Get Past Gatekeepers!

[Danny Iny]

A friend of mine shared a great prospecting trick with me. The problem he was looking to solve is that it’s very hard to talk to the actual hiring manager when calling a large company; the gatekeepers are trained to divert you to HR (where your resume will be buried under a sea of paperwork).

Here’s my friend’s solution to this problem. He calls the company, and dials a random extension. Whoever picks up, he asks them “is this Mr. Jones?” (assuming Mr. Jones is the manager that he wants to talk to). When they say no, he explains that he dialled the wrong extension (which is true), and asks if they can transfer him.

What do you think? Would you try this?

Note: This post is extracted and adapted from the post by the same name on Tough Economy Jobs.

[Greg Lachs]

I've used this before. Best thing is to get a live person to start with. If you don't have a name, just ask for the manager of the department (IT, Accounting, etc.) you are trying to contact.

[Danny Iny]

Depends on the organization - a lot of people still do answer their phone calls. :)

[amyeandrews]

Could work, but it seems to me that in the largest of organizations the call always goes to voice mail, particuarly if they have caller id and don't recognize the number.