Your Phone Voice Sets The Tone in Your Job Search

It's amazing the power a voice has in determining the response you'll recieve in your job search. I personally answer the phone much of the time in the office and from vocal style I can determine very quickly why the person is calling and how they should be handled. Voices should be memorable in a positive way.

My favorite caller is someone I'll refer to as Xavier. He calls maybe once a week but out of dozens of calls he's easy to remember because of his speech pattern. Although he does have a Barry White quality to his voice, but I digress. He's a perfect example of how a call should be made.

1. He's speaks slowly and clearly annunciating his words.
2. He waits for a response before he continues to speak.
3. His manners are thoughtful and deliberate showing he respects my time and gets straight to the   reason for his call.

For these reasons he gets through to the person he needs to reach. Because of his good phone manners I will go out of my way to be even more helpful to him to the point of physically going to look for his office contact if they don't answer their phone.

Be memorable with good phone etiquette but people will remember poor etiquette just as easily. Here's an bad example call. In a technical meeting yesterday sitting in the head job recruiter's office the phone rang and she picked it up. I could hear the caller on the other end from across the desk. He was loud and demanding and it left a negative expression on the recruiter's face. It was easy to see she was not in the mood to entertain his inquiry because of his poor manners and she will be the one who determines who gets hired.

Remember the person who answers the phone may not be the receptionist gatekeeper that you'll try to get by but the contact with which you need to speak to. Most American companies are small companies and staff members support each other in their work so the chances are good you may be speaking with the very person who would choose to hire you.

When you make calls to perspective employers here's some tips to help you out:
1. Make sure you have pen and paper at hand to take notes.
2. Make sure you are in an area that will not have background noise. That means no barking dogs, kids, radio or tv in the background. And please don't call from the street, car sounds are distracting.
3. Please be brief and to the point. If you need to write your intro down to read while you're speaking to the initial contact then do it if it helps you stay focused on what questions you need to ask.

Once you get the information or are about to be transfered to someone's phone make sure you say thank you for help. Remember acknowledgement goes a long way.