What is a cold call?

What is a cold call?  A cold call in sales or recruitment is the initiation of contact with a person or an entity that you want to establish a relationship with.  It is something most people have an aversion against doing.  It is generally used to market to the other person or entity.  Many are nervous about marketing or cold calling because it requires a willingness to create relationships or capitalize on one’s ability to obtain useful information in an attempt to provide a service to the recipient.  Cold calling is something most avoid because it scares them.  It is as a result of a defeatist attitude and sometimes results in paralysis. 

To overcome a cold call phobia, one must begin by setting a goal.  They should also define the outcome expected of a call.  What is it that you want to accomplish? Do you want to find out whether they use external services like you offer? Who manages that process?  Do they understand what you offer?  Are there opportunities in which they would be able to capitalize on the implementation of such a service in their organization?

Cold calls can be springboards to warm and/or hot calls.  A warm call is where an individual refers you to another directly.  A hot call is a call where they person KNOWS that they are in need of your service.  The fear most possess is a result of rejection.  Deep breathing and visualization are two techniques which can be particularly useful to a person that possesses deep fears pertaining to cold calling.

Cold calls are the life blood of pipelines for anyone working on the front lines in a recruiting, sales or marketing capacity.  Without cold calling, businesses must rely on leads which are purchased at a cost.   Cold calls are the life blood to small businesses and entry-level/junior professionals.

One also needs to build a call list.  This list would consist of people or businesses that are in the target market being pursued.  It should be comprised of the Name, Address, Main #,  Contact specific #, email address, Industry of business, Special Industry Dates, Specific Industry Special Days or Celebrations or whatever may be specific to that target.

Be genuinely friendly and interested in your customers, DO NOT SPEAK FROM SCRIPT be present!

Lastly, have FUN!!!! Your audience is just people, too!

Top 10 Characteristics Employers Seek in Candidates

This was sent to me in 1998 by my manager at the time.

I have held onto the paper copy and now will be adding it to my recruiting blog.

When seeking a new job it is important that your resume and cover letter convey the following characteristics and skills in your initial contact with an employer.  Motivation and enthusiasm can be conveyed in your cover letter by indicating why you are interested in the position.

The resume gives the opportunity to relate your content skills (duties unique to a particular job or activity like drafting or editing) and your transferable skills ( activities learned on the job that can be transferred to another employer---organizing, summarizing and teamwork are good examples).

So with no further adieu, the top ten charateristics employers seek in job candidates:

1. Honesty
2. Motivation/Initiative
3. Communication Skills
4. Self-Confidence
5. Flexibility
6. Interpersonal Skills
7. Strong Work Ethic
8. Teamwork Skills
9. Leadership Skills
10. Enthusiasm

Tip # 1 for success in the workplace. Voicemail Etiquette

Voicemail is an excellent way to give your callers an up close and personal method of learning things about you that they might need to know before speaking with you. Voicemail messages can tell your audience specific times that you return calls or if your day is not one where you will be available to speak at length. As a professional, it is important to give your callers a reason to believe that you are competent and professional in your communication. Update your voicemail after returning to the office upon an absence, it will shine of your professionalism and your caller will not know unless they called you during your absences of your absence. It is an absolute must otherwise your caller might start to think that you are not so available, organized or effective in your communications. Your audience is anyone that calls your place of business. Updating your voicemail daily or when you are in the office is an effective form of communicating to your callers that you are available and they should expect a return call by a specified time period. When the call is returned, you gain credibility and trust of the caller. When it is not, your reputation can become tarnished along with the callers interest in working with you in the future. It frustrates potential clients/customers when they can not get a response to an inquiry. Believe it or not, it does not matter how much money that you make or how recognized you are by the world. One's personal response to life experiences carries worth in the workplace and I believe that is what employer's forget sometimes. Partially because people have become numb to workplace imperfections and as long as they subscribe to the concept of "my ship is not sinking" everything is fine concept everything is. I am a recruiter and a massage therapist. The phone is my friend in both instances. It is my life line to my candidates, my clients and my own service providers. My phone messages must be relevant to my lifestyle and my work arrangement. I am very good about returning calls. I listen to the message, I take note and I return calls generally within 2 hours or less. My reasoning is, my caller needs something from me and I am going to care for them. I also love what I do. Make your voicemail reflect that part of you by being credible, professional and speak clearly so that your words can be understood. If your audience is calling for a reason, they will appreciate it. When calling professionals cultivating business relationships, I take a note of voicemails of the people that I call. Do you sound like I want to call you back or am I a little nervous about whether you will appreciate my call? There are a lot of recruiters in the workforce and there are a lot of massage therapists in the workforce. But there is only one me, I believe in the "Golden Rule" & you should too (esp. when it comes to voicemail) Don't let that perfect opportunity pass you by because your voicemail is full or your message indicates that you are possibly not available or you don't return a call. Be focused on ensuring your success by determining to be available once you are called.

Are you looking for a job or Are you looking for a promotion or Are you one of millions that can't seem to find a job for some reason?

I am not an expert in searching for a job but I can tell you from a recruiter's perspective the things that are occurring in this economic climate can be very discouraging to an average person. I have literally known people that have been looking for a job for YEARS. They get a title or a tag of Slug or Loser in the hiring process. Hold on, and guess what they have never even spoken to you. Have you been told to revise your resume? Limit the experience to that which is relevant. Don't let it be over one page and don't speak negatively about anything because that can be construed as you being angry or holding a grudge against the employer. Yes there are some things that you just should never do. I think the goal is to present your background in such a manner so as to entice your audience to take a second look. I would like to help in your job search particularly if you are looking for a job because you are unhappy with your current situation; if you are looking for a promotion or if you just doing know how to sell yourself. One of the major reasons why people are not going back to work is because there are not enough jobs to sustain society coupled with the fact that there are some people that only hire people that are like them. If you are the exact opposite of them then what would make them take a chance on the unknown? I am looking for a position right now. And the major reason why is because I am in need of money. I am single. I am outspoken and very, very, very good at what I do. I have excellent management skills. I was a team leader for the 2010 Census Operations and I managed & supervised up to 25 people at the height of the operation during canvassing. I was respected for my work ethic and I got the job done. I am thorough and I am detailed oriented. In 2004, I decided to pursue massage therapy as a profession. I attended a 600 hr diploma program at The New School For Massage guess what I received extremely high marks in all of the subjects. At the time, there was no actually ranking because most of the classes which graduated were very small. I graduated with 3 other women. Everyone had distinctly different personalities and I believe that every one is still working in the profession. I worked for the next four years in dual professions as a recruiter and a massage therapist. I never had any free time because I was always working or attending some type of class to better myself. For a period of time, I worked three jobs simultaneously and went through a healer program in Dahn Yoga. Let me repeat myself, I worked three jobs as a recruiter, massage therapist and a job search and coaching position as well as attending the healer program. I like to be busy in a constructive way and right now. I don't feel like I am being as productive with my time these days even though I am building my own massage practice from the ground up. Why would you say from the ground up, Carol? That's because I have morals and ethics. When I was doing all of that I worked for other people and those people that I worked with were their clients. I just did the care and feeding of them. So right now I am feeling slightly discouraged because I know that I am a winner and I know that I am very good at what I do. If I had been a little bit smarter I would have broke off from the mainstream a long time ago. I am entreprenuerial. I am a leader. And you are too! Don't let others determine your worth. Alas this was supposed to be geared toward helping you find a job. The reason you are having such a hard time can be any of a number of reasons. I would like to help you learn how to nagivate your job search and find your ideal environment where you can thrive. follow me, email me, call me, let me now that you are out there.

Branding

Is about marketing, identity and presence.

new focus workshops to educate young people on how to address discrimination in society because of differences in cultural communication.

what is cultural communication?

seminar coming soon!

live stream???

Words of Wisdom to JobSeekers

1. Take your job search seriously!

2. Write compelling cover letters to differentiate yourself from others.

3. Create an email specifically for professional or career communications.

4. Research the companies that are appealing to you and know their industries/competitor/product offerings/target customers before send your resume over to them. Not so you can tweek your resume to fit their industry but rather to highlight your accomplishments in the area to which you are applying in your cover letter. Don't embellish!

5. Do volunteer work in your chosen field if possible or do internships.

6. Be respectful.

7. Entry level jobseekers be ready to start at the bottom. It's called paying your dues.

8. Never give up!

Have you heard of MiFi?

MiFi is a portable broadband wireless device about the size of a credit card that combines functions of a modem, router and access point. The internal modem accesses a wireless signal and the internal router shares that connection among users and devices.A MiFi is sometimes called a personal hotspot.

MiFi was designed to simplify setting up a small local area network (LAN). The device supports five users and can also network Wi-Fi-capable devices including digital cameras, notebooks, MP3 players and gaming systems. A MiFi device could be used to set up an ad-hoc network with a shared Internet connection anywhere with cellular connectivity.

Here are some of MiFi's other features:

Storage capacity.
The ability to host applications.
Support for EV-DO or UMTS/HSDPA 3G technologies.
Four hours active use, forty hours standby before the internal battery needs to be recharged.
Can be configured for automatic email synching and virtual private network (VPN) connection.
Support for remote management.
Novatel, who developed MiFi and trademarked the name, call their associated product line "Intelligent Mobile Hotspots." Novatel markets the devices, which require a data plan, through carriers. According to Novatel, MiFi stands for "my Wi-Fi" and is pronounced as "my-Fi."

Technology is always improving, stay abreast!