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Voicemail Etiquette 101

I got a kick out of Wendy of CareerHub's recent post about the importance of a professional voicemail. The post is quite humorous when you consider the examples of people's voicemail she includes, although the issue is a serious one. How can a job seeker expect to be taken seriously by prospective employers when their impersonating Elvis on their voicemail?

Now I'm not against showcasing your personality on your home voicemail. In fact, after the birth of my daughter I changed our voicemail to say "we're probably home right now but my best guess is we're on potty patrol or cleaning spit up so leave a message." I thought it was funny. But I also knew that I wasn't in the market for a new job, nor would any headhunters be tracking me down at home. My point is, there are plenty of opportunities down the road to showcase your creativity via your voicemail but during the job search is not one of them. Keep a professional, straightforward voicemail during any times a potential employer or recruiter may be contacting you. 

After you land the job is the time to blare "We Are the Champions" in your voicemail.

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Filed under: Don Boone, Hot Topics, Job Search Guidance

Posted by Don Boone on November 3, 2006 at 4:26 PM

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Comments

Most people under 30 change jobs every year and a half. This means that people are in a contant state of a job hunt, which brings up two issues. One is that there is a never a good time to leave a voicemail about the potty becuase if you're a star, you are constantly in job hunt mode. The other issue is that since today's workers are in contant job hunt mode, they need to strike a balance.

We cannot be professional every moment of their lives -- they'd go crazy. And we cannot talk about the potty and expect to be taken seriously. So we should probably all strike a blance in voicemail and in life -- be our true selves but make sure our true selves are not pushing the limits of what is funny.

Posted by Penelope Trunk on November 4, 2006 8:40 PM

I think that people should communicate, no matter where they do it - in real life or in Internet.

Posted by mebig0 on April 3, 2008 5:11 AM

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