Desirable: good telephone manner
Thursday, November 3rd, 2005When someone rings you, and says “Could you hold the line please?†does it instantly make you want to hang up? It does me, and it’s happened to me twice this morning, during a string of calls about a job advert that we have placed in the paper.
A woman rang through to our offices just now, and after hearing my cheerful greeting, said “Where am I now?†I don’t know, love. We don’t have a satellite tracking device in the office – we’re a charity. If you’re confused, ask a policeman.
It strikes me that half the people applying for this job are unable to read, and therefore should not be applying to be a receptionist/typist. For a start, the name of our organisation is on the very top of the advert, and so if you ask me how to spell it, I am not going to be impressed with your powers of deduction, or ability to use your initiative.
Secondly, the deadline for applications is clearly stated on the bottom, and so asking me whether the post has been filled, or when the deadline is, similarly is going to make me question your capacity to function effectively.
Even worse are the people who ring up and say “Where are your offices?â€, and then, when you have explained, ask you to hold on for a minute while they get a pen, and then make you repeat the whole thing. Forward thinking – is it a thing of the past?
There is obviously a niche market for training people how to apply for jobs in a way that doesn’t get their CV brutally consigned to the huge burning pile in the car park. I should suggest it to someone.
