Gary Nunn wrote:
I worked as a temp quite extensively before getting my current tech support job, and have acted as a secretary to folks involved in hiring in scientific, technical, and medical environments. If you send a "thank you" note or card or email, that makes the people involved in hiring remember you that much more over the others that they interviewed. Even those managers who told me they were annoyed by such notes seemed to remember the "thank you" senders in a more positive light than the other interview-ees. With only a few limitations, the more they hear or read your name, the better off you are.1. After an interview (phone or in person) is it appropriate to send a thank you - either a hand written card or an email. Since I am looking for jobs in the IT field, I tend to favor email. Some sources say the "thank you" is virtually mandatory and some sources say that it is more of an annoyance because they don't want to waste the time to read them.
If you are simply finding out the name, then definitely yes. Putting the correct person's name on a cover letter will make them remember you that much more. It will certainly set your cover letter and resume apart from the majority of received resumes. When you are one resume out of a couple of hundred resumes, any little thing that sets you apart as being particularly resourceful or polite or professional will make it more likely that your resume will actually get read, and not just dumped in "file 13."2. Recently I have been contacting companies to find the name of the person that will be actually receiving my resume and addressing this to them directly. The source that gave me this idea says that this shows initiative. Any thoughts?
However, I would not attempt to contact the hiring person directly via telephone or email. Some places don't mind if you call to verify they received your resume, but beyond that, don't do it. Some places, some hiring people, won't mind, but many places will be upset that you are wasting their time, and if your resume is on the bubble, that might be enough cause for it to get trashed.
Putting this info on your cover letter is a gamble. If you can find out for certain that the person doing the hiring at a given company is supportive of people moving up and out of their own organization, then I would say definitely mention in your cover letter that your supervisor is aware and supportive of your job search, and include (briefly) the reasons. The average amount of time a person spends in an IT position is something like 18 months according to a few different sources I've read, and most IT hiring people will know that.3. This question is one that I am personally on the fence with - My supervisor at the DoD is really great about supporting people when they have opportunities to move up and advance in position, job or salary. He consistently has given glowing references for all of us. So, I put in my cover letters that my supervisor is aware that I am seeking other employment and is listed as one of my professional references. I had a recruiter tell me that this gives a negative impression - kind of like we are mutually agreeing that I should leave. I have always thought this would be a positive since they could always contact my current employer for a reference. Any thoughts on this specific issue would be appreciated.
That being said, if you aren't sure that the person doing the hiring is supportive of their people progressing out of their company, I'd recommend against including mention of your current supervisor in your cover letter, other than perhaps to mention your good relationship with that supervisor and that you are looking forward to making other such good relationships at your new company.
Many places also require you fill out a formal job application, and will usually ask on this application if they can contact your current employer. In fact, places that require such an app also usually prefer to see your references on that application, not on the resume. Strangely enough, I've never known a manager or other hiring person who has had a problem with "References Available Upon Request" at the bottom of the resume instead of the actual references. But in your case, it might play to your advantage to include your references since your current employer is among them. Most hirers are savvy enough to know that government contractors (both the companies and the employees of those companies) change jobs from time to time as a matter of course, and if you are moving out of a position with a contractor, I don't think anyone would think badly of that, especially given the statistic I gave above about IT jobs lasting 18 months on average.
Best of luck on your job search, and I hope this helps.
Reggie Bautista
Tech Support Is Much Better Than Clerical Temping Maru
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