If you work in recruitment, chances are you that you’re glued to your phone. Always. If your phone isn’t somewhere to hand and it’s a work day, heck – even if it’s not a work day, that means candidates are left in the dark, clients are left with loose ends, and your manager is left in the office quietly going berserk. Suffice it to say the recruiting life can be a little stressful. But the same phone that is currently in your pocket or purse, the phone that might even currently be five centimetres away from your face, facilitates most every aspect of your job. All of which means your phone can either make or break your day in a heartbeat. And whilst it might sound elementary, the first step to mastering your phone comes with mastering your calls. Here are three quick tips how:
1. What’s your Pitch?
If you don’t have a reason to pick up the phone, don’t make the call. It’s that simple. Why is it that you’re calling, who is it that you’re calling and why would whoever it is that you’re ringing be interested in your call? These are, quite clearly, very basic questions. But in answering them you build the foundations of your ten second pitch – and it is here that the wheat gets separated from the chaff. Your ten second pitch will tell whoever it is on the other side of the phone everything they need to know as quickly, efficiently, and effectively as possible. It is the clearest sign of professionalism every recruiter can display, and a clear sign of confidence and experience too. The better the pitch the better buy-in. Fact.
2. Consider your Posture
You might have thought about this before, you might not have, but you can actually hear a smile. The human ear is able to detect changes in a speaker’s voice whenever it is they get the sudden urge to grin. If you’ve been on the phone with a partner or a family member and you’ve just somehow known that they’re smiling, for whatever reason, you might already understand what I’m talking about. And just like in everyday life when someone receives a smile, even if it’s over the phone, the more the likely they are to like you.
But the relationship between your body and your voice goes further than that. The goal of good posture, when it comes to vocalising, is all about stretching your neck out so air can flow freely through your vocal chords. Quite simply you should stand whilst you’re on a call. Not only is this going to save some considerable strain on your voice in the long run, there’s an inherent confidence that comes with standing straight. Use that in your work life. I’m not suggesting that you tip-toe around the office balancing a stack of books on your head, but if standing straight breeds confidence, and confidence sells, maybe you should give it a try.
3. The Goal
Set a goal for your conversation: is it a follow-up at a later date, a meeting, or providing feedback on a CV? Each conversation should have a goal, and each goal should build towards a next step. It is more than understandable that once in a blue moon a conversation might not go fully to plan, but even in the act of setting yourself a target, when entering a conversation, you immediately tailor what you say towards that end. In the short-term, curating a habit of goal setting will eliminate any and all irrelevant details, and in the long-run will save you time better spent elsewhere.
Establishing the habits and techniques that best improve the productivity of each call you make marks the foundations of building a career that will thrive in recruitment. In doing so, the quality of your work-life balance improves, and so too does your productivity. And it is with those ends in mind that I hope these tips help.
