Cell Phones are Bad News for Job Hunters

[Job Magician]

Garble … voice emerging from the end of a long tunnel … static … click … “Can you hear me? … Hello … are you still there?”

Does this sound like you’re calling your credit card customer service department – the one they’ve outsourced to India?

That’s how you sound to your prospective employer, on your cell phone.

I talk to job hunters on cell phones all the time, and I hate it (I run a retained search firm). I often can't understand them.

Some job hunters, especially junior ones, have nothing but a cell phone. I've seen some argue viciously on these types of boards (not this one) that the employer should understand how expensive it is to live and bear with the poor quality of how they sound on the phone.

However, what the employer or recruiter hears on the phone is all we have to go on. We can't tell if the job hunter is coming across poorly because they can't hear us or because they simply are a poor communicator. You may not get a second chance, especially as the market becomes more competitive. Do your best to make calls from a landline (good salespeople do their prospecting from landlines, where they sound the best, and when you're job hunting, you're selling).

Talk to employers by cell only if you can't get to a landline or can't be reached any other way.

For more on this, and how to look the best to an employer when they can't see you, check out these two links:

Why Cell Phones are Bad News For Job Hunters

http://www.jobmagician.com/cell_phones.shtml


The Perfect Virtual Appearance for a Job Hunter

http://www.jobmagician.com/virtual_appearance.shtml


Job Magician

[Steve Van Vreede]

Thanks for starting this important discussion. I advise clients all the time to avoid cell phones, and for whatever reason, they can't seem to grasp the concept. In addition to your comments on phone quality, I find that most job seekers seem to be willing to answer their phone anywhere and everywhere. Can you imagine talking to a prospective employer in the middle of a grocery store or while driving in the car with your kids? But people do!

Unfortunately, like so many things in today's workforce, the concept of professionalism seems to be lost on many people. They want to be treated like a professional, but they don't take the proper steps to look (and sound) like one.

Now don't even get me started on poor e-mail etiquette :-)

[Job Magician]

Ah, the cell phone in the grocery store. I've talked to many a candidate in a public place where you hear all kinds of noise in the background. One guy actually answered one in a college class he said he was teaching at the time (how'd you like to be one of his students?) ...

And regarding appearing professionally, I just interviewed two PhD's for a management job paying at least $125K, and neither wore a tie. Neither of them even dressed high-end business casual, and one should have shaved off his scruffy beard (or grew in a nice-looking one). Both were unemployed, so it wasn't as if they couldn't dress nicely because they might raise suspicions at work.

PS: Everyone at my client's place dresses extremely well - never business casual.

[Cindy Fallsen]

Thanks for the tip. This is very helpful. My step father lost his job in 2008 and has yet to find a job. Maybe he needs to check this out. He is struggling the most to find Individual health insurance. Would you all recommend that he find some sort of Temporary medical insurance coverage until he finds a job or go without.