TIP - Telephone Communications

During your job search, you may be contacting prospective employers by telephone to gather information and/or to make an initial contact. Telephone contacts can aid you in creating interest with a prospective employer, setting up a meeting, confirming information, or maintaining contact throughout the job search process.

Pre-Call Preparation:
A well-prepared telephone call sounds focused, professional, and creates an effective image that generates positive responses. For maximum effect, carefully choose words, phrases, and sentences, when preparing a telephone call.
The first calls may take a long time to prepare. The more calls you make, the sharper your skills become. With better preparation, you are more likely to sound confident and persuasive.

Key Planning Steps:

List the calls you intend to make.

Establish the purpose of each call.

Prepare an opening statement. The first 10 seconds can make or break the call. In this time an image is created, interest is generated, maintained, increased or decreased. In an effective opening statement, you should:

• Identify yourself.
• Establish rapport.
• Generate interest. A direct-approach phone call must create interest for the person who picks up the phone and the person you are calling. The name of a good referral usually creates an immediate interest and a willingness to listen further.
• Acknowledge that your contact's time is valuable.
• Gain permission (confirm contact has a few minutes)
• Clearly state the purpose of the call.

My name is Sally Smith and I am calling to inquire about the position of sales manager that was posted on your companies career page. I realize you are probably very busy, but wondered if you have a few minutes? I wanted to share my background with you.

Prepare interest-generating comments. Identify something you have in common, or share something you have learned about the company recently.

I have five years of related experience in your companies industry and I believe I would be an asset to the new project the sales department is preparing to launch. Can we arrange a meeting to discuss my qualifications further?

Prepare questions. Well-directed questions will enable you to:

• Obtain information.
• Verify the listener understands your goals.
• Obtain a commitment for a future meeting.

Prepare closing to confirm and thank.

• Repeat Key information and confirm next step.
• Thank the contact for their time.

Keep good notes of phone conversations. This will help you write follow-up letters.

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