How do you feel about speculative calls from job seekers?
It’s Saturday morning and I have just received a call from a student looking for some part-time work.
How do you feel about such approaches?
Personally, I am always impressed. When someone goes to the trouble of lifting the phone to “chance their arm”. I have to admire it.
It takes guts. Most people are going to tell you “No”. It takes courage to face a lot of rejection.
I am always tempted to hire people that show courage and have guts.
Are you a job seeker?
And if you happen to be job-seeking right now, then let me share with you what I shared with my caller this morning.
When he phoned his opening line was. “I am looking for some part-time work. Do you have anything?”
Now, the good news is he did the most difficult part – he lifted the phone.
My top tip to him was to change his opening a little and not make me do all the work.
Let’s be honest, no one cares about his needs. We are all too consumed with our own needs.
My suggestion was that he says something along the lines of “I am looking for a part-time job do you need any help with . . . . . .”
This applies to junior part-timers and senior managers alike.
When you ask me if I need help with something specific, two things happen;
- The call is now about me, not the job seeker. I am always interested in me 🙂
- I can quickly see if it is relevant or not. If he said “Do you need any help with data entry?” and I need help with data entry, then I am all ears.
Now clearly it’s a long shot but sometimes long shots pay off. Sometimes you come across someone that is impressed with you taking the initiative and lifting the phone.
So if you are a manager, I encourage you to give a little more time to speculative callers. Anyone that calls you for a job on spec, is showing great courage. Don’t you want to hire people that are courageous?
Most managers are struggling to find enough good candidates, so don’t be dismissive of speculative callers. If you don’t need them, maybe another manager in your organisation does.
Have a process that at least captures and circulates their details within your organisation, just in case someone else needs them.
They showed courage and took the first step. At least give other managers in your organisation the chance to consider them.
