With the internet, emails and faxes, the art of cold calling may soon be forgotten which is a pity because it can be an effective means for a jobseeker to market themselves. By cold calling, I don’t mean the nuisance callers who ring you up and try to hard sell you stuff that you don’t want and would be a fool to buy. I mean the act of making first contact with a company and ascertaining if there is a job need you can fill.
Given that it is estimated that around 80% of jobs are awarded ‘on the nod’ – i.e. to someone whose name is already in the frame – doesn’t it make sense to give cold calling a go?
The first step (as anyone who reads my blog will know) is to properly and fully quantify the problem.
The challenge is to find companies which uses the skills you offer and be able to approach them in a way which will either get you work or which will make them favourably remember your contact for future reference.
Thus you need to:
- Identify the right companies
- Get to speak to the right people
- Not put their back up
- Be remembered in a positive way
Begin with writing down all of the companies you can think of which could use your services. After that, scour the Yellow Pages (both the paper directory and online as they can generate different companies) and then do an online search for all the keywords you can think of cross-referenced to the towns and cities which you are prepared to work in. Never assume you ‘already know them all’ – you won’t. New companies set up all the time and others will be moving to your area. Just think, if you could get ahead of the competition – what an advantage that would be!
Also record something special about the company and why you want to work for it (as opposed to another company).
Don’t worry if the list seems too long. Just do it mindlessly so that you can honestly say that it is exhaustive. It’s a good idea to put everything on a spreadsheet along with each company’s phone number and any other information like website URL and contact names if you have them.
When the list is complete, go through it scoring each potential employer for their proximity to you, their propensity to employ you and your personal preference. Be honest and try to avoid preconceived ideas. When you have finished, sort your list by dint of this score so that you have your most likely employers at the top.
Now contact each company (starting with the favourite and working down the list) and find out the name of the boss of the department you would be working in and establish when he or she will be available to chat.
Here are a few rules concerning contact that you need to stick to:
- Never call on a Monday, Friday afternoon or within two working days after a Bank Holiday
- Make sure your call is between 10am and noon or 2.30pm and 4pm. Don’t ring outside of those times unless you have been specifically told to.
- Don’t allow yourself to be put through to Personnel. With that in mind, don’t tell the receptionist that you ‘want a job’. Ask to speak to the person in charge of the <insert your job here> department dealing with the <insert name of project you found out about on the internet>. That way you will get the right person.
- Begin with asking if it is a convenient time to speak. Don’t just assume because they answered that they can talk to you. If not, ask when you can call back.
Keep the conversation short and to the point unless the other party digresses. Tell them a few facts about yourself and, most importantly of all, why you want to work for their company. Pre-emptively answering this much-dreaded interview question will instantly make you memorable and will also encourage them to think about how you might fit in with their plans.
Try to gather an email address (for them and not the company generally) and a time when you might call again. Say you’d like to post them a CV but you don’t want to just send it to their personnel department because they are probably inundated and won’t relate it to the right department (the truth is that it will get filed away and never be seen again if you send it to them).
Say that you ‘just happen to be passing’ their office / factory from time to time and ask if it would be possible to pop in to see them for ten minutes for an informal chat about working for the company – not a full-blown interview, of course. Hopefully they will assent and, while you are not likely to get a job offer without something more formal, it will make you memorable and being remembered is what it’s all about.
Whatever happens and no matter how peevish they might be at your interruption, thank them for their time.
If all has gone well, email and call regularly at fortnightly or monthly intervals (never more frequently unless you have been told to).
At all times, keep it friendly and light.
A last tip: put a photograph of your head and shoulders (passport-style) on your CV and say something interesting about yourself – just to make sure that they really remember you!
Cold-calling is just one of many tools in the jobseeker’s armoury. It is hard slog but, if it comes off, you are instantly at the front of the queue for a vacancy. That alone makes it worthwhile.
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