I couldn’t help myself…I’ve gotten swept up in the world of Taylor Swift and her eras. There’s something compelling about the idea of revisiting past periods in your life and putting a new spin on them. I think for talent acquisition professionals it’s time to revisit our phone call era.
We have so much information at our fingertips these days, yet the core of recruiting hasn’t changed. Sure, we’re leveraging whatever new technologies are available to foster relationships as quickly and efficiently as possible. Year after year, though, I have watched the phone get used less and less for the first point of contact.
Why is that? Is it just a generational quirk? I think the root of the issue lies in the fear of what happens if they answer and I don’t know what to say? Especially when we can email or reach out on LinkedIn to a much wider audience a lot quicker. I was deep in my phone hesitation era when my manager called me out on it and essentially said pick up the phone or find a new career. It was the best conversation I ever had and changed my career forever.
By picking up the phone I’m able to create true human relationships, and in concert with the other technology I have at my fingertips I’m a more efficient and a better recruiter. Why? Because I treat humans like humans and not merely an email address or a profile url. When I leave a voicemail, the person gets to hear my voice and their brain will now link my other communication tools to that voice. I am an actual person to them now, and they’re more likely respond to my future communications – in whatever format they come.
Another way to think of it is this: if my role in the process is to screen as many qualified candidates as I can and I use the phone number I found as a last resort, I have created inefficiencies and have potentially delayed submitting the best candidate. One thing we embrace and teach at IQTalent is how to create human relationships the fastest. Some people will always want to be communicated with first by email or InMail and that’s okay. I’m saying why not try the phone first and find out?
If you want to discuss more about phone calls and joining the telephone era (Taylor Swift mania is real, especially with a new album coming) reach out IQTalent and lets chat. I want to hear all your thoughts too - I may be completely wrong and if so, I want to know.
