Why Haven’t I Heard Back From Companies?

“Professional Day” the University’s Annual Career Fair was a few weeks ago and lately, students have come to my office asking about why they haven’t gotten an internship yet. I could literally cut and paste the conversation because it tends to be exactly the same, person to person.

Me: How was Professional Day? Any idea on where you will be doing an internship?

Student: No. I don’t think it went well, I didn’t hear back from any of the people I got business cards from.

Me: That’s awful! l did you write them to say thank you and follow-up?

Student: No…not yet.

Me:

Following up via email or other means,  is the make-or-break in any job search. Many  students feel that if company representatives don’t write them back, then they are probably not interested in hiring. However, if you put yourself in the company’s shoes, they are thinking the same thing, “if the students don’t follow up, then they probably aren’t interested.” Unless the employer explicitly said, “please just submit to the website”, or “please do not email your resume” , or “please be in touch with me in about 3 weeks” then you should be in contact with them as soon as possible.

Less people follow up then you would think. Based on anecdotal evidence, I would say that 1 in 10 university students will actually follow up with every employer they met at a career fair. People just don’t do it for some reason, and it is the follow-up that can differentiate you from other candidates, especially in a tough job market.  The students that get the best internships are the ones that take Professional Day beyond that one interaction. Really,  job fairs are there to help you “Make the Connection”, but the results come from what you do after the event.

Sometimes I hear that a student followed-up with companies last year and no one contacted them after, so they felt discouraged and didn’t email the representatives they met this year. This logic is a bit flawed, and I think in most cases a regression to the mean would be in order. If you don’t continue to follow-up you are closing out opportunities for yourself. No one has ever been in my office telling me that they got an internship by ignoring employers. So, suck it up and write those emails!

Then the next question is, what do I write?

Your email should be brief

Completely free of grammatical or spelling errors

What about the subject line?

I used to get really caught up on what to write as the subject line. I would stare at the subject box and couldn’t move past it. Turns out, the event in which you met them works out nicely for a subject or you could go with the position or department for which you are applying to.

At the very least:

Your email should say that you enjoyed meeting the person, and should  reference the position/department that you are interested in. It would be good to restate some of your relevant professional interests, and include an soft copy of your resume.

Ideally:

The follow up should say thank you as well as engage the person. Mention something that you spoke about when you met them, or something that they might find interesting, something that they might write you back about regardless of wether you were looking for an internship. Some ideas may be an article relevant to the industry, a case study that is pretty cool, reference to research that is going on at your university, or another cool tidbit that makes you look well read, smart, and passionate about their particular industry. This is a lot easier to do if you are genuinely interested in the field. Then attach your resume and tie it back to your interest in the company/position.

Following up is an art and the key to effective networking and the sooner you master it, the better off you will be. Now,I hope this inspired some of you guys to get on your email client and continue to make the most of those Professional Day connections.

-rle

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