Timing is everything! I find myself thinking this and even saying it out loud very often these days.
Just this weekend I found myself poolside with my family and realizing the water temperature would be too cold to enjoy since the pools just opened. What do you do when you are desperate to cool off from the first heat of summer but know that the water is not warm enough to enjoy yet? You just dive right in!
Soon your brain catches up with the fact that what you did to your body was completely insane and regulates a new core temperature for you to enjoy the ice-cold water. Making a cold call to a prospective candidate is quite the same and it is all about timing!
The adventure of cold calling is not something that comes naturally to most. If you are like me, a million excuses run through your head.
They won’t be interested.
I don’t want to bother them while they are working.
What if they are rude or worse yet, what if they hang up on me?
The thing is, the more you overcome the initial fear of the unknown and dial the seven to ten numbers needed to reach the person on the other end, you will find the average employee who is busy minding their business and working on their current day’s activities is more than willing to talk with you!
I’m finding that most are even flattered if nothing else that you took the time to search them out, picked up the phone to introduce yourself and find out more about them. They are already out there swimming in the deep end of talent pool that you have been trying to acclimate to.
Since my goal is to continually find the best talent for my customer’s open positions, I find that cold calling is one of my best allies. If you‘re waiting for your phone to ring, or posting and praying, you might want to talk to us about recruiting for you.
Picking up the phone and talking to someone is the best way to qualify them and you are more likely to engage them in the next steps of the process, sending you their resume! Jump in, the water’s fine!
This post is by Vanessa Hansen, a native Tennessean who grew up in Nashville where she still resides. She has over 12 years of experience in the staffing and HR industry and is part of the Yoh RPO team. As a recruiter she has worked with many levels of talent ranging from entry level customer service roles to very experienced executive and VP level roles.
