Follow-Up

You have applied for the position of "your dreams" and remain anxious about getting the process moving.  While you do not want to be a pain in the butt, you also don’t want to be invisible / passive. The squeaky wheel gets the oil. So now’s your time to squeak!

In this job market, companies are receiving thousands of applications for positions that might have garnered only a couple dozen applications a few years ago, so you’ll almost certainly miss out if you don’t follow up.

First and foremost, work out the name of your HR contact. If you think you might recognize it, try Googling the company name and “human resources” and reviewing the links for one with the person’s name on it, suggests Hal Boyd, senior HR director for Equifax, Inc. Mr. Boyd also recommends double-checking your email inbox, folders, sent file and trash file for any old emails that might have the name of the person.

As an alternative, you could simply call the main number and ask to be directed to the recruitment department and then ask for the recruiter who handles marketing positions — or specifically the position to which you applied, suggests Patti Clifford, global chief talent officer for Arnold Worldwide and Havas Worldwide. “Obviously, be polite and don’t get frustrated if it takes a bit of time to track down the representative.” Depending on the size of the company, there could be hundreds of open positions.

(parts of this posting were abridged from the online edition of the Wall Street Journal)