Verbal Communication, Written Communication or No Communication?
Talking on the telephone is not everyone’s cup of tea. Some people go out of their way to avoid being on the phone and I am not talking about mobiles. Most age groups are very comfortable with their mobile and we can all hear them talking cheerfully and loudly stately “I’m on the train” or just simply talking loudly into their mobile regardless of whether they need to or not. Yet when it comes to the work environment we all see to have lost our sense of natural communication via the phone. Is it because the phone is a lot larger than a mobile? Does it size make us feel we can not bear lifting the handle like we are suddenly suffering from some kind of phobia?
Or is it is simply because it is so much handier to let the phone slide towards voicemail and hide behind email responses if of course we do get around to responding. It is understandable not to want or to have to respond to an unwarranted email or call but if you have engaged a professional (a recruitment consultant for example or an expert to provide advice) then you should not spend the next while avoiding them. Take a deep breath and respond. It’s not that hard just answer the phone and simply give an honest and candid response. It takes seconds and the person at the other end will be satisfied to a certain degree. If you seriously believe that ignoring calls and emails from people who genuinely take their jobs seriously but unfortunately depend on communication as a big part of their job then you have most probably should not be in the job you are in or maybe that particular part of the job should be someone else’s. The penalty is they will keep ringing or emailing and no one wants that.
The biggest stress factor for recruiters is getting hold of candidates that have registered looking for work or some clients who have requested us to locate candidates on their behalf. An enormous amount of time is wasted just because some one can’t be “bothered” (I use this term loosely but to some consultants it exactly how it is) to respond. Is it a power trip, are they simply too busy or maybe they seriously believe the consultant doesn’t warrant a response even though that consultant may have spent hours working on a position for them and is simply looking for feedback on their work or in some cases to give feedback. I am just referring to a good consultant here. The one that if the contact took the time to get to know they might actually save themselves a lot of time and heartache.
No communication is usually the cause of most problems and it’s no different when it comes to recruitment no matter which side of the table you are sitting at. It’s amazing how relieved/motivated some one can be once a verbal conversation has occurred. So come on let’s start communicating with each other. As BT say “It’s good to talk”.
