Most job hunters pay attention to the hiring manager and ignore everyone else. However, most hiring managers want the input of others. You may be rejected if a future peer or subordinate says that you seem difficult to work with, or the receptionist complains that you were rude to her. Remember that everyone is an influencer. Follow up with everyone you met formally. Cultivate as many advocates as you can. Have people inside rooting for you. It's better if your future peers, for example, say that you would be great to have on the team. Influence the influencers with a letter or phone call.
Tell outside influencers the position you are interested in and why and how they can help you. Joe, a well-known top-level executive, felt one of his interviews went very well, but he was afraid the interviewer would tap into the corporate pipeline and hear untrue negative rumors about him. Joe has two choices: he can hope the interviewer doesn't hear the rumors, or he can fight for the job he deserves.
Joe has to try to control the pipeline-the key influencers in this situation. First, Joe called some influential people who thought well of him and who the hiring manager would respect. He stated why he wanted this job, and asked them to put in a good word for him. Second, Joe thought of the people the hiring manager was most likely to run into or call for information. Joe called them first and did his best to influence them to support him.
This is hard work, but do you want to control your fate? How badly do you want the job? When you are playing for big stakes, you have to work to do better than your competition.
BE IN SYNC WITH THEIR TIMING
Move the process along to the next step, but at the interviewer's pace, not yours. The timing depends on the personality of the interviewer and his sense of urgency. If the situation is urgent, write your letter overnight and hand-deliver it in the morning. If the manager is laid-back, an urgent delivery is inappropriate. These are not thank-you notes: your primary goal is not to thank the interviewer, but to influence him or her. If your letter will not be an influence, don't send it.
Use your judgment. If things are going along at a good clip, and you are being brought in every other day, you may want to let it ride if you think you have no competition.
Also be aware that if things are not moving along quickly, it may have nothing to do with you. It may well be that the interviewer is not doing anything about filling the position-he may be busy with other business. You'll notice this the next time you are hiring someone. You can't work on the hire every minute, because you have your regular job to do. You thought you would have the new person in place within a month, but you keep getting called away to meetings, your secretary caught the flu, and your boss had an emergency project for you to work on.
If you have no idea what is going on, it would help if you've formed a good relationship with the hiring manager's secretary. Then you could call and say, "Hi, Jane. This is Joe. I was wondering if you could help me with something. I haven't heard from Ellis [her boss] for two weeks and I had expected to hear something by now. I was going to drop him a note, but I didn't want to bother him if he's really busy with other things. I was wondering if he's still interviewing other people or if he's been tied up with other things, or what." Who knows what she'll say? But if she- says he had a death in the family and has been out of town that gives you some idea of what is happening. He is not sitting around talking about you all day long. He is doing other things, and the hiring process often moves more slowly than you think.
HOW CAN YOU TELL IF A FOLLOW-UP LETTER IS A GOOD ONE?
A good letter is tailored to the situation. It would be impossible to send it to someone other than the addressee. It sells you, separates you from your competition, addresses all issues and objections, and states a next step. Finally, its tone replicates the tone of the interview (or creates a good tone if the interview wasn't so good). For example, John's various follow-up notes to those he met at the Kennedy Foundation addressed each of the managers' issues.
Your letters to some people will be very detailed and meticulous. These may take you half a day to write. For others, you will write a simple letter saying that you thought they would be great to work with, and addressing the issues they brought up.
Most job hunters err, however, when they assume someone who is lower level has no influence. Be careful about who you dismiss. During the interview, try to pick up on the relationships between people. In brief, remember to influence the influencers. Write notes to prospective peers you have met. They have some say in the hiring decision-maybe a lot of say. If they don't want you, you might not get hired. For each person you met, think of why he or she would want you there. What's in it for him? What do you bring to the party? Make sure you are not a threat. Overcome his objections. Address any issues raised. Use the tone set in the interview.
Following is a letter from a job hunter, Philip, to a prospective peer, Jonathan. Philip considers Jonathan an important influencer, and noted the following from his meeting with Jonathan:
- Philip sensed that Jonathan was worried about losing his standing as the second-in-command to George, the hiring manager, when the new person came in.
- He was also concerned that the new person might not be a team player or a hard worker, or be willing to help out with his special projects, which involved computer simulations.
- He was concerned about losing the camaraderie in the department, and hoped the new person would have a good sense of humor to offset the stress of working under deadline.
- Jonathan was obviously trying to conduct a very professional interview, and asked Philip a number of times what he thought of the questions.
- Jonathan was relieved when Philip said he would enjoy developing materials for the department, although it was not central to the job. This is a project none of the other competitors would be able to handle.
- Jonathan wondered about the department's reputation outside the company.
The conversation had been light and friendly. Philip considered Jonathan to be the key influencer, and thought George, the hiring manager, would be making the decision with Jonathan. Philip wrote to each of his prospective peers and also to George.
