AliGator wrote: 

I'd give up on that one. When I was out of work a few years ago I applied for dozens of jobs on-line through agencies and recruiters.
My experience is that unless it is an on-line application directly to the employer's company web site you never hear back.

 MayBaby wrote: 
If we ever get around to redoing our kitchen, we'll talk.

Dang! That Islander is right again!

I've done local networking and I am making friends where I can. It gets interviews.

But um... Y'all gonna buy my stuff someday?

 MayBaby wrote: 
Right. I'm looking local or remote work. Not easy to find stuff that fits me.

 islander wrote: 
Right. This company is hiring, but you have to apply via CareerBuilder. Which is annoying. I guess I could find out who the HR person is and write a personal letter and point the way to my resume. Because I fit their requirements for the one position to a T.

Yeah, I'm looking for work, but I've got a peculiar skill set and some things I'm not willing to compromise on. I do a lot of local netowrking, and I hope some day it will help me score some meaningful paid work.

 AliGator wrote: 
I'm not impressed with CarrerBuilder and think that Monster is the biggest POS. I do it, though. I try to find the business phone number if they don't provide it.

I was talking about local interviews mostly, but I did have a video conference interview, and almost got the job! I was to report to work in a couple of days. I would have if I hadn't been paranoid about the business originating from Hong Kong. I got a bad feeling and let them know. They called back and said they would go with another candidate. I'm glad in this case.

 AliGator wrote: 
More often than not, a company is "fishing" when they run an ad, and then promote from within.

 AliGator wrote: 
Website stuff is tough, especially right now. We had a lightly advertised position a couple months back, and had literally hundreds of responses. I did not read them all. I did resort to the form letter "we'll contact you if interested", just to handle the volume.  I did phone interviews w/ 6, face to face w/ 3. I did personally contact all the "no thanks". But I also think I kind of limited the interview round so I wouldn't have to do that much.  

I currently get about 10 hits a week on our unpublished resume box. I have an autoresponder that says "not hiring at this time, but we'll keep you on file". We do, but honestly if I were to open another slot, I'd ask for a fresh round of resumes.

It's a tough market right now, and I think a lot of places are in the same boat. If you are looking I'd say be persistant, they aren't going to take you out of the running because you showed to much interest and drive. I'd also say applying online or to a generic box is like playing the lottery. You need to do the networking thing. Meet people who are overworked and ask when they are going to do something about. Get that inside line and be the application on the desk before they have to post it anywhere. Then even if they do post, at least they read yours, and an inside recomendation helps too. 

Oh, and I don't know about employment agencies like Snelling. They will advertise for a position and it won't be available. maybe because they don't like me but most likely, they are building an employee base.

 MayBaby wrote: 
Well, I didn't even get an interview. When I was interviewing with Flickr, it took for.ever. for them to get back to me about my status.

 AliGator wrote: 
Well, all I can say is what I've done, and Darcy thinks is appropriate. I called back one week after the interview. If an answering machine or secretary answer, I just tell them that I'm still interested, a valuable asset (in brief) and I am looking forward to being there.

No answer in a week? I do the same, then I should call again next week but I give up.

 hippiechick wrote: 
Yeah. I just looked, and neither position I applied for is still listed on their website. Oh well.

 AliGator wrote: 
You wait about 15 seconds after they said they would be in touch if they were interested. When a company says this, you go, "hmmm".

 AliGator wrote: 
It's like shooting an arrow at the moon, isn't it?

I applied for a job that I was absolutely perfect for, at some job website, and I never heard a word.

Since we're talking about jobs and such, how long should one wait before deciding that the company's not interested in what you have to offer? I had to apply via CareerBuilder, and was told that they'd only be in touch if they were interested. It's been almost a month. Sigh.

Islander? You sound just like my partner and you're both right.

Pester them, Phin. I'm nearly ready to get my own thing going again because I hate pestering and my story is a little different than yours. My partner, whom I admire so much, tells me to pester them, too.
I have. A little. I should do more. She's told me stories of people that showed her company so much persistence, they hired them even though they didn't think they'd be qualified.

 Beaker wrote: 
Or, they are just busy. They are hiring, which indicates more work than staff available at the time. Yes it's bad form, but a bit of understanding instead of jumping to a conclusion might get a job filled, then they will have time to call all the other applicants back.

 BillJ wrote: 
ya goofologist...

 phineas wrote: 

Maybe you should go in and see your interviewer  

I was gonna say something, but then I noticed your avatar. Never mind.

 phineas wrote: 
Agreed.

I've gotten a couple positions by just being persistant (nicely) with companies.  Actually, this job came about by me bugging the guy for ~4 months. Eventually he combined a couple of roles to make a slot for me. In retrospect, I don't know that it was the best path, but it's working out now.