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Job search easily derailed by poor phone manners
Sunday, January 25, 2009
The resume arguably is considered the principal tool that drives your skills to market and fuels your job search, certainly one of the areas where most job hunters focus their energies. Yet in final analysis, the most critical element may not be the resume, but the telephone. Your effectiveness connecting with employers by phone can override the superior quality of your resume, ultimately deciding whether you get interviews and offers.
Sadly, everyone will allege their telephone techniques are not a problem. They will attribute any lack of success to employers who won't return their calls or who typically cut them short when there is a phone conversation. Yet what often derails a job hunter's progress is bad phone technique.
At times your job search will involve telemarketing. So, do as telemarketers do. Work from a script so you can cover your main agenda items and have a starting and ending point. Stand up if possible to harvest your energies and insert more body language into the conversation. Commit to improving your effectiveness accessing contacts by phone by charting your performance. Telemarketing is a numbers game, so make 25 percent more calls per day.
During conversations, keep your chin up to avoid a monotone delivery. Plant both feet firmly on the floor to gain more confidence. During those nervous moments, strive to calm yourself and enrich the sound of your voice. When leaving a voice mail message, envision yourself talking to "somebody" not to an object.
If you expect to make a flurry of calls, develop an organizer so you know who you called, when the call was placed, who answered the phone if different from the contact, what was the response and the required action on your part.
A polished, engaging phone technique strengthens your professional image and leaves a favorable impression with employers who covet candidates with the conversational skills needed to interact effectively in the workplace.
Bellbrook resident Steve Stromp is a professional career consultant, lecturer and writer. Contact Steve Stromp: sstromp@sbcglobal.net.
