What's On Your Answering Machine?

It's amazing how many tries it takes before I get the recording on my answering machine or voicemail just right.  Professional.  Personal.  Just the right amount of enthusiasm.  I'm not looking for a lot of detail like the date or time, as my machine gives me that information anyway.  I always hate it when I'm asked to leave the date and time as sometimes I'm not sure about either when put on the spot.  In addition to a name I want a phone number.   It really annoys me when people leave their name without a number, assuming I already know it.  And while I may have it somewhere, unless I have caller ID, I'll probably have to look it up.  Had the caller simply responded to my request and left their number it would have saved me time and I wouldn't have to feel as if my request, the number, had been ignored.

The message on your answering machine or voicemail when you're not involved in a job search can be funny, cute, include heavy metal music or your kids' voices.  The message when you're involved in job search must be professional and in your voice.  Remember that everything you do creates an impression and you don't want a potential employer to be put off by a loud, off color or cutesy message.  I actually counseled my son to change the message on his cell phone when he was applying to colleges for the same reason.

The other thing to consider is who answers your phone when you're not around.  If it's another adult, coach them how to respond to a potential employer.  There are two critical rules for answering a job search related call.

1.  The person who answers the phone should not give out any information about you -  your whereabouts, how excited you are about the job, whether you're interviewing elsewhere or who you're out with.  Their job is to acknowledge that you're not available and take a message.

2.  Their key responsibility is to take an accurate message which includes the caller's name, the company they're calling from and a contact number.  Coach the person who may answer the phone to ask for the spelling of the caller's name and the company name unless it's something simple like Susan Jones from IBM.  Have them repeat the phone number back to the caller to make sure they've got it right.

In order to insure that you get the information you need, put a note pad next to each phone with blanks for name of caller, company name and phone number.

It there are teens in the house, younger children or someone not capable of getting the information correctly, ask them to refrain from answering the phone at all.  Make sure you have an answering machine that allows those at home to listen to who's on the phone so they know whether to pick up or let the answering machine handle the call.  If they pick up and it is a business call, tell them to ask the caller to call back and leave a message. 

If you have two phones in the house, designate one your job search number and make it clear that the only person who will answer that phone is you.  Another way to avoid having your 4 year old son or 87 year old mother answering the phone, is to only provide your cell phone number, thereby eliminating the need for almost all of the advice I've included above.