderate clods are not worthy of our talent. In many respects, it is probably true.
