Do you call?

MagicMarker

Just something which i'm curious about. When applying for jobs, i never call. A few years ago i did but most of the time you're just told to send a CV and they'll get back to you!

The ways things are at the moment, do you think it's a good idea to call and speak to someone in person? Who knows, you might get a slight advantage if you make a decent impression over the phone?

Alanstrainor

Just having being told i got a job about 30 minutes ago, definitely call! I had just been sending cv's off to generic HR departments for about a month and got no where. But a week ago i started ringing around, and asking for names to address CV's to ect. and had an interview on tuesday and now have a job! Perhaps i was lucky, but it's always better to have a name and a specific email address/address to send CV's to.
Best of luck!

MagicMarker

Congrats dude, i hate you, but congrats:D

Chinafoot

Definitely call.

You should at least do a follow-up call after submitting your CV. Shows interest and initiative.

Kinetic^

Things are generally slow so anything you can do to be remembered and put ahead of everyone else will help. 99% of the time these days you'll be contacted via email. After the interview, send that person an email saying thanks to them and the other folk, if any, for taking the time to see you. I've always read about doing things like this and was like.......meh. However things are slow atm.

I've been on the look out for a job for the past 3 weeks. In the space of the last week,the 2 interviews I've had, I followed them up with a nice email and I got offered both jobs.

MagicMarker

Cool.. unfortunately i haven't got a single interview with an actual company yet, just recruitment agencies.

But starting Monday any companies i apply to directly i'll give a quick call. Is it better to call before submitting a CV or after? And if after, how long? Next day maybe?

Alanstrainor

MagicMarker wrote: »

Cool.. unfortunately i haven't got a single interview with an actual company yet, just recruitment agencies.

But starting Monday any companies i apply to directly i'll give a quick call. Is it better to call before submitting a CV or after? And if after, how long? Next day maybe?

I'd call first, and see if there's someone in H.R who you can send your cv + cover letter to, even just a name and an email. That way at least there's something going for you above those who sent in generic cv's to the hr department.
Just my €0.02, it's not like i have much experience with all this hunting for jobs lark!

Kinetic^

Another tip, which is something I've had to learn the hard way. When a company rings you about a job, ask them to email them over the job spec so you can browse over it before making a decision. Then when you get the spec, read it and search Jobs.ie/irishjobs.ie/monster.ie for it. There's a good chance that the agency has plucked it from off those sites. I find searching by type of job (accounts/It/whatever) and then the location usually comes up with something.

A company would much rather hire somebody direct then pay €10k for you through an agency.