I covered this topic a little in my book, How to Get a Job in Video Games, when I mentioned that the best colleges were the ones that were the closest to where video game development studios are located. Well, I just wanted to demonstrate how living and going to school in such an area is a huge benefit. The industry is a small one and it is only located in a few cities. You will undoubtedly run into industry professionals whenever you are out at public places. If you are not where the industry is, though, you can forget this happening.
This past week I went to the Seattle Mini Cooper dealership to get a new power steering pump and fan, because it is a known issue that those parts fail on the model and year of my car and thus I was taking it in to get fixed. I already had to cancel and push back the date, once, because I slept through my alarm one day. I am glad I did, in retrospect! So, I was in the dealership lobby waiting while work was being done to my car. I happened to bring a book with me that was related to video game development and it was loud and clear on the title. I had put the book down while I was walking around and viewing the various decor around the showroom, because I was tired of sitting.
When I got back, There was someone sitting really close to my chair. He pointed out the title of the book I was reading and asked if I was interested in making video games. I told him that I was already working as a developer at Monolith Productions. At first I thought he must be some student or someone who was merely a fan of video games. No, he turned out to be an artist for Valve Corporation. I couldn't believe it! I had been joking with some colleagues just recently how hard it is to meet any of their developers, because for one they are a small studio and secondly, they don't really appear at major conferences frequently. They are also one of the most highly regarded studios in the industry and they probably try to hide themselves as much as possible so that people are not begging them for jobs left and right.
Anyway, we got to talking about art and the Dota series, that he had worked on, and other intricacies of game development. I told him about my previous employers and some people I knew. I specifically avoided asking about job opportunities there but hinted that I was interested in the studio and indirectly wanted to know how someone were to get hired there. I can go on longer about that in another article...He related and we were talking for a long time until it was broken up by a dealership employee who told me that my car was ready. This could have been the end, but I didn't want to let the opportunity go away! I make sure to keep emergency business cards in my wallet for such occasions and I probably haven't used one for almost a year. I happened to have a few and gave him one. He said he didn't have one on him, but right when I got to my studio that day he had emailed me from his company email and said that it was a pleasure to talk to me and wanted to let me have his email. I had also invited him to connect on LinkedIn.
Now, if ever there are jobs he may let me know about them, although I know myself that I will need to work on my portfolio some more until more developers there consider it worthy to get in. But who knows, maybe I made a lasting enough impression on him for that not to matter as much. At any rate, it is good to have a new contact there and who happens to be in the same exact field--art--as me. I thought that everyone would enjoy and be inspired by this story of a chance encounter, and to prove that just living in a city that is booming with game developers is a great way to eventually get a job yourself. I would like to add that having a job already is probably a more desirable situation, as the other person will feel more comfortable sharing insider information with you.
-Ken
Sunday, September 8, 2013
Tuesday, August 27, 2013
Avoid the Trap of Negative Questions During an Interview
As a commenter has pointed out in an article about common mistakes made during an interview, interviews have increasingly become psychological and try to gauge how your personality can handle an intense situation rather than trying to find out your job qualifications and if you can do the job. Like it or not, folks, the main interest in the business world, where most projects are team-oriented, is how nicely you can play with others. The managers want an easy time themselves and don't want to be fighting fires from people with bad attitudes or rumor-spreaders. There are more important things to focus on, but if people are having a bad day or are at ends with another employee, it throws a wrench in the entire process and is unnecessary hardship when the game projects themselves are complicated enough. Most online websites will have you practice the same questions over and over again, but most do not prepare you for the unexpected and "curve-ball" questions that many employers actually prefer. They will try and set you up for failure, and expect you to escape tastefully.
A common example of a tough question is "tell me what you thought went wrong at your last studio/what you didn't like about your last studio." Like it or not, the interviewer does not expect this question to be answered. The best response to something like this is a direct: "I prefer not to speak badly about my last studio." If they try to act like your friend and say something like "come on, you must have something that you didn't like. You can tell me." Bull! They will constantly try and diffuse you to make it seem like it is not serious to speak honestly but they are looking for people who won't. Reiterate and say "I told you already, I am not going to speak negatively about my last studio." You would even benefit from adding something positive like "I learned a lot from that studio and I enjoyed the people I worked with and we worked our hardest to deliver the best product/game that we could." Your new potential employer will be impressed that you defend your last studio and are not easy to find the flaws in the new studio. They are really looking for someone who will not ruin their reputation or will be a complainer that will lower everyone else's moral.
Once you are at the studio, you will find that the same people that interviewed you will be quite open when they have something unpleasant to say about the studio, because they are already hired and know they are "safe." I believe in not complaining in general, unless you constructively see a problem and you are willing to fix it. I know, it sucks and it's unfair that employees feel that they won't be hired if they are not open, but some questions are expected to be dodged in a polite manner. Think of politicians: they are paid to escape tricky questions and to spin all details into a more positive outlook.
The employer mainly wants to see that you can handle these types of questions and know that sometimes it is better to not answer something than to be open about it. They are mainly looking for someone who can grow and who is pleasant to work with. These days, with large teams, and so much competition, there are a lot of people that can do the type of job you do. So, know that your personality will be closely scrutinized and you have to put on your Sunday's best for these people.
I've seen people drastically change once they are hired somewhere because they know how to play this game and can get jobs left and right but then always get fired or don't go very far in their current role. They are making it hard for everyone else who may be able to do a better job than them. You have to be realistic and know that this happens, though, and that you can't beat them bust must join them in being able to make yourself look as good as possible during an interview (this does not mean lying about your skills).
For me, it is difficult to not be truthful but I have found that sometimes keeping my mouth closed is better than revealing too much. Try it sometime: see how people don't have a problem if you don't say a lot when they ask you questions. Do this with new acquaintances to see if they like you or not: and I assure you that the whole conversation will go better if you don't say that one thing on your mind that you feel is really true but you know isn't the most acceptable.
Here is the article, but know that the questions you should be ready for in the interview are not the common ones that everyone expects: http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/6-mistakes-job-interview/
-Ken
P.S. I am convinced that the more difficult your job description and requirements, then consequently there is less competition and thus less difficult questions being asked during interviews. So, if you are an artist or programmer--where there is tons of other people who want your job--then you have to master how to interview...think of yourself as a newscaster or someone giving a demo at a conference. Also, this might not be said anywhere else but I went down the negative path on a question in an interview in the past and I caught myself in the middle. Since I was already revealing a lot, I figured I might as well stay consistent and keep answering the negative question. You will find out, though, that once you light a spark the interviewer will keep wanting to give you fuel to see how far you can take a negative comment. So, if you do find yourself answering something that you shouldn't have in the first place, take charge and show them that you still have power as an interviewee--by not finishing the answer. Say something like: "I don't like where this is going and I would prefer not to continue talking about that subject. I feel that this is not relevant to this interview and would like to get to more objective issues. This would also subtly tell them that you don't want to be harassed anymore with those exploitative questions. Make sure to do this politely and don't raise your voice or use too much emphasis in your wording.
A common example of a tough question is "tell me what you thought went wrong at your last studio/what you didn't like about your last studio." Like it or not, the interviewer does not expect this question to be answered. The best response to something like this is a direct: "I prefer not to speak badly about my last studio." If they try to act like your friend and say something like "come on, you must have something that you didn't like. You can tell me." Bull! They will constantly try and diffuse you to make it seem like it is not serious to speak honestly but they are looking for people who won't. Reiterate and say "I told you already, I am not going to speak negatively about my last studio." You would even benefit from adding something positive like "I learned a lot from that studio and I enjoyed the people I worked with and we worked our hardest to deliver the best product/game that we could." Your new potential employer will be impressed that you defend your last studio and are not easy to find the flaws in the new studio. They are really looking for someone who will not ruin their reputation or will be a complainer that will lower everyone else's moral.
Once you are at the studio, you will find that the same people that interviewed you will be quite open when they have something unpleasant to say about the studio, because they are already hired and know they are "safe." I believe in not complaining in general, unless you constructively see a problem and you are willing to fix it. I know, it sucks and it's unfair that employees feel that they won't be hired if they are not open, but some questions are expected to be dodged in a polite manner. Think of politicians: they are paid to escape tricky questions and to spin all details into a more positive outlook.
The employer mainly wants to see that you can handle these types of questions and know that sometimes it is better to not answer something than to be open about it. They are mainly looking for someone who can grow and who is pleasant to work with. These days, with large teams, and so much competition, there are a lot of people that can do the type of job you do. So, know that your personality will be closely scrutinized and you have to put on your Sunday's best for these people.
I've seen people drastically change once they are hired somewhere because they know how to play this game and can get jobs left and right but then always get fired or don't go very far in their current role. They are making it hard for everyone else who may be able to do a better job than them. You have to be realistic and know that this happens, though, and that you can't beat them bust must join them in being able to make yourself look as good as possible during an interview (this does not mean lying about your skills).
For me, it is difficult to not be truthful but I have found that sometimes keeping my mouth closed is better than revealing too much. Try it sometime: see how people don't have a problem if you don't say a lot when they ask you questions. Do this with new acquaintances to see if they like you or not: and I assure you that the whole conversation will go better if you don't say that one thing on your mind that you feel is really true but you know isn't the most acceptable.
Here is the article, but know that the questions you should be ready for in the interview are not the common ones that everyone expects: http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/6-mistakes-job-interview/
-Ken
P.S. I am convinced that the more difficult your job description and requirements, then consequently there is less competition and thus less difficult questions being asked during interviews. So, if you are an artist or programmer--where there is tons of other people who want your job--then you have to master how to interview...think of yourself as a newscaster or someone giving a demo at a conference. Also, this might not be said anywhere else but I went down the negative path on a question in an interview in the past and I caught myself in the middle. Since I was already revealing a lot, I figured I might as well stay consistent and keep answering the negative question. You will find out, though, that once you light a spark the interviewer will keep wanting to give you fuel to see how far you can take a negative comment. So, if you do find yourself answering something that you shouldn't have in the first place, take charge and show them that you still have power as an interviewee--by not finishing the answer. Say something like: "I don't like where this is going and I would prefer not to continue talking about that subject. I feel that this is not relevant to this interview and would like to get to more objective issues. This would also subtly tell them that you don't want to be harassed anymore with those exploitative questions. Make sure to do this politely and don't raise your voice or use too much emphasis in your wording.
Sunday, July 28, 2013
Making a Good First Impression at You New Job
For me, being the competitive person that I am, I work as fast as I can and take little breaks browsing the internet or socializing with other team members. At the studio I'm at, the people are not the most social, so it's easy to stay focused on the task at hand. I spent the first couple of days in my new position transferring all of my preferences and settings of my software--such as Maya, 3DS Max, Photoshop, etc. to be able to make it feel like "home" and so that I am not reteaching myself something I don't know. It is like using the language you are best at instead of trying to use a secondary language to describe the same sentence. You want to use your strengths on a job and make those even stronger. You should be focusing on your weaknesses at home because if your boss finds out you are slow on a particular task, chances are you will not be receiving repeat tasks of that nature.
Another tactic I have been using is to be friendly and outgoing. I have found that in the video game industry, people don't really come to me to offer their friendship. I have to fight for theirs and come to them to be outgoing. I target the major influencers in the company to be able to instantly gain trust with the higher employees and managers, as they already have respect for those rockstar employees and I am respected by association. Also, with them as your friend, they will offer more revealing tips and will want to see you succeed.
A third tactic I use to gain respect at a new studio is to be quiet and observe everyone around me and their demeanor. I don't want to be the one loud person in a quiet office, so I follow the flow and do not want to rock the boat. I have already done some of that in the past, thinking I was going to shake up the whole studio and improve things left-and-right. Employers don't want this type of person. They have the studio setup as comfortably as they could possible manage, so you should be trying to fit in. You wouldn't crash a skateboarding competition with a unicycle, for instance...
The last strategy I use to gain acceptance and likability is for my boss as well as my colleagues. I don't ever, ever want to complain about the type of work that I am doing. Maybe in a fun way to show that I know what I'm doing and not specifically related personally to the boss's choice of giving me a particular task, but more of a "isn't it funny how...." and describe something about a particular piece of the task, but not the task itself. This is only if you don't have anything else to talk about. Other than that, be polite and thankful that you are getting tasks and don't complain early on or in public and especially not in the office, because the lead will think you are selfish and don't understand that all tasks are important and it is a team effort to make the game great. Sure, if you know people well enough and you feel like you are invincible then say anything you want as long as it's work-appropriate. I have seen people get away with it before but I honestly think they must sleep with one eye open. It is hard to be a dick at work and have everyone be okay with you, so don't shoot yourself in the foot--especially early on in your new position. If you are hired at the same time as someone else and you notice them getting better tasks than you, bring it up with your boss--but not immediately. You should wait a couple of weeks to see if it is actually true, then, go into your bosses office and make sure to close the door to show them respect for privacy. Let them know you are concerned that the tasks you are getting are not challenging enough for you and that you would prefer X (the type of task the other person has been doing, but don't make it a complaint and don't insult the other person). The boss should feel social pressure to not want to be mean to you, so you should be able to start getting those tasks to. I have had to resort to this at a couple of studios in the past, because somehow some people just get better tasks, and I believe that it is always because they know tons of people at the studio before they got hired their and they must be talking in secret about wanting to get better work, and they know a producer or someone who can make that happen. It sucks how office politics work, but you have to be ready to deal with them...
I hope that this has helped and if you want more tips check out this great article that highlights even more information, but is a little general in its content (because most people don't work in the video game industry).
http://www.glassdoor.com/blog/impress-job/
-Ken
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Relocating to a New City for Work: How to Do It, Cheaply
- Make sure you have money saved before relocating. This is especially true if your position is planned to be temporary in the future (designers and artists), or if the company is not willing to pay relocation expenses. I thought that most companies would offer something for relocation, but this is not the case. Overall, my gas money through car travel, staying in inexpensive hotels, and stocking groceries and amenities items for a new apartment have been close to $1000, altogether. Add the cost of an apartment near $800-$1000 a month and the security deposit fee and a relocation will be about $2,500. And that is about the most inexpensive that I could make it.
- Find a living condition with a short-term lease. My first choice was to do a short term lease in a shared housing situation, say three months, with month-to-month payment after that. You never know how long a contract position will last and you want to plan on being able to end your rental contract at the same time as your employer ends your employment contract. If you get a full time position out of it then it would be the time to look for an upgrade. I eventually ended up in a one bedroom apartment that was offering a 3 month or 11 month lease. I asked for a 6 month lease, since my contract is around 10 months in length and I did not want to have to pay the extra month on the 11 month term, but I also didn't want to ask for the full 10 months in case I find another job elsewhere or the contracted is ended early. This happened to a colleague of mine: his contract was ended a few months early and he is now staying in his apartment in New York to look for jobs because he doesn't want to deal with the hassle of subletting and finding someone else to cover his rent payment.
- Try and find a place to live that is already furnished. An included bed, desk, and kitchen/cooking-ware and furniture is all a plus. This is why I usually prefer to share a house with someone rather than finding an apartment. Buying a new bed, desk, cleaning supplies, plates and kitchenware, etc., are all expensive and if you will be moving soon anyway you are not going to be able to store those things anywhere. I barely made my trip with all of my luggage packed into my smaller-than-average car, and now I have a couple of more items that I am either going to have to try and sell quickly on Craiglist, donate, or throw away once I move. The apartment I found thankfully had temporary tenants in mind and includes a bed, desk, microwave, mini-fridge, bookcase and chair. I've never seen anything like it before and it's in a nice building. SCORE!
- For anything that you do need to buy that you won't be able to bring with you if you have to move again, buy it at Goodwill or a thrift store. I can't stress this enough: buying used and better-quality furniture is possibly the best tactic and secret for saving money than buying new junk that is higher priced. By the time you've used it for a few months it will used anyway. Also, this is the definition of recycling and you are reducing all of the unnecessary waste that is already putting too much stress on the environment. I like to go to the Goodwill locations in the best areas of town because they always have higher-quality items and are usually the same price as the poorer locations. Even though I can easily afford new items, I like to save money and use that for other things such as vacations or new video games or items that I am really passionate about: not another set of plates and eating utensils.
- Don't make the trip a vacation unless you really needed one anyway. For my case, I had already taken a long vacation beforehand. I did not want to make additional stops along my road trip as this would add to extra nights booking hotels. Hotels are the single most expensive item in travel, other than gas costs--which are unpreventable--so I prefer to not have to spend many days on the road and get an apartment or room to rent as soon as I reach my location. After all, you are moving to work, not to have fun. You can have fun once you've settled down at your job and started earning a new paycheck and have some savings coming in. Again, I have savings already but I want to choose to go on a vacation on my own terms and I usually want to visit locations that can't be seen from a road trip (such as to other countries, or a beach or unique town that is away from common interstates).
This is my advice for relocating for a new job and keeping in practical. It is a bit daunting with the cost and time that it takes to get setup in a new location, and you still are not mentally-settled until a month or more. I think that most people are too afraid that they can't afford it because they are thinking in terms of retail and top price for everything, but this doesn't have to be the case. The last thing you want to do is to use a credit card for traveling and get into debt. Although I used mine so I don't overdraft my main checking account, if you are already in debt I suggest you learn how to handle your own financing before trying to use a credit card to solve your financial problems. You will be using the first couple of weeks at the job just to pay for your relocation expenses. I hope that I have encouraged you to take the risk and choose to relocate for a new opportunity. I am not sure about doing this if you do not already have a job secured, but it is definitely worth it if you do.
-Ken
Wednesday, June 26, 2013
A Discussion About Art Tests
Format of an art test:
When you send in an application to a studio and they like your portfolio, but don't have a good enough referral as to find more about your positive track record, or they feel like you may not be able to match their style, you will be given an art test to prove to the developers that you have the skills necessary to complete tasks for their studio. If you already have been working in the gaming industry and have built a reputation and you have a compelling referral, a studio has a level of trust that they can hire you and not have to worry about you not being able to perform well on their team. Since most of the studios that you will be applying to may not know anything about you--this is especially true if you are applying out of state--then you will most likely be given an art test anyway. Unless your portfolio is nothing but pure gold and to the highest quality standards of the current generation of video games, then they have reason to be doubtful. I must admit that it is hard to keep your portfolio to that high and updated standard unless you have been working for one of the top AAA studios, which happens to work on the same style as the studio that you are applying to. It takes a lot of time for an artist to release a personal project, and even more so if it is a full-scale environment. This means that the work in your portfolio will best be utilized if you focus on making small and digestible props so that you can really polish the hell out of them. A senior artist who was in charge of hiring applicants told me that it is what separates a hire-able applicant from someone who is a novice: their work must look AAA, no matter what they are working on. If you choose to complete a full-fledged environment, you are shooting yourself in the foot--because it will take longer to complete and will be judged as not appearing top-quality/AAA unless you put in even more time to make it look even better. So, you should be focusing on beautiful corners and smaller areas of an environment and not worry about being able to see the model from every angle (unless it is a prop/single asset).
With that said, when you get an art test from a studio, this is how it usually happens:
- They email you confirming that they would like to send you an art test, and would like to know when you would like to receive the materials. They do this because most art tests require a deadline of about a week to complete, and they want to make sure that you are ready to meet that time restraint. If you are working overtime you may want to start the test on the weekend, to get your best foot forward, for instance.
- Once you confirm you are ready for the test, they send you a zip file that usually consists of a style-guide/instructions document and a few reference images. These can vary from a painted concept to some in-game screenshots.
- The level of sophistication and complexity of a test varies wildly among studios: some are okay with having just a few screenshots (shaded and another with wireframe only) as a submission, others want a certain file structure and exact naming conventions in the file and supporting textures and want all textures and models submitted for reviewing the cleanliness of the modeling and UV work. Some require modeling only and supply their own textures, while others want all of the textures to be made from scratch (this is especially important in a stylized/cartoon art test). Most tests fall somewhere in-between: they want you to create your own textures and submit the files, but they usually don't care much about the naming conventions or file structure--as long as everything is clean.
- Once you finish your test, make sure to compress the files into a .zip format (as most studios will be able to have a .zip reader but may not have a .rar reader) and email them back to the person who gave you the test (which is most likely Human Resources). Note: some email systems may not be able to accept files over a certain size, and one studio couldn't accept files over 10MB! This makes it hard to turn in a complex test. So, the best solution to this is to host the file as a downloadable link on your website (if you are website-savvy or download the free application Dropbox and let them access the file from there). Make sure to include a link to the downloadable file in the submission email.
- Even though tests have a deadline, it is acceptable to go above the time restraint--within reason. I turned in one test a day late and it was still passed. A colleague of mine turned in a Zbrush test for a prop a week or two late and was still able to land a job! The quality of the test matters more than the time frame you completed it in. Developers understand you are busy and also that good art takes a while to complete. If your competition is turning in tests early but are not to par with yours, the company will put you at the top of their list even though you were over the time limit. Make sure to make a note about why you were late in your email so that they know that you still took the test seriously.
- Now, is the not-so-fun part of the art test: waiting. It usually takes a few days to a week for a studio to get back to you with an answer, especially if you past the test because now they are interested in you. If you don't hear back, it is acceptable to check in about the test weekly. Note that one particular studio in California that was working on an MMO did not get back to me for a month and when they did they failed my test, because I had not used the most pleasant of words in my last email since I was fed up that it took a month for the studio to reply back to me about my test. Don't let this happen to you: always act professional even if the studio is not acting professional themselves. This may be a sign that they are a disorganized studio or it may have been a fluke on their part. Either way, you don't want to pass up a potential opportunity. Sometimes, when a studio does not get back to you soon it is almost a tale-tale sign that you flunked the test. I checked in with one studio a week after a test and they got back immediately saying I failed the test. It seems that they were waiting for me to email them to tell me anything.
- If you have passed the test, great! You are far from getting hired, though: as you still need to pass the HR "salary" phone call (because that's really the question they want to know about you the most) and the in-person interview. These are both grueling and studios like to take their time in making their selection so it could still be a week or more before you know if you have a chance at a job. If it is a top studio with lots of funding they will fly you out for an interview. If it is a local studio they will get back to you sooner. If it is a distant studio with not much funding, they will either interview you on skype/video conference call or a simple conference call with no video.
Concluding Notes:
Make sure to triple-check your work before submitting an art test because some studios will be turned off by the smallest mistake and will not give you the chance to fix it once submitted. It seems that the video game industry like to be particularly harsh on artists and that is why it is necessary for you to spend the extra time making sure that everything is clean and organized. I have been doing some reading of Brenda Brathwaite's book, Breaking into the Game Industry, and she states that programmers have tests that only last a few hours while designers have tests that can be completed in a few days. Artists, though have tests that take one week. And, you'd better take that whole week to make the modeling and texturing the best it can be. Don't turn in a test too early because a studio won't care that you got the work done really fast if the quality is not up to par. So, now you know how to complete an art test. The biggest obstacle from getting an art test is a referral. I have found it difficult to hear anything back from a studio, much less been given an art test, unless I list a referral in my application (someone who works their that you know). So don't forget to keep networking, as some people will tell you to "focus on your art" but you probably won't get very far without the connections to get your art into the right hands.
Good luck!
-Ken
P.S. For a good laugh and to see what not to do for your portfolio, check out this art demo reel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FiARsQSlzDc
Monday, June 17, 2013
Video Game Designer is Voted A Top Ten Career in America
http://money.cnn.com/gallery/pf/2012/11/01/best-new-jobs-in-america/index.html
Monday, June 3, 2013
A Free Script for a Follow Up Call
- Don't call back too soon. At least three days should be given so that the HR manager can sort through other applicants and make sure to have the team review your details. I prefer to wait even longer--at least a week--because I know that in this industry time flies and everyone is usually so busy and there is so many other applicants that you don't want to agitate them by calling too soon. It's better to call too late than to soon, in my opinion: by that time, you may have heard something back anyway.
- Be polite. Make sure to keep a positive and pleasant mood the entire time regardless of how flaky the person you are talking to may be.
- Talk to the person that you talked to originally. If they called you from their cell phone, call them back on their cell phone. Don't call outside of business hours (usually 9AM-5PM). If you get a receptionist or the only phone number you got was the HR manager, then ask to be transferred to the actual hiring manager that you spoke to (this is only if you already had the in-person interview). If you just had the initial phone screening, then you should be talking to the HR manager or whoever contacted you.
- Have a script ready, so that you keep the conversation short and simple and to make sure that you ask all that you wanted. Here is the script that you can use:
Follow Up Phone Call Script
- This is [Your Name] calling you back. We had an interview for the [Position Name] last Wednesday (or whichever day you talked to them).
- I am intrigued by the work that your studio does and the games it works on, such as [Game Name] (this part is just some sort of compliment as to why you like the studio and reiterate that it would be a good fit for you. Make it sincere).
- I would like to know if there has been any decision made?
- [If there has been no decision made] Are you still considering my application? (only if you feel comfortable with this one. You may want to wait to say this until it has been a few follow-up calls later).
- Will it be okay for me to call again within a few days, to see how the process is going?
- Again, thank you for your time.
*Note 2: It is very likely that the HR manager will not answer your call. Many times, the HR department may not answer calls they don't know. They will especially not answer your call if they remember your number and this is more likely if you check in too soon. In this case, you will want to leave a message on their answering machine. It is still preferable that you talk to them in person, though, so it may be worth waiting until the next day to call in and see if they pick up. You don't want to be making multiple calls with no message, though, so if you attempt multiple calls in the same day and they never pick up, make sure to leave a message on the last one.
This strategy has to be the least-utilized of all when applying for a job. That is more reason for you to use it, because other applicants are not even considering it. This one call may be the deciding factor for the employer, if you were previously on the fence about a decision. So use it!
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