Just Another Day of Follow-Up

Today I was sitting in a doctor’s office waiting for the person I accompanied to finish an appointment with a specialist. Patients were coming and going; pharmaceutical representatives were in, out, and on their way. In the midst of all the commotion, the phone kept ringing.
Even with a sliding-glass door to separate staff from waiting patients, you could still hear conversations among persons behind the glass. Most of the time, though, the glass door remained open — privacy at its best! The phone rang, again, for the umpteenth time during my two-plus-hour wait. Finally, someone answered it.
Given that I had been working on a project while waiting, I was already equipped with paper and pen-in-hand. So, in no time using my trusty shorthand, I recorded the one-sided conversation as soon as I heard the word “resume.”

Your resume? (My ears immediately switched on and my pen took off).
I don’t know…haven’t seen it. Hold on. “Patty” have you seen a resume from a “Jane Doe”? Nope quips Patty perched on her chair.
Yeah, me neither. Nobody moved one iota to check anything. Hello again. No, we don’t have your resume here…sorry. Oh, you already faxed it twice? Hmm…let me check…hold on again. Patty, she says she already faxed it twice this week.
Well, I don’t have time to look, fires Patty in a more intense tone this time. Can’t you see I’m busy. (She was arranging the new funky pens the pharmaceutical reps just dropped off).
Hello again. Sorry ’bout that. No, we didn’t get it. I just checked. Yeah, well, just fax it over again, OK? Here’s the number…
Yup, thanks, bye now.
I am not sure what the moral of this story is, so I’ll settle upon “follow-up is the name of the game.” Follow-up, follow-up, and then follow-up some more when you submit your resume in consideration for a new opportunity.
By billiesucher and courtesy of CareerHub.com. The Career Hub blog connects job seekers with experts in career counseling, resume writing, personal branding and recruiting.