The Power of Persistence in Job Search
If you are looking for a job, you need to appreciate the power of persistence.
When you reach out for help in the job search, you are likely to encounter one of three personality types:
One is the person who’s straightforward about not being helpful. They claim they don’t network and aren’t willing to make introductions. That’s fine. They’re doing you a favor. Embrace their transparency and move on.
The second is the person who genuinely wants to help. During a conversation, they may start composing emails to people to whom they’d like to introduce you or start spouting the names of the people with whom you should connect. This type is pure gold.
The vexing third type is people who claim they’ll be helpful but don’t follow through. These people can be a bit of a black hole, consuming your time and energy. Follow-ups seem fruitless since they never come through for you despite suggesting that they would. The sooner you can size someone up as falling into this category, the better.
Don’t be surprised if it takes you a few attempts to get someone to respond. Your email may be reaching someone when they’re in the middle of something, and it falls to the bottom of their inbox. It may get lost in the demands of the day. That’s why it often takes a second or third time to elicit a response.
You may be concerned that your persistence will be viewed with annoyance. That may be true after a point. But no one will fault you for trying a couple of times (perhaps a total of three) to connect with someone.
Start by sending your initial ask. Then set a calendar tickler for four business days later. Try again. Set a tickler for another six business days later. Try again. On each follow-up, forward your original email, so it’s clear that this isn’t the first email you’ve sent. Make the subject line a call to action. That is, the first follow up email could simply be “Fwd: Would like to connect.” The next could be “Circling back to arrange a time to speak.” This is a slight modification and reinforces that this isn’t the first attempt.
After three tries, you may decide to move on. You’ll be pleasantly surprised how often you will receive a reply on attempt two or three. This phenomenon isn’t unique to job search. It applies to any selling situation. The sooner you realize the value of persistence, the sooner you’ll start to get more conversations. These will invariably lead to your ultimate goal - landing a job!
I offer individualized career coaching and advising (remote and in-person) along with text, email, and phone support to help job seekers succeed. I've hired more than 100 people and interviewed over 500 candidates. I've worked at large global companies like Morgan Stanley and a company that is now part of Bank of America Private Bank and founded/worked at six startups. I welcome you to contact me and join my mailing list and receive my free guide, "Top 5 Young Adult Job Search Myths."