Phone Techniques

As was revealed on the "How to Network," "Interview to Triumph" and "Job Search Letters" pages those who want to be top-tier performers must value their clients' time as well as their own. They should work hard to get the phone numbers of decision makers and try to make appointments with them.

Best Calling Times When Have Hiring Manager's Number

Getting to speak with the hiring manager is an extremely daunting task. One reason is because highly trained secretaries have been taught to screen such calls. Therefore, if one has the actual extension for the prospective boss, he or she will often have a better chance of reaching that person by calling at 7:30 AM or 5:45 PM on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

If one calls much later in the morning, or much earlier in the evening, he or she will likely reach a gatekeeper. Likewise, if the call is made on a Monday the hiring manager is probably still recuperating from the weekend and planning the week, and if the call is made on a Friday the hiring manager is likely striving to begin the weekend.

Tips Regarding Calls

Many times when job seekers make calls they are afraid of rejection and that fear is conveyed by desperation in their voices. Instead, the job seeker needs to realize that he or she has a unique background unlike that of any other person who has lived, is living or ever will live. Instead of asking if the prospective boss is available one should say something like "Hello, this is Jessica a person with valuable information that I would like to relay to Peter. Can you please put Peter on the line?"

By doing this a job seeker conveys that he or she is relaying something worthwhile and is not merely a consumer of time. It is then up to the screener to respond, and if the screener asks that a message be left, a few polite questions might be helpful.

For example one can say "Oh, is Peter in today?" or "Is Peter out of the office?" or "When will he be available?" or "Do you expect Peter to be in his office after his meeting?" As long as one is polite and conversational oftentimes the screener will provide useful information. In a like fashion, Jessica the job seeker can convey that she is on the same playing field as Peter the prospective boss by using the first name of her hopeful new boss.

Assuming a secretary told Jessica that Peter will be back from lunch at 1:30 PM, Jessica should call at that time, and if she is put through to Peter she should first get his permission to speak with him. She can do this by saying something like "I know that you are busy so I will be brief" or "Is this a good time for you to talk?"

Then, once Jessica has Peter's permission to talk, she should show her enthusiasm. Although the information that Jessica shares is important, it is Jessica's enthusiasm that will likely have the largest impact on whether Peter will be willing to meet with her. To show more enthusiasm on the telephone Jessica might find that it helps if she stands up and walks around as if entertaining a crowd or a group at a party and that it helps if she grin as if she had just gotten together with a long lost friend.

Next Job-Seeking Jessica must convince Prospective Boss Peter, that she has beneficial ideas that were developed specifically with his interests in mind and that she would like a fifteen minute meeting with him to share those ideas. It needs to be noted that Jessica is not asking for a job but that she is instead asking for a meeting.

If Prospective Boss Peter is unwillingly to meet unless Job Seeking Jessica first gives him the idea, she can politely tell Prospective Boss Peter that it is impossible to do it in person and guarantee him that he has no obligations. By removing the fear of being pressured into something, Prospective Boss Peter's curiosity will likely take over. Moreover, Job Seeking Jessica can give Prospective Boss Peter a morsel.

If, on the one hand, Prospective Boss Peter insists on knowing everything she should politely hang up the phone. However, if he on the other hand agrees to a meeting, Job Seeking Jessica should name a date and time sometime between two days and a week in the future.

If this does not work Job Seeking Jessica should offer another date and time during the next week if at all possible to prevent Prospective Boss Peter from selecting a date in the distant future and then canceling it when he has "more pressing matters." Should this or a subsequent offer not work, chances are that Prospective Boss Peter will offer an acceptable time and date.

How to Handle Message Machines

Assuming one navigates through the gatekeepers, he or she might be put into the decision maker's voice-mail box. In fact, many busy executives will not even answer a call unless they can see from their Caller ID that it is from someone who they view as important. Thus, a job seeker may have to leave a voice message, and if done properly it can often lead to good results.

The good news is that one does not have to get permission to leave a message, while the bad news is that one has to quickly capture the person's attention, especially since many answering systems only give so much time per message. However, because a job seeker needs to make sure that a prospective employer gets his or her name and number right, he or she cannot rush the message and needs to get right to the point of offering a helpful idea in return for fifteen minutes of time.

The person placing the call also must make sure that he or she guarantees that there is no obligation and ask for an appointment by giving two dates and times. Additionally, he or she can indicate that the person can leave a message as to the best time and indeed make sure that those times are blocked out for the person.

Follow-up Phone Calls

Although one can follow up with a call, after speaking with a person, he or she should allow at least five days to pass. The reasons are that one does not want to become a nuisance, appear desperate and/or come across as "pressuring." For similar reasons, a job seeker should wait until the day after a prospective employer indicated that he or she would call before calling him or her, and if the prospective boss has extenuating circumstances one might want to wait even a bit longer.

Should one not hear back on a voice message, he or she can try calling later in the day after a couple of hours have passed, since the person may have been in a meeting or at lunch, or call during the next day. The reason is that one will want to give the recipient enough time to retrieve and hear the message, since there is a very fine line between being persistent versus being a pain in the posterior.

Follow Up with Thank You Letter

After a prospective boss talks with a person on the phone, and especially after a face-to-face meeting, the job seeker should follow up with a thank you letter. An example of such a thank you letter was shown in the "Job Search Letters" section of this website.

If one senses that a person might try to back out of a meeting, it is often helpful to send the person a quick E-mail confirming the date and time of a meeting and expressing gratitude for that person's having the time to listen to an idea, which should be highly beneficial. Besides making it harder for the individual to back out of the meeting, this technique will further stimulate the prospective employer's curiosity.

However, the timing and approach to following up, before a meeting, are critical. One does not want that correspondence arriving after the meeting. Nor does one want to appear desperate by faxing or express mailing such information, which is why individuals sometimes call late in the evening or very early in the morning to leave a message that expresses gratitude and reminds person of meeting.

Dr. Clark Believes Others Want to be Helpful

At this juncture, Dr. Clark will admit that he thought about writing a book on job seeking, rather than putting this information on a website. However, just as Prospective Boss Peter, in the above story, will want to help Job Seeking Jessica after they meet, Dr. Clark knows that those who have spent time reading this information will help him by supporting the "Dr. A. Bruce Clark's Civic Website" and by providing work (either directly or indirectly) to those at www.ABClarkMarketing.com.☺    

Note: Links to this Copyrighted website are permitted and individuals can print one copy for their own personal use. Any other uses of information without first receiving Dr. Clark's permission are prohibited, especially since A. B. Clark Marketing offers website and report services.

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