Job-Hunting Strategies: The Cold Call

So, getting back to our discussion on traditional job-hunting strategies... In previous posts we've mentioned how to use networking to your advantage and how including the use of internet job-searching services can help to raise your employee profile. In today's post we talk about another tried and true technique: the cold call.

Wikipedia defines cold calling thusly: The term applies to any situation where one person calls another person or organization without a prior relationship. Headhunting firms, for instance, are notorious for this practice.

It's our understanding then, that to cold call a company when job-hunting is to call with the simple intention of finding out whether or not a company is hiring ...and further, whether or not it might be interested in hiring you. In this respect you may be just interested in gaining information with a cold call. Any knowledge you obtain can be used for future reference, and gaining a better sense of the job market is certain to yield benefits somewhere down the line.

There are two things to remember when making cold calls: first, be sure to speak clearly and concisely and come straight to the point; second, make sure that you find a chilly, if not down-right frozen local from where to place your call. Any polar region in the northern or southern latitudes should be adequate. Also, alpine settings during frigid winter months (especially those within quick reach of a cozy ski lodge) make for excellent cold calling base camps. But for those without easy access to Finish saunas or Swiss ski chalets, simply standing in an isolated grocery or butcher shop cooler may provide enough of a "wintery" environment to come off convincingly to the person on the other end of the line. "Cold call whenever you can," states the FSRI, "...just be sure you're cold when you do it!"

KWA

P.S. The FSRI would like to apologize, once again, for frightening any small children by revealing the visage of Decateur Thoms in the previous post. When shown in the future Decateur's image will be drastically un-enlarged to help prevent unnecessary reader shock. Thank you, the FSRI.