Persistence Can Help Rescue a Résumé That's Lost in the Ether

Her advice to job seekers? Don't worry about being too persistent. Ask everyone during the interview process for a business card. Follow up by e-mail, sending a copy to the recruiter, thanking them and making yourself stand out. Remind them who you are and tell them about anything new that you have accomplished, while reiterating exactly why you're interested in the job.

And then? "Be patient. I know that it is really frustrating to be in that job search mode, but be persistent, considerate and cognizant that as many jobs as you are applying for, recruiters are probably interfacing with four to five times as many applicants," Miller said.

Don't hear back from the recruiter? Track down your hiring manager or another recruiter. Sometimes these recruiters do disappear. Don't let yourself do the same if this is a job you want.

With an "active database" of 5,000 to 7,000 résumés and 15 to 75 résumés received per job opening, Michael Beckmann, director of talent acquisition at McLean-based Freddie Mac, also has a system in place to keep job candidates informed.

His team of recruiters mine the database about every four to six hours. Job seekers receive an electronic acknowledgments when their résumés are received.

Recruiters have the requirements for a specific job in front of them while they look through résumés. If enough of the requirements are matched, that résumé is forwarded to a hiring manager. Usually about 50 percent of those who apply make it that far.

Then they are prescreened by phone and six to 10 are brought in for interviews. They come in for an initial meeting with three to five leaders in the group where they applied. Then if they pass that round, they come in for a final interview.

And do candidates really hear back? "Recruiters are trained to keep candidates live," Beckmann said. "They will be e-mailed through each round of interviews about what's happening. You can always gauge the level of competency of a company by how engaged recruiters are."

It also behooves companies like Freddie to be nice: If someone isn't hired for the first job for which he applied, he might be brought in for a second or third job. And with a low unemployment rate of about 3 percent in the Washington area, it is important to keep candidates happy. "We call them our external cheering section," Beckmann said. He knows that one bad experience by a job candidate at Freddie can reverberate.

Kristina Baumler, employee communications manager at Freddie since June, went through the hiring process during the spring. She started looking for work in February and, not including her experience at Freddie, found it frustrating.

"With Freddie, it was a very smooth process. There was always contact with a recruiter. She was touching base with me, as well as making herself available by cell and e-mail if I needed," Baumler said. "Other places, I would run in to black holes or would not hear back at all. Nothing is more frustrating than applying for a job and not getting any response. Even if it's an automated response, it makes a world of difference."