How I got a job using the phone
Actually I used the Internet and the phone and I also used a bit of networking but all told, that’s essentially how I became a recruiter.
The good news is that you can also use the same tactics I did to find a job too and the better part is that most other people you’re probably competing with for various jobs won’t do the same thing.
I’d been laid off from a sales job in early 2000 when the company I was working for had gone out of business. I’d already been thinking about looking for a new job just before the company closed so I was already in the job search mode to a certain extent.
I’d already thought about becoming a recruiter so my first thought was to do a bit of research and figure out exactly what recruiters do. I did some online searches – this was 2000 so the the Internet was good but not as good as it is today – and I did get some good information.
My next step was to find some actual recruiters to speak with. I did some checking in the Yellow Pages and located a few local IT recruiters (IT interested me the most so I targeted IT recruitment firms), cold called the the companies, asked to speak with the person who hired their staff and essentially told them I was looking for a job and asked if I could speak with them in this regard.
I was able to speak for a few minutes with each company’s hiring manager, got to answer their questions, tell them a bit about myself and then got invited into their respective office to meet them in person.
I ended up interviewing with 4 different companies and got offers from 2 of them.
Now in the recruitment business like some other sales jobs, it’s certainly easier to cold call a company and essentially invite yourself in for an interview. Companies like this often look for new staff regularly so it isn’t uncommon. Still, not everyone picks up the phone and makes that call so if you haven’t done it, you might try it.
If you’d like to read about how I cold-called my way to another job later in my career, check out this post from a few months ago.
