Ask the Recruiter

Q. I wrote you a few months back and got some good advice about beginning my job search, so I'm hoping you can help me again.

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I have two companies that have expressed interest in me. I've had substantial phone conversations with my prospective bosses at both places and have sent both my clips. Those promising starts have been followed by the sound of crickets chirping for the past few weeks.

I'm trying to decide whether to e-mail these places and ask for a status update, but I don't want to be pushy or inconvenient. I figured a one- or two-sentence e-mail re-expressing my interest and asking if there was any news wouldn't hurt, but I thought I'd check with you to see if you thought that was appropriate. The waiting is getting to me.

Impatient

A. A polite e-mail asking for a status update is neither pushy nor inconvenient. In fact, it is much easier to deal with than a phone call, which demands an immediate answer and can put the editor on the spot.

Joe Grimm

But make your inquiries sequentially, not simultaneously.

Ask your top-choice option first. If you ask both at the same time and your second choice comes with an offer, you'll be stewing again, hoping to hear from the other place. If the first choice replies with a no, you'll feel comfortable going to your second.

My guess is that if you were hot and now are not, something like a hiring freeze has cooled things off.

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Coming Friday: He wonders about moving from a free weekly to a smaller, suburban daily. But lousy morale and constant layoffs make his question a little more complicated than that.

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