Posting to a networking group I belong to
I applied for a job in July and received an interview but did not get the position. The recruiter gave me her business card and told me if I ever have any questions to contact her. Recently I found a new post on a new position at the same company. Is it OK for me to contact the same recruiter I had an interview with and tell her I am interested in the new position that has just been posted. Or would it hurt me to contact her and she remembers that I did not get the last position I applied for at the company?
My response
There’s nothing wrong with contacting the recruiter again – she did say to do so if you ever have any questions. Even if she hadn’t, there would be nothing wrong with reaching out.
The key is to examine why you didn’t get the job offer the last time:
- What insights did you get from that process that you can take into this new possibility?
- Is the new opening significantly different, and more suited to your skills?
- What can you tell the recruiter than will make her interested in presenting you for this position – that will keep her from assuming it’s a waste of time, since you were turned down last time?
- Have you revamped your resume or portfolio so that it is stronger than last time, or stronger for this new position?
Did you seek feedback last time as to why you didn’t get the job? You want to make a habit of doing this, so that you can be more successful on future interviews. You may not get feedback in a lot of cases, but if you ask the question in a very professional manner, it can do no harm, and may actually result in converting some of the people you’ve met into potential networking contacts.
And read this for more on how to make the most effective use of recruiters.