Views: Follow up is Key (Michael Haggerty)

My only advice is make lots of phone calls and follow up on every position you apply for. I used to think it was all right to just send in a resume and wait, but the reality is you are competing with 200+ applicants for just about everything that comes along.

I would contact recruiters directly and ask to know the status of my resume. The recruiter would typically spend about two minutes digging it out, during which time I would explain my qualifications and how interested I am in their company and the position I applied for. They would look at the resume and ask three questions (the questions were always different, but the number was always the same). The recruiters in some cases seemed grateful that I called them and was qualified because they were having trouble dealing with the volume of resumes received.

I did this for more than 40 jobs advertised on monster.com, careerbuilder.com, techies.com, computerjobs.com, dice.com and a couple of other sites, and was called in for interviews for 28 of them. Of the 28, I was called back for second interviews at 16 and of those I have received offers from 7 companies. I still expect to hear back from several of the others in the next couple of weeks.

One thing I know is very important right now is having experience with Section 508 compliance. There are not a lot of developers who can articulate a 508 strategy and this made the difference for me with three of the positions I interviewed with. Remember that Section 508 applies to more than just the Web, so be ready to answer questions about the scope of 508 compliance and specifics about the law.

I also did not limit myself just to Web positions; I applied for technology management type positions and found the jobs I was applying for really appealing.

Michael Haggerty is a ColdFusion developer specializing in Web portal and healthcare management solutions. His technical skills include project management, Section 508 compliance, database modelling, user interface design, technical documentation and customer relationship management.

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