Have you ever had the experience of having to listen to a long-winded message and in your mind you’re thinking “I sure wish they would hurry up and get to the point and give me their phone number?”  And when they finally do give their number – at the very end of a 3 minute message – they say it so fast you either couldn’t hear it clearly or write it down fast enough?  Me too.  There’s really nothing that annoys me more.

To me it’s a sign of respect.  The caller ultimately wants something from you.  They are not respecting your time because they are leaving long-winded messages and then speeding through the most important part.  That means you must now consider listening to that whole message again.  There is a cure for that.

And it all starts with you.  When you are on the job hunt it is critically important that you leave brief, concise and clear messages.  Do not ramble.  But most important of all, leave your name and phone number twice in your message; once at the beginning, and again at the end.

Example:

“Hi John.  This is Chris Gustafson at 972.555.5555 following up on the next steps from the interview we had last week.  You mentioned I would be meeting with Sally next.  I wanted to let you know my availability has changed a bit.  I can be available anytime next Monday or next Tuesday afternoon starting after 12:00 noon.  John, again, this is Chris at 972.555.5555.  I look forward to speaking with you soon to get that interview set up.”

That’s all there is to it.  Get in.  Get out.  Be professional.  We will go into the anatomy of that call in later posts.