Recently read this article on the web and thought I'd share...

Are you deafened by silence? You’ve sent off your beautifully crafted and supercharged CV and you know you’re the man or woman for the job.

The spanner in the works is that you hear nothing. Silence. 

You feel as though your CV has disappeared into a Black Hole.

The silence is your cue to take charge of the process and here’s how:

Take action. It’s time consuming to put your best foot forward. You deserve a response. This is an opportunity to make contact with the person responsible for filling the role.

Stay on the radar. Make a phone call. If I hadn’t heard back in 10 days I would be picking up the phone. Give the recruitment agent or employer a call and let him or her know how keen you are. Use your 30 second elevator pitch. Ask if you’re being considered seriously. You might well be once you’ve showed your enthusiasm. You can also ask what the timeline for the application is.

Remember they need you. Your CV is valuable and you might even be doing the recruiter a favour by applying. If there were no candidates recruiters wouldn’t make money and employers couldn’t run their businesses. There is a real war for talent out there.

Name drop. If you and the recruiter know someone in common that connection could make your job easier. Use him or her as an informal referee.

Flatter them. Flattery can get you a long way. Tell the recruiter or employer what a wonderful company it is and how you’d be very happy there. Recruiters can be ego driven sales people. Telling them that they come highly recommended may do your case a lot of good.

Send a personalised email. Sometimes it’s hard to get the right person on the phone. In this case send a nice email to the recruiter or employer. Use the email address of the actual person handling the job rather than a generic catch-all address.

Play the ‘I’ve got another offer’ card. If you have a genuine offer on the table tell the recruiter or employer. This is a great way to speed up the process. If you’ve got another job offer they’ll think you must be a good candidate. It tells the market that you are actively looking and getting some response.

Be polite. Think: ‘they’re busy’, not ‘WTF this company hasn’t bothered contacting me’. Keeping your tone of voice polite and your attitude positive is much more likely to land you the job.

Keep talking. Even if you’re rejected, let the organisation know that you’d love to work there. Ask questions. What qualities the successful candidate had that you didn’t? How could you improve your CV? All of this shows that you’re keen. The winning candidate may not actually take the job or another role might arise and you want to be in pole position to get it.

Finally, stay positive. There’s a role out there for you.