How Not to Cold Call

As college graduation and the school year-end looms closer and closer, HMA has begun to receive an increase in calls from either college students asking if we are hiring for summer internships or full-time jobs. We at HMA do things a little differently when it comes to interns—we don’t hire seasonal ones. Abbie hires an intern with the intent to hire them at the completion of the three-month internship period, given that it will be a good fit for both HMA and the new account coordinator. Bre was HMA’s latest intern, starting in November and becoming an account coordinator in February.
As I was looking for my blogspiration for this week, I was looking through some of our PRGN partners’ blogs and saw a post from our Philadelphia PRGN partner, Buchanan Public Relations about resume mistakes and interview prep. So I wanted to write a post about cold calling for jobs, as I have a bit of a story.
About a month ago, I was the only one in the office near the end of the day. As I was getting ready to leave and literally walking out the door, the phone rang, so, of course, I answered it.
The guy on the phone said that he had received a call from us and was returning the call. “Ok, so who called you? I’d be happy to transfer you to their voicemail.” He said they didn’t leave their name.
“Well, what was the call in regards to?” If he could at least give me a client name I could transfer him to the right person.
He didn’t know. Now I was getting a little suspicious. I told him I wasn’t sure how I could help him if he couldn’t give me any information as to what he was calling about. He then blurts out that we hadn’t called him. Um, ok, what????
He then went on to explain that he was really interested in working for “Huma” Public Relations and asked if we were hiring any interns. After explaining that we weren’t, I told him we would take his information down in case any openings did pop up. So he gave me his phone number and email, and his physical address, which I thought was pretty strange. I guess to show that he was a local, but it’s not like we’re going to mail him anything.
So I get to the office the next day essentially forgetting this call had even happened. We get a call, I answer like usual and it’s the same guy! He gave me the same spiel that he had received a call from this number, yada yada yada. After he finished talking I explained that he had just called here last night, I had answered this phone and we are still not hiring anyone presently. I could tell he was a little caught off guard that it was the same person and to save himself, he said he received two missed calls from our number, and no one would dial the wrong number twice.
Just to be sure, I asked around the office if anyone was trying to reach this guy and the answer was no.
So if you’re going to cold call asking about a job, don’t lie—as you shouldn’t with anything!