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Recruitment

Too Hot to Cold Call?

By June 21, 20122 Comments

Talofa everyone.  Your regular Whiteboard blogger is back, refreshed and revitalised, ready to squeak and squeal my chunky marker pen across the recruitment industry’s consciousness once again.  Thanks Sean and Estelle for your guest blogging contributions over the past couple of weeks.  I’m sure it was a welcome relief for our regular readers.

I must admit to my surprise at what was blogged about though.  Such worthy, interesting and debate-inspiring blog posts surely have no place on these pages?  I’m clearly going to have to raise my game now.  But that can wait until next week (and yes, I’m aware the first cut was announced in the All-of-Government recruitment tender last night, with a Dutch auction now to be held on 4/5 July, so will no doubt be discussing this!)

I was most disappointed not to read a piece on what I thought would be blogged about.  A moment of genius from Sean Walters, just before I left, a true lightbulb moment.  Discussing amongst ourselves why some people are so adverse to cold calling and (real) business development, he revealed that his penchant for cold calling and ability to handle rejection was born solely out of the frequency with which his advances were knocked back by girls in his younger days.

Who's the best cold caller?

Eureka.  But it’s so obvious.  Throw all of the sales and cold-calling texts out the window.  Cancel your rejection handling webinars and “overcoming call reluctance” workshops.  In these tough trading days when the art of cold calling is a skill to be cherished, all you employers need seek in your sales and recruitment staff is the odd-looking, strangely-behaving ones who were always left alone at the school disco.  They might not “brighten the place up” but by crikey they will hammer the phone and make the sales.

Leave “account management” to the beautiful people, I say.  These days new business development is a battlefield and it is the scarred veterans of rejection with the thousand yard stares that will maintain the charge.

Do you agree?  Is it possible to be both hot and cold at the same time?  Vote on our poll by visiting our Facebook page here.

Oh and while you’re there, check out the upcoming Event next Thursday 28th June.  It’s the inaugural quarterly recruitment networking drinks hosted by us here at Generator.  It’s a social recruiting PowWow where you can convert all of your thin social media “connections” into real life physical meetings.  Imagine that?  We’re putting the social back into social media.

On top of that, no matter how good a cold-caller you are, we won’t let you dance alone on the dance floor.  Not even Sean can handle constant rejection.

Jonathan Rice

MD at New Zealand rec-to-rec firm Rice Consulting and co-founder of on-demand recruiter offering Joyn. Recruitment agitator and frustrated idealist, father of two, husband of one, and lover of all things Arsenal and crafty beer.

2 Comments

  • Kathryn says:

    Conversely, you could say that good looking people have the confidence to know that even if one person turns you down, there’s always going to be someone who is swayed by your charms and says yes

  • Riki says:

    The Power of social media can sway a person to like or dislike you by a visual!!