Why is it ESSENTIAL for job seekers to have voicemail with a professional greeting?
Article by Georgie Taylor, Speech Pathologist at Star Pronunciation
I was recently giving a presentation to a group of students studying their Masters of Business Administration (MBA). I was informing students about how important a professional sounding voicemail is when another presenter who was a recruiter from a large global company put up her hand to add to my comments.
She wanted to highlight to students the importance of having a good professional voicemail greeting. When she calls candidates to arrange phone or face-to-face interviews if the person does not have voicemail she assumes that they are not suitable for the position because they are wasting her time by not providing the opportunity to leave a message. Do they expect her to keep calling until they are able to pick up the phone? She doesn’t have time for that.
She also said that when she hears an unclear or unprofessional message it impacts on her decision to employ or not employ that person.
Make sure you do the following:
- If you don’t have your voicemail activated - activate it … now!
- If you are using the default message - practise and record your own greeting.
- If you have a voicemail greeting already recorded - re-listen, perhaps it could do with a re-fresh. Listen to the sounds you make – have you pronounced the word endings correctly, are your vowel sounds pronounced correctly? Are you using the correct word stress? Have you used the correct grammar?
Video: Clear English Tip #4 - The perfect voicemail greeting
