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With the avowed targets of engaging oneself in a job from amongst a sea of jobless and competent people, there is no stone you can dare leave unturned. Agencies, job boards, career coaches, networking, - you are doing it all, and there is no reason to avoid cold calling for jobs. However, seeking employment through cold calling is not a habit cultured by most people, and aimless cold calling is something that you cannot afford. To conduct a carefully organized agenda of cold calling for jobs, you need to consider the following:
Identify Your Market of Potential Employers
Cold calling does not mean disorganized calling. First, you need to identify the sector that you are going to target. With people having multiple skills, it can be useful to segment the market, prepare resumes according to employer needs in respective markets, prepare short initial dialogues for each sector, and get to work.
Mine the Data
Data mining on potential employers is essential for cold calling, especially getting your hands on lists or directories of relevant fields. Seek for members' lists of employers' associations in professional fields and industry segments. Sometimes, it is good to go through the participants' lists of past trade fairs or exhibitions. They give you a quick list of those employers who are most active in the market in any industry. For example, going through the lists of participants of a local trade fair on plumbing equipment would almost instantly provide you with a selected list of potential employers locally active in the field of plumbing and allied activities.
Identify Market Trends
Especially in cold calling, more than in any other process, you need to have a clear focus and a line to activate interest within the first sentence. To do that successfully, you need to research and identify employer needs and market trends, so that the first words you speak have the greatest chance of containing the keywords that are of importance to employers in the field you are targeting. Remember, you rarely have the opportunity to elaborate on your qualities or qualifications during a cold call. You need to be brief and speak to the point. Getting an appointment is your usual focus on a cold call, not getting a job on the phone. If you can manage to get an appointment, you would have the opportunity to make your sales pitch properly.
Approach Cold Calling as a Networking Process
Usually during cold calls, asking whether the company has an opening, or asking about jobs is rarely going to get you anywhere. I do not propose an universal solution, but for myself cold calling has always worked better with making pointed questions and without alluding to job hunting in any manner.
A good working approach is to identify companies which have departments in your field and ask the receptionist whether the company does such and such work or not, and who is the person in charge. Next, ask whether it is possible to meet the person as you are a professional in the same field and would like to look through any possibilities of mutually beneficial relationship or work. If you get the appointment, network, add the relevant person as a connection, impress him or her, and leave. Tell them that you are looking for work and open for jobs or helpful leads. If you impress sufficiently, you don't need to ask, you will be offered a job, if there is any to be had. Considering, that with cold calling, in most cases, there are no ready vacancies, networking and follow-up are of utmost importance. If you manage to create a relation, you will be called when the concerned person finds an opening.
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