Are you in the job search mode? I bet you have missed a few calls from a potential employer. So, what do you do when you miss a call from a recruiter? Obviously, you panic. Then you call back ASAP without thinking twice. Am I right or am I right?
When you miss a call from a recruiter, don’t call back “ASAP”
What are you talking about? Why not call back ASAP? Of course, they have a job opportunity for you that you don’t want to miss. But instead of calling right back, take a break for a few minutes. This will lower the anxiety and give you some time so that you can sound calmer than you really are. Calling right back will make you sound really confused and will make the conversation unnecessarily complex.
I would even suggest you deliberately to miss calls from a potential employer. I know this might sound like the craziest career advice that you’ve ever received, but let me explain. Here’s why it is okay to miss a call from a recruiter even when you are job hunting:
This won’t allow the recruiter to catch you off guard
Recruiters love to catch people off guard. That lets them know how a person really is and how he responds when caught off guard. And, more often than not, candidates fumble when they receive a call when they least expect it.
Instead of receiving the call, let them leave a message. By doing so, you’ll come to know what the call was about and you’ll have a better idea when you call back. You can also search for the company and the job description online and have a look at it before calling back. You cannot do all of this if you take the call as soon as the phone rings.
You can benefit by playing hard to get
Trust me I’m not giving dating advice here. This can work equally well when it comes to finding the perfect candidate for the job. Picking up calls on the fly will give an impression that you are always waiting beside the phone and are too desperate to get a job. On the contrary, missing a call may give an impression that you were busy doing something and aren’t easy to get.
You can tell the recruiter that you were busy attending a meeting or working on something when you call back. You can increase your perceived value by dodging a few calls and then calling back at your convenience, stating you were unavailable to take the call at the first place.
Okay, so you have trusted me with this and missed the call from a recruiter, now what? (Thanks for trusting me!)
Now, here’s what you need to do next:
- You might know recruiter’s name and company if they left you a message. Now, you need to do some digging and search more about the recruiter and of course the company.
- If you come across a job description while searching online, get a printout and keep it handy while you call back.
- Apologize for not taking the call, as you were “busy”. Wink.
- Be prepared to answer some of the phone interview questions. Here’s your cheat sheet.
- Call back from a quiet place.