What do I say when I call this lady? allilm: I come from a small town, which just happens to be the capital of my state. My parents have lived there for almost 30 years and probably have at most one degree of separation from everyone else who lives and works there. Now that I'm back in this small town, I'm trying to find a descent job so I can live, work and have my daughter in school, all in the same town (currently I work about 30 miles away). In looking for a state job, my parents have helped me out with advise and leads, but I'm very hesitant to do anything that even hints at nepotism.
So last week, right before Thanksgiving, I found out about this position with one of the agencies for which I would love to work. The title sounds a little beyond my experience and education, but the description actually fits me to a T. Within a couple hours after reading the job posting my dad mentions that he had run into someone he knows at a local place at which my folks often hang out and talked to someone associated with this agency. He told this guy about my qualifications, the guy wrote my name down and gave my dad the name of a woman I should call.
So what exactly do I say to this woman when I call? My dad wants me to mention that this other guy asked me to call her, but beyond that, should I come up with questions about the position, should I ask to whom I should send my resume? I hate the idea of saying, "Yeah, my dad ran into so-and-so while having a Dos Equise down at the-Mexican-restaurant, and after talking to him about me, the guy told my dad to have me call you." Also, the job posting mentions wanting writing samples, but my current position doesn't require any kind of official writing. Should I pull out papers from grad school or see if she'd want to give me a topic on which to write something?
Re: What do I say when I call this lady? icwtsmnl: [quote author=alli link=topic=38049.msg411359#msg411359 date=1164812629">
but I'm very hesitant to do anything that even hints at nepotism.
should I come up with questions about the position, should I ask to whom I should send my resume? I hate the idea of saying, "Yeah, my dad ran into so-and-so while having a Dos Equise down at the-Mexican-restaurant, and after talking to him about me, the guy told my dad to have me call you."
Should I pull out papers from grad school or see if she'd want to give me a topic on which to write something?
[/quote">
1) in a small town where there's a 1 degree of separation, you won't be able to avoid nepotism. take it. you need a job.
2) you don't have to tell the detail of what your dad and the guy were doing. just say "John Doe passed along your information and suggested that I contact you regarding the xyz position. Would you be the right person to talk to about it?" the conversation should flow from there.
3) who cares about the title. the job duties are what matter.
4) yes, pick your best grad school papers that show the writing style that would be required at this job.
good luck!
Re: What do I say when I call this lady? allilm: I just realized that another position, for which I'm applying at this agency, which had a deadline of tomorrow, requires me to send my resume to the same person as this other position. So now I'm looking at editing my cover letter to somehow apply for both of these positions with one cover letter and resume. I'm actually going to ask the lady about that before I turn it in tomorrow. Weird thing is, this agency is kind of separate from most of the other state agencies, so they don't rank the positions or advertise any kind of salary range. So while these two positions have some overlap in description, their titles are quite different, so I have no clue how they relate to each other in any kind of hierarchy in the department. They could be miles apart in rank or equal leveled. I hate not knowing before I apply for them both.
Re: What do I say when I call this lady? icwtsmnl: being in a job search situation myself, i can TOTALLY relate.
what kind of job are you looking for?
Re: What do I say when I call this lady? allilm: I have a math degree and an MBA and have primarily worked in research. The positions for which I'm applying are "fiscal analyst" and "economist." They're both in a research capacity though. If I had it to do all over, I would have gotten an undergrad in Economics. It's completely intuitive to me.
