Why the Phone Isn't Ringing

You check to see if the battery is low. Stare at it. Check it again. You access voice mail just in case you missed a call. Wake up in the middle of the night, and drawn to it by its lighted screen or blinking light, you check it again. Turn it off? No way! It’s your constant companion. It’s your phone. You’ve sent out dozens (hundreds) of resumes with no response. Why isn’t the phone ringing?

I checked one of the groups on LinkedIn, and found frustrated job seekers discussing their job searches. On the job hunt for up to two years, they shared their experiences, fears and theories about why they haven’t been successful and the many challenges job seekers face in today’s job market. Here are five observations that may explain why you’ve been out there chasing leads and networking without success:

1. Employers are uncomfortable hiring the long-term unemployed. Well, duh! The only reason you’ve been out of work so long is that no one has hired you. You’ve been looking ever since the layoff. You didn’t take a long vacation and then decide to just “hang out” for a couple of months! Employers fear people out of work for a long time get into a groove, lose their sense of urgency and skill levels.

2. The job you applied for doesn’t exist. What? Yes, some companies advertise jobs to build a file of resumes for the future. Others use job postings to drive job seekers, recruiters or just about anyone to their company website. No matter how long you wait, no one is ever going to call about that job.

3. Employers fill jobs internally. You may have even had a first or second interview for a position, only to find out that the job went to an internal candidate. They will always have an edge over an outside candidate. A known entity, a current employee can transition easily without recruiting, testing and training costs. If you get an interview, ask if there are internal candidates under consideration.

4. They’ve upped the ante. With a huge labor pool, companies are raising basic requirements. Where an associate’s degree or equivalent work experience used to get you the job, companies are now requiring bachelors or even master’s degrees for entry-level positions. You may have held a senior position without a degree at your last job, but all that experience won’t get the phone to ring. If you’re close to a degree, see if you can finish up online or at a local college.

5. One size doesn’t fit all. It’s easy to go to Kinko’s and print 100 copies of your résumé and cover letter and mail them out, or spend the day applying for 25 jobs. What a hiring manager sees is someone tired of the chase and has gotten lazy. You may need several resumes for different jobs, and each one needs a customized cover letter. A little extra work will help take aim and hit the mark.

Mary Nestor-Harper, SPHR, is a consultant, blogger, motivational speaker and freelance writer for BusinessWorkForce.com. Based in Savannah, GA, her work has appeared in Training magazine, Training & Development magazine, Supervision, BiS Magazine and The Savannah Morning News. When she’s not writing, she enjoys singing with the Savannah Philharmonic Chorus and helping clients reinvent their careers for today’s job market. You can read more of her blogs at businessworkforceblog.com and view additional job postings on Nexxt.