While in a Job Search-Responsiveness
If this week had a theme, it could be summed up in a word-Responsiveness. I read posts about it on LinkedIn, it was discussed in conversations, and I experienced it personally. The common thread that ran through these conversations was the frustration that people were feeling when someone failed to carry out the simple act of responding. Now, unless you are painting a wall or crafting a piece of furniture, most if not all of what it takes to do business every day requires a level of responsiveness from you or someone else. Consider how much work can’t get done because you wait for someone to get back to you to answer a question? Think about how much more you could accomplish if someone would respond to a request? We spend inordinate amounts of time waiting for someone else to act. We wish we didn’t have to wait. We wish that we didn’t need that other person to respond to get something done, but we do. We are not inanimate objects. We require interaction and participation to accomplish tasks and achieve goals.
With all the communication tools at our disposal there really is no excuse not to respond to someone unless of course you simply don’t want to. We’ve heard all the excuses, “I’ve been so busy”, or “My phone was turned off” to “Your email must have been buried in my inbox” to everything in between. We spend more time coming up with an excuse for not responding than just responding in the first place. I wrote an article a few months ago titled, “Stop Saying How Busy You Are”. In my previous job, I heard that excuse constantly. It was the excuse for everything. There are times that our schedules are crazy and there is more work to do than time to do it, but everyone’s level of busy is different. What one person can accomplish in a day may be completely different than someone else’s. The fact is, there are reasons for not responding, and seldom is it because you are too busy.
If we stopped and really thought about why we don’t respond, I think we could get to the heart of this terribly bad habit and work to improve our engagement levels. Not responding is a bad habit. It has become normalized in our society and for those in a job search, you come to know that not getting a response from the hiring unit is considered perfectly acceptable practice. I find this extremely regrettable and completely unprofessional. A failure to respond demonstrates a value, and it isn’t a good one.
How can we get better at responding? Make time for it. Make people a priority. If you can’t get back to someone right away, let them know that and schedule a time that works for both parties. Don’t over commit. If you can’t get to 400 job applicants, don’t post a job for 3 weeks or more. If you can’t handle responding, don’t put yourself in a position that requires responsiveness as part of the role. It’s as simple as that. If people aren’t your priority, then maybe painting walls or crafting furniture is a better job for you.