No Phone Calls, Please!

“No Phone Calls, Please” follows position descriptions of classified ads or web posted jobs. Job candidates take this to heart so they continue to apply on line and/or send emails with their resumes. Sometimes even applying for the same position repeatedly on a regular basis hoping their chances of being selected will increase. Research shows only 1 interview gained for every 200 resumes candidate submitted. Research also reveals individuals reviewing a resume spend about 10 to 20 seconds per resume. If there is no interest in those few seconds the resume is discarded. However if there is interest they will take another look at the candidate’s resume.

When responding to classifieds or web posted jobs where “No Phone Calls, Please” is indicated, assume Human Resources or the Staffing Department is making that request. Another interesting research statistic is that 88% of HR managers are relying on the job boards for posting jobs and finding candidates. However 90% of hiring managers fill their positions through their own contacts. With these statistics, job candidates can deduce that HR/staffing and hiring managers are not operating on the same wave link.

PeopleHirePeople’s recommendation is: Job candidates should not make phone calls to HR but it is perfectly okay to search out hiring managers and call them directly. It is not hiring managers making the request of no phone calls.

In yet another survey, 70% of hiring managers felt that corporate staffing recruiters did not know the job so they could not be trusted to screen candidates effectively. Hiring managers did not think corporate staffing recruiters find enough good candidates. Many corporate staffing recruiters are only working with candidates who have their resumes posted on job boards or candidates responding to posted or classified ads. Corporate staffing recruiters ethically cannot call into competitor companies to woo candidates. This limits candidates presented.

Taking all these statistics, job candidates have nothing to lose and everything to gain by making calls into companies with advertised jobs locating hiring managers. Finding the hiring managers can take several calls. Take for example the posted job on Ingersoll Rand’s website for a Project Manager for the Hussman division. In order for PeopleHirePeople to discover the hiring manager for this position it took four phone calls.

First PeopleHirePeople read all the press releases for the division in hopes of obtaining an executive’s name. The Vice President of Marketing was quoted within the text of the article. So PeopleHirePeople called and asked for the VP. In a very brief conversation, he politely told PeopleHirePeople to contact HR.

By passing HR, PeopleHirePeople called the main company number and asked the gatekeeper for a sales person. The gatekeeper asked PeopleHirePeople for the geographical region of the call. PeopleHirePeople told her Colorado. She responded that they had a sales office in Denver and immediately gave the phone number for the Denver sales office which was not on the company website.

PeopleHirePeople called the sales office and left a voice mail as no sales people answered. A sales person returned the call the next day. Immediately PeopleHirePeople told the sales person the reason for the call and read him the project manager job description. When asked if he knew the hiring manager for this position, he responded he did. The sales person not only told gave the name of the hiring manager but the hiring manager’s direct line who was located California.

Keep in mind the job was for a St. Louis division of Ingersoll Rand. So the calls went from St. Louis to Denver to California!

The hiring manager based in California was very receptive however he told PeopleHirePeople that the job posted was not what he needed. HR had the wrong position posted! He promptly emailed the real position he was trying to fill.

Remember who is requesting the “No Phone Calls, Please”. Make phone calls into companies contacting the hiring managers directly!

Guest Expert:

Kathleen Conners specializes in people connections for job search. She developed PeopleHirePeople “where to hunt”, “who to contact” & “what to ask” strategies. Kathleen is a full time recruiter and a guest lecturer to MBA programs at major universities. Her book, The Thrill of the Hunt: Get Real in Your Job Search can be directly purchased from www.authorhouse.com. Additional information and articles: www.peoplehirepeople.com and blog: http://www.peoplehirepeople.com/PHPBlog/ Copyright 3/18/09

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