This telephone presentation is a great idea to use when you are making a direct call to a potential employer who may have a suitable vacancy or job opening, to help you win the job. In other words you are making an investigatory call to an employer you hope may have an opening for someone with your blend of skills and talents.
Prepare your Telephone Presentation
Using the work that you did on your
skills analysis together with your
personal marketing statements you should prepare a brief presentation to help you find the best words when you talk to the right person, i.e. someone who can make a hiring decision, at the potential employer's organization.
Your presentation must include enough specific information about you, your specific skills and abilities, to arouse their interest, while at the same time leaving enough room to encourage questions.
Try to identify a current issue within the organisation - one that you know something about and could contribute to, because if you can make the employer want to know more, and arouse their interest, you will have a better chance of meeting your objectives. Because when they start asking questions it means they have at least some interest.
This is what I mean by the power of using the telephone to make a presentation to a prospective employer. This type of proactive approach to finding a new job may be daunting but will pay off while other job seekers are scratching their heads wondering what to do next.
Your telephone presentation should cover 3 areas:
- Who you are and what type of job you do;
- A description of some selected achievements that align with a current issue they may have;
- Reason for the call and a request to meet.
Try this for an example of good telephone presentation technique:
“Good afternoon Mr Packard, thank you for taking my call, my name is Anthony Walker.
I am a very versatile manager experienced in the purchasing of mechanical digger equipment spares.
In my last job I cut expenditure on purchased equipment by 11% overall and reduced the value of stock held in store by 25%
I’m calling because I know Heavy Plant Limited are expanding at the moment and feel I may well have some specific skills to offer you.
Are these the sorts of achievements you would be interested in?”
When you end with this sort of question you should get a positive response, and this in turn starts a conversation.
This use of a telephone presentation can give you a massive head start in the job search stakes; it has the advantage of immediacy and allows you to respond to any new question they might want to ask straight away.
This means they are less likely to want to talk to other candidates, or spend time setting up interviews, if you appear to be the answer to their needs!
How To Use The Telephone For Job Openings
You can use your telephone presentation when you respond to advertised vacancies, contact people within your network who may be able to provide job leads, or when you make investigative calls to an employer about possible jobs they may have.
Advantages
- You have a great chance to tell them about your best skills and qualities.
- The phone is more personal than a letter and allows you to demonstrate your personality.
- The phone is quicker than writing a letter - advertised jobs get snapped up quickly.
- Use phone power and be one step ahead of your competition by getting to the jobs before they do.
- Follow up job leads more quickly and increase your opportunities.
- You get an immediate response by phone, whereas you may have to wait days or weeks to get a reply to a letter.
- The phone power approach is more flexible and allows a conversation to develop, so even if a job has already gone, you can ask about future jobs or openings.
When telephoning for advertised vacancies
- Have the advert with you and highlight who you want to talk to, the job title and any reference number
- Make notes of any questions you will want to ask.
- Be ready to take notes.
- Rehearse what you have to offer and be prepared to answer questions about yourself, your experience and why you are interested in the vacancy
- Have a copy of your CV to hand.
- Be prepared with dates and times if you are invited to an interview.
- You might get the answering machine, so think of what message you will leave.
- Don’t hang up If the vacancy has already been filled, there may be others coming up, if so can you ring in a few weeks to check. Or can you send in your CV should a vacancy unexpectedly arise?
- Thank the employer for their time.
Investigative Phone Calls
Of course anyone can ring an employer and ask if they have any jobs - but the answer will usually be no.
Making an investigative call is different, much more potent, but will involve a lot more preparation, so this is a skill that has to be developed and practised.
Your call should aim to achieve one of three goals:
- To arrange a meeting;
- To arrange a time to talk further on the phone;
- To establish a job lead.
You can also follow this telephone agenda guide when preparing to make a network call because this type of telephone presentation is also a great idea to use when you are making a direct call to a network who may have knowledge of suitable vacancies or job openings. Making an investigatory call to an contact may have unexpected results and provide an opening for someone with your unique blend of skills and talents.
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