How many times would you call?
 

Last week I had a call from a place for an interview, however I was not home at the time. I called back 90 minutes later, and just got a voice mail, so I left a message. This was Wed, didn't hear anything most of Thursday so left another. Tried Friday but left no voice mail. Tried again yesterday, voice mail left, tried today no voice mail left.

My GF says keeps trying, but I say I have left enough voice mails.

What would you do? Keep trying or give it up?


I have noticed these days unless you happen to be able to answer the phone when they actually call, it's near impossible to get an interview and even when they do leave a voice mail it's near impossible to actually talk to anyone.

Happened several times now with several companies, so not isolated to just this one instance.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

The amount of times you have called and left messages, I would leave it at that. If they were keen to speak to you they would call back.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

If you have time stop by their office and say hi, I would.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

I wouldn't leave further voicemails as you don't want to give the impression of being 'desperate'. One voicemail only would have been ideal I think. I would still call once or twice a week to try to catch them when they are there/available. Maybe try calling at different times? One day during the morning, the other day during lunch, the next time during the afternoon, supper, etc. You have to play the guessing game when you are not familiar with their routines, but I would think that there is a greater chance you might stumble on their times of availability if you vary your calling hours a little bit. Unless they are purposely not answering, in which case you are screwed.

I second caretaker's suggestion of dropping by in person, though. Shows greater initiative from employers' perspectives. I would only try this something like two weeks after, though, because again, you want to balance the assertion you are showing with the façade of confidence that you 'don't need to chase for jobs'.

It's all about showing the right doses of this and that.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

Email

Re: How many times would you call?
 

I don't have the persons email, and the website only has generic emails like info@ or customer service @.


Companies confuse me in how they do things, they call you talk to them with a phone interview, 2 weeks later they call again, you miss the call they leave a number and you never hear from them again.

It seems to be a pretty common occurrence these days if you miss a call.

Trick seems to be to make sure you never do anything and sit at home everyday waiting for a call...lol

Dropping in isn't an option, while the job is local, the recruiting people are not local. Seems all the big companies are using 3rd party recruiting companies these days.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

+1

Three voicemails is enough.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

Employers are confusing, why call in the first place if they have no interest?

Companies confuse me sometimes.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

They're basically very automated these days. Wide screening processes. Lots of non-specialised people carrying out tasks? In this case they could have needed a short list of five and gone out to a dozen people, first come first booked, who are all equally qualified. The main thing is not to take it too seriously.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

I disagree with all the softly softly, don't look depserate stuff, lol. I would just keep hammering the phone till I get an answer. I hate not knowing.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

If I was the employer the answer would come quickly, stop keep phoning, don't call again!

Re: How many times would you call?
 

At least I would know. Nothing to lose.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

Interview calls are so rare these day's it's frustrating when a place calls, asks you to call back and then ignores you, makes no sense to me really. I get about 1 call every 4 months roughly, seems to be best to not even try anymore, less frustration overall and no rejection felt...I don't take rejection well.

If they have no intentions to return calls then don't leave a voice mail in the first place I say.

Then as an employer you should not leave a voice mail asking an applicant to call back and then ignore them. You sound like an unpleasant employer based on your posts.

Re: How many times would you call?
 

That's true. Someone probably has a little box to tick saying "left message for applicant" to show that they are going through the motions. As you say, it makes no sense if they are not interested in getting touch. Do you have a cell phone? Would that making receiving calls more likely?

Re: How many times would you call?
 

We had to downsize to one cell phone, so it's not always with me as my GF takes it when she goes out.

In this case though it would not have made a difference as I was at an appointment and would not have been able to answer it.