Say I want to cold call a business and ask for a job or an internship, do I ask for the highest person I can get in touch with like CEO/COO or can I even ask for like an analyst (if I was to be an analyst intern).
What if there is no hiring manager, can I just talk to the receptionist?
I was never good at cold calling, but I had a boss who says you ask for the CEO, and then the secretary eventually diverts you to someone else, or you get the CEO.
Another source I read suggests that you ask for someone two levels above the job description you want. That way the person tells someone that might potentially be your boss to talk to you (assuming you don’t get hung up on right away). It’s an easy way of getting you off their back without sounding impolite. Once you’ve been referred to someone one level above you, that person may or may not decide to interact with you, but the fact that the directive to talk to you came from their boss gives it more force than if you yourself called up that person and started chatting right then.
Alright, I’ve called the companies I wanted to. I just said something like “can I please speak to the person that helps make the hiring decisions” and a lot of the time it was simply the person that picked up because I was calling boutique places where the COO or CEO or whomever at the top picks up the phone. I followed up with a call to a company and got the hiring guy directly.
Ask for the CEO or MD. If the secretary asks who you are instead of putting you through, tell her you’re the boss’s wife’s lover and you’ll be put through immediately.
The person I followed up with after I sent a resume was glad I called. I guess no one else followed up. He said they stop taking resumes this week so they start calling next week and that he will follow up with me.
Otherwise, slim pickings out there. Most positions at boutique firms are already filled, they only hire someone when they actually need them so they will go to head hunters and recruiters. In a way… no sense calling them. A few I had good conversations with and said I will send my info for the future, but you know how these things go, your resume gets tossed within a week.
It can also be a good strategy to try cold calling after hours. Very few “gate keepers” work beyond 5:15 local time, but most BSD’s do and will very frequently answer the phone themselves.