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Get Past Gatekeepers!

A friend of mine shared a great prospecting trick with me. The problem he was looking to solve is that it’s very hard to talk to the actual hiring manager when calling a large company; the gatekeepers are trained to divert you to HR (where your resume will be buried under a sea of paperwork).

Here’s my friend’s solution to this problem. He calls the company, and dials a random extension. Whoever picks up, he asks them “is this Mr. Jones?” (assuming Mr. Jones is the manager that he wants to talk to). When they say no, he explains that he dialled the wrong extension (which is true), and asks if they can transfer him.

What do you think? Would you try this?

Note: This post is extracted and adapted from the post by the same name on Tough Economy Jobs. In addition to being the creator of the Tough Economy Jobs blog and HuntingToHired, Danny is also co-founder of Firepole Marketing, the definitive marketing training program for entrepreneurs, small busi....

Comment by amyeandrews on July 24, 2009 at 9:46pm: Could work, but it seems to me that in the largest of organizations the call always goes to voice mail, particuarly if they have caller id and don't recognize the number.

Comment by Danny Iny on July 25, 2009 at 7:53am: Depends on the organization - a lot of people still do answer their phone calls. :)

Comment by Greg Lachs on July 25, 2009 at 2:11pm: I've used this before. Best thing is to get a live person to start with. If you don't have a name, just ask for the manager of the department (IT, Accounting, etc.) you are trying to contact.