Save the phone!

I fear the day of the phone is dead, certainly when is comes to a job search the phone is sooo 1995. I'll be honest, it makes me feel old and say things like "I remember and enjoy the days of pounding the phone." Cranking out 500 calls a week, trying to build up the network. That's what recruiters did back in the day, I believe we now call it "old school". Many recruiters today have never and will never make a "cold call" and spend most of their time emailing candidates, performing Boolean searches, tweeting, etc etc.....

The problem with all this new fangled technology? Picking up the phone is still the best way to really get to know someone when you are looking for a job. People are busy so meeting with someone from every company you are interested in is not realistic, sorry, but picking up the phone and talking with someone possible. It's also possible for us recruiters to pick up the phone, cold call, network and find that hard to find great candidate.

The morale of the story here? If you are looking for a job or trying to recruit the great candidate...........pick up the phone! Sure, it requires you to be a little more outgoing than sending off hundreds of blanket emails to make contact but I can promise you that without a doubt you'll find more value from the call. For most of us this is a dramatic change in behavior so start easy - call your friends, former colleagues etc etc and make sure you are comfortable with the medium. Once you feel good, call that cool company and try to talk to a recruiter or (gasp!) call that candidate you saw profiled in the Wall Street Journal and "recruit" them!

That's it, just a short blog but REALLY important as nothing says I'm serious than a phone call to discuss.

Have a great week!