Whether you are the applicant or the prospective employer, it is essential for you to attend to the details of the job search process from start to finish. A job offer or your company's reputation may be riding on how well you take care of business.

To get right to the point, below is a list of important steps in a job search and the appropriate follow through actions to take:

Applicant's list:
Apply for a job.
- Keep a current list of the jobs to which you have applied and the dates of submission of your documents. If you apply on line, send a hard copy to the hiring individual by mail.
- Inform your references of your application and give them the job posting as well as an idea of how you would add value to this job.
- Follow up with the prospective employer to confirm receipt of your documents after a week or 10 days if you have not heard from them. Ask about their timeline for the search process.
- Make a note on your calendar to contact them again if the next date has passed by which you were told you would hear from them.
- If you are contacted for an interview, ask with whom you will be meeting (titles and names) as well as how long the interview should last.
- Ask your interviewer(s) for their business cards as you leave the interview. Inquire about the next step in the process.
- Send a follow up thank you to each person with whom you interviewed. An email thank you is fine, but a hand written note is a nice touch. Reference something in particular that was said during the interview, so your note does not appear to be a "standard" one.
- If you are seriously considering the position, stay in touch with the prospective employer, especially after any deadlines have passed. If you know you are no longer interested, contact the employer and ask to be removed from their candidate list.
- Be patient in waiting for the employer's decision, but do your part to stay in touch with them and provide any information requested in a timely manner.
- If you do not hear from the prospective employer regarding their decision, do your best to get closure on the process. You may have to be persistent if they do not have a plan in place to contact applicants who were not selected. Nonetheless, it is important for you to know your status and move on.
- If the employers' lack of follow through is unprofessional (and I've heard many examples of this), consider whether or not this behavior is reflective of the way they do business, and whether or not you want to work in this type of environment.

Employer's List:
Post a job.
- Make sure you have a current job description for the job that you have posted.
- Determine the person in your organization who is responsible for any inquiries about this job and provide them with the necessary information and timeframes to handle questions.
- Create a timeline for the hiring process.
- Acknowledge all applicantions upon receipt.
- When you eliminate an applicant, send a letter acknowledging that they are no longer being considered for the position.
- When you set up interviews, inform the applicant as to whom they will meet, the interviewer's title, and how long the interview should last.
- After the interview, give the applicant an indication as to when they will hear from you regarding a decision or the next step in the hiring process.
- If for any reason, this timeframe changes, contact applicants with new dates.
- Once you have have extended an offer that was accepted, inform all other candidates that were still in the running of your decision. Thank them for their time and effort.

Some people may think that these steps are obvious. However, I can assure you that a week does not pass when I do not hear about an applicant or employer's lack of follow through in the job search process. It is often the simple courtesies and actions we take that make the ultimate difference—in this case, whether or not you are offered a job or whether someone in the marketplace sees yours as a professionally-run organization.

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