Interviewing Skills: Starting with the Phone

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This guest post on the role of your voice mail message in your job search is from the Medical Sales Recruiter, Peggy McKee.

Quick voice mail quiz

When searching for a job, which of these greetings is appropriate for your voice mail?

a) “In case you have forgotten, this is a machine — my owner does not want siding, the newspaper, or the carpets cleaned. He donates to charity through his office and does not want his picture taken. If you’re still with me, leave a message and we’ll see if he calls you back.”

b) “Hello . . . . . . ” A long pause, so you think you’re talking to an actual person. Then you begin speaking, and after you say about two words, you hear, “We can’t come to the phone right now.”

c) “How do you leave an idiot in suspense? Leave a message and I’ll get back to you . . .”

While funny greetings can be more entertaining than the standard, “You have reached 555-1234, please leave a message,” they are obviously not appropriate for someone who might be receiving calls from recruiters or potential employers.

Poor Phone Skills at Home

As bad as an unprofessional voice mail message:

ME: Hello, may I speak with Melissa?

THEM: Ummm, (short pause) she’s not here.

(silence)

ME: Well, do you know when I might be able to reach her?

THEM: Nope.

(more silence)

ME: Could I leave a message for her?

THEM: I guess.

ME: Can you please have her call Joy at (555) 55…

THEM: (exasperated sigh) Hang on, I don’t have a pencil. (Sound of phone dropping and papers rustling). What seems like several minutes pass, the phone is picked up, and they say “OK.”

ME: Please have her call Joy at (555) 555-5555.

THEM: (just silence)

ME: Did you get it?

THEM: Umm, yeah.

ME: Thanks.

THEM: (quickly hangs up)

This bad example is from a great article on telephone skills that offers critical advice for how to train your children to answer the phone. However, one mom I know bypasses this altogether by forbidding the children to answer. They listen to the answering machine first to see if it’s for them before they pick it up.

Voice Mail as Marketing

When you record your voice mail greeting, you’re marketing.

This is a prime opportunity to give people a ten-second screen shot of your personality. Your voice mail greeting should include, without fail, your name, a thank you to the caller, instructions to leave a name and number, and a time frame in which you’ll return their call (I like within 24 hours). Infuse some personality. Be happy they called. Then call them back promptly.

No music, rhyming, or quirky statements. Your voice mail greeting is often the first contact people have with you, so you should be mindful of what kind of impression you’re giving them.

I found some tips to improve your company’s image through e-mails and voice mails that you can use on your personal phone. These apply equally well to the individual jobseeker.

Things like: keep it to 30 seconds or less, eliminate background noise, and offer an alternative way to contact you, such as a website or e-mail.

Why is this so important? According to a blog post on “Top Ten Reasons I Rejected Your Resume,” #2 is: “Okay, so I liked your resume, and called you for an interview, but your voice mail greeting was highly unprofessional.”

Article courtesy of the Recruiting Blogswap, a content exchange service sponsored by CollegeRecruiter.com, a leading site for college students looking for internships and recent graduates searching for entry level jobs and other career opportunities.

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