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As a student, I don't have a whole lot of industry experience; however, I did manage to find a company who is "always hiring", and who said I would likely be a good fit in their teams.

I interviewed with them last year, but was told--despite their enthusiasm--that the company has recently taken on a group of new staff, and would get in touch with me at a specific date.

However, they didn't. I attempted to contact the manager who was supposed to email me, but he never replied to me. I then went straight to the co-founder, who set me up with a VP of the company. He replied consistently at first, and I've done everything he's asked of me. However, it's been two weeks since his last email, and I've tried to contact him, with no success.

How do I deal with these higher-ups who are either too busy to get back to me, or who are simply ignoring my messages? Is there a way I can politely contact them without seeming pushy?

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    It sounds like they are not very interested in pursuing your services right now. I would probably start focusing my efforts elsewhere. Feb 26, 2013 at 15:34
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    While 2 weeks may seem like forever when you are unemployed, it is actually a very short period of time when you have a job. Especially, regarding personnel matters. Finding new-hires tend to be low on a person's totem pole of job priorities...until it isn't and becomes critical. I think how frequently you should contact the other company depends on the type of job. A salesperson needs to be aggressive so frequent reach-outs might serve that person well. However, an engineer who is pushy could turn some people off.
    – Dunk
    Feb 28, 2013 at 16:36
  • @Dunk What would you recommend in the case of an engineer, to ensure that the hiring process isn't buried in the hundreds of other emails the person in charge could receive?
    – Cat
    Feb 28, 2013 at 17:04
  • @Eric : I'm just guessing, since each recipient would be unique, but once a month seems appropriate. Each time, it should say something like, just touching base, remind the person of your "unique" qualifications that make you such a good fit and restate your desire to work for the company. That is frequent enough to not be forgotten, but probably not so often as to be annoying. I would also point out, that if you actually have a hiring person's email address then you are already way ahead of the hundreds of other potential hires as they probably only have a generic company email address.
    – Dunk
    Mar 6, 2013 at 20:44
  • @Dunk That's good to know, and it's excellent advice. You might want to post that as an answer.
    – Cat
    Mar 6, 2013 at 21:21

3 Answers 3

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I was working at Brooks AFB when the BRAC commission closed most of it down. Therefore, thousands of civil service people were now in the job market, sometimes for the first time in 20+ years. I was working in an IT support group as a temp - I had landed three jobs in six years, so to me this was just another day in the life.

I would hear stories about how these soon to be ex- workers were flubbing their private sector interviews, and I remarked to a number of them that they would have to practice this a few times before they filed down all the rough edges.

What it sounds like is that you're fixated on one company, and they're not interested. Be prepared to interview with a dozen others. Don't worry too much about landing any one role, just interview each one as best you can. After each interview, figure out what you 'missed' and do whatever you need to fix it. Looking at your profile I see you can write code - does your website demonstrate the skills you're listing on your profile? If so, you shouldn't have much trouble finding something.

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  • This seems really spot on. I did chase after them a bit longer after this happened, and they just threw me around a bit more with "Talk to this person" and taking 7+ days to reply to emails. I have actually found a new job in the meantime, so I don't have to worry about dealing with them again. Thanks. :)
    – Cat
    Jun 24, 2013 at 15:46
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Option 1: Do nothing and nothing will happen. Only possible outcome is no job.

Option 2: Send another email which will probably be lost in the hundred or so emails the average upper level manager sees every day. Very, very unlikely to produce positive result

Option 3: Call him, put him on the spot and hope. Probably outcome negative.

Seems like option 3 is your best bet. All of them suck, and you have a low probability of success, but hey, a low probability is better than 0 probability.

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My best bet for your question is that probably their company is closing down or you are not their first choice (to be blunt).

In any company you want to join however, no one would really want to entertain persistent demands, especially regarding job search. It is the company's prerogative whether you should be contacted or not.

Recommendation? is the give more resumes to other companies that might be interested in your services.

Hope this helps.

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