After sending off another splurge of e mails today to law firms I don't know, for jobs they probably don't have, I was left wondering "When does this all start to look a bit desperate?". In other words, when does looking pro-active turn into pestering? And, in fact, does it really actually matter at all?
There's one firm in particular whose e mail inbox probably starts flashing red if an e mail from me arrives. In fact I'd like to think that they have some sort of warning siren named after me in the event of undesirable e mails arriving on their system. I've interviewed with them twice (turned a perfectly good job offer down from them once, but that's another story) and since the last of those interviews have probably e mailed them 3 times. And, actually, I think its their fault.
You see, they dangled a very small baby carrot in front of me the last time we spoke. Apparently, I wasn't at all suitable for the job they were advertising (the clue was in the fact that the job title said "corporate" lawyer and not "real estate" lawyer) but they did want to speak to me to keep me "on the radar" as far as future real estate roles went. In fact, they even anticipated they may well have a suitable role in the "upcoming months". Perfect. A chink of light maybe.
So, a few months go by and me, looking to stay pro-active, decides to e mail them to "re-affirm my interest" (this is HR speak for "I'm still unemployed....give me a bloody job"). Nothing. Not even a courteous sorry, still no suitable vacancies. A few more months pass by and in a last ditch attempt to show that I am still keen to "return to the workplace (ie "I am now completely bloody broke and could really do with that job you sort of maybe slightly hinted might be on offer"). Nothing. And I was polite (again). But nothing. No response. I re-read the e mail to check for anything that might have sounded a bit desperate or impolite or, worse still, even for typos! Nope. Did I call him Edna instead of Edward? Paula instead of Paul? Definitely not.
So what was I doing wrong? Why has this person (who I've spoken to at length on several occasions over the course of various telephone interviews) decided to completely and blatantly ignore several polite, well meaning and well worded e mails? And today it hit me. Because he has a job to do. He's the manager of a large law firm. He actually has people he needs to manage. His job doesn't involve massaging my ego simply because he may have indicated over 12 months ago that he quite liked me and thought I might be suitable for a job if one came up in the future. This is a man who actually has work to do, whose day does not revolve around wondering what happened to that bloke he spoke to over 12 months ago and pondering on why he doesn't call any more. Because, although finding a job is pretty much the centre of my universe right now, finding me a job is not the centre of his.
So, does it matter that I e mailed him again today? No, I don't think so. So does my pro-activity start to look a bit like the actions of a stalker? Again, no, I dont think so. Its all about reminding people at reasonable regular intervals that you are still keen and still want to work for them. They may not have a job for you. Hell, they may not even reply (and why should they?). But if you don't swear at them, sound eager (but not too eager) and don't get their gender wrong, then there's nothing wrong in just checking in once in a while, just to see if things have changed. Because, lets be honest, although its tough finding a job at the moment, things can't stay this shit forever. And regular, reasonable, civilised law firm stalking could pay off.
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