# online, phone, or in person?

Category: Jobs and Employment

## Post 1 by dissonance (Help me, I'm stuck to my chair!) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2013 15:13:44

Questions from an apprentice:
I'm currently looking for a job, but can't start until I graduate from college in May and move back to where I will hopefully be going to grad school. In my process of looking for jobs, I became curious: what do yall prefer? Submitting resumes using online tools, just calling businesses to see if they are hiring, or walking in? Any preference or any one that yall have found to be more beneficial than another? Does calling companies and simply asking if they are hiring without any identified openings appropriate?

## Post 2 by Runner229 (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2013 15:50:44

Each one has its own benefits and faults, but I think walking in is the better pick. It is the classic way of finding a job, and it was done long before the Internet became as popular as it is. Not only that, but you have more of a chance at making a statement and showing you mean business.
I know if I had a business of my own, I'd much rather pick the guy or girl who came in, handed me organized papers, and had a pleasant and uplifting attitude. Then again, depending on what business you are planning on applying for may make it more complicated for such an instance.

## Post 3 by chelslicious (like it or not, I'm gonna say what I mean. all the time.) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2013 17:37:05

while walking in would definitely be my first pick, I think every option you listed has its perks.
in person is beneficial for the ways Ryan stated, which is also what I would've said. however, the others work, too, and with technology progressing as it continues to do, I think walk ins are becoming rare, which is sad.

## Post 4 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2013 18:26:04

The daughter walked into a job, just a high school ager's type of job, only to be told to go home and apply online.
Walk in assumes that you will even meet with the person who hires you. Remember, this is not the 1980s or before: places are deliberately understaffed, and everyone has more duties than they can possibly attend, and so don't have a hell of a lot of time for chit chat. And won't remember you when you leave. So use the tools, show them you respect their time. Maybe it's different if you want a government or social service job, I dono about those, seems like on here anyway they are said to function different from the rest of us. Guess there's no real surprise there.

## Post 5 by forereel (Just posting.) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2013 20:00:22

Walking in only gets you told to apply online as Leo has suggested.
Here in Colorado, we have job centers set up that have computers.
If you are on a state program, such as rehab, or social services, you are given an email address, library card, and signed up for what is called workforce. Workforce requires you sign in so many time per month to job search.
I have been told this personally, and have been told this by others looking for work, but you apply online, and if excepted, go walk in.
Its a faster way to weed people out, and make a selection without all the paper work.

## Post 6 by Shadow_Cat (I've now got the silver prolific poster award! wahoo!) on Wednesday, 02-Jan-2013 21:40:56

Leo and Reel Wayne are right. While in person sounds great in theory, all you're going to get told to do is apply online, so may as well do that to begin with and save your and the prospective employer's time.

## Post 7 by CrazyMusician (If I don't post to your topic, it's cuz I don't give a rip about it!) on Thursday, 03-Jan-2013 9:41:36

Agreed. Also, I tend not to tell prospective employers until the interview that I am visually impaired. This allows my experience to speak for itself, and if they can't handle the fact that it comes in a visually impaired package, that's their loss. THat's a nice part about online applications, because they don't judge on "first" appearances.

## Post 8 by LeoGuardian (You mean there is something outside of this room with my computer in it?) on Thursday, 03-Jan-2013 13:00:03

Same goes for being of a particular age, maybe in parts of the U.S. being a white male, or being a female in Afghanistan I suppose, or any number of other factors that people weed out for any number of reasons. It's a buyer's market caused by there being so many people for them to choose from.

## Post 9 by CrazyMusician (If I don't post to your topic, it's cuz I don't give a rip about it!) on Thursday, 03-Jan-2013 16:25:24

Frankly, here in Alberta, we have the opposite problem - more work than there are people. This will ultimately work in my favor, and now that I am unemployed, I can just over to an interview at an hour's notice... so I ahve more opportunities to get my foot in the door... but if I lived somewhere else, I would be totally screwed.

## Post 10 by ArtRock1224 (move over school!) on Thursday, 03-Jan-2013 20:29:29

In theory, walking in puts your name and face above the competition even if you're told to apply online; in reality, walking in irritates staff who have work to do and established procedures for finding and tracking candidates.
The modern equivalent of walking in is networking at meetings, joining professional organizations and stepping up to volunteer and get your name and face recognized where possible.

## Post 11 by forereel (Just posting.) on Thursday, 03-Jan-2013 20:51:32

I still say walking in is wasting your time, because soon as they tell you to go apply on your computer, they forget about you, because, well, you walked in.
Doesn't he or she know we don't do things that way anymore?
Smile.
Networking is a great way to get it done, I will agree on that point.