Phone calls and emails: mastering these simple forms of communication is imperative to your success in a career, but they still manage to put everyone in a cold sweat. How do you navigate these communication methods effectively in the job search and application process? Brandon, Jerry, Mackenzie, and McKinley teach you how in this episode of Career Cafe. By the end, you’ll be a whiz at emails and phone calls, and you’ll even hear a great Career Center dad joke!
00;00;10;15 - 00;00;34;10
McKinley Hatch
Welcome to Career Cafe, a podcast to help you thrive in the professional world. Today's episode is on mastering the art of professionalism, navigating emails, phone calls and voicemails. Joining us today, we have Brandon Street, Jerry Ross and Mackenzie Jenkins and a special guest today. And then the moderator, myself, McKinley Hatch, who are all experts in career and professional development topics.
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McKinley Hatch
So we know who Brandon and Jerry are. But Kenzie, why don't you introduce yourself to us?
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Mackenzie Jenkins
Yeah. So I'm Kenzie. I work in the career center as the internship coordinator, and I facilitate a lot of programs. Well, not a lot. Just two, I guess. One is a professional internship program, and then the other is SUU Career Academy.
00;00;54;14 - 00;01;01;01
Mackenzie Jenkins
And we actually talk a lot about professionalism and specifically some of the topics that we'll talk about today.
00;01;01;03 - 00;01;14;10
McKinley Hatch
So we're excited to have you join us. Thanks, Kenzie. Let's jump right into crafting professional emails. Let's talk about that and what that looks like and how to go about that process. So who wants to start us off?
00;01;14;12 - 00;01;30;19
Brandon Street
Well, first of all, I think that having professional emails is obviously really important, that it represents us when we're when we're sending information to other people around us. And I think we can't take for granted putting together just a fast email or things like that, because on the other side it can be interpreted a lot of different ways.
00;01;30;19 - 00;01;46;28
Brandon Street
And but also again, if it's a first time we're talking to someone who's our first impression and we talk about that a lot in professionalism, but we need to ensure the first time somebody reason email from us, they are taking a serious as a professional. And I think there's a few things that help us stand apart as a professional.
00;01;47;00 - 00;02;01;00
Brandon Street
One is obviously professional language as we're talking to people in a professional manner. So understanding your audience, who am I speaking to? What am I trying to convey and making sure that our emails represent exactly what we're trying to convey.
00;02;01;02 - 00;02;18;23
Jerry Ross
And I think one of them, I will be the first one to admit I am not fantastic with grammar, spelling and punctuation. I love to use the technology available to me to help make sure that I'm sounding as professional as I can when I'm coming across in that email as a business professional. Not that I prefer it.
00;02;18;23 - 00;02;43;08
Jerry Ross
I think I still prefer to personally interact with people, but an email allows me to distribute some facts that could be forgotten in other ways that we do things to where there are times when I strategically use the email to say, Don't forget this date, don't forget this time. And I feel like it's a good way for us to write down data that we want someone to be able to store for future use that isn't available in some of the other methods.
00;02;44;29 - 00;03;17;01
McKinley Hatch
Yeah. This is super awesome. And I think like you guys had mentioned writing clear and professionally and using those grammar resources that we have out there is really helpful. And something I wanted to elaborate on was writing subject lines for emails. I have recently had an experience working with another person on campus where they said we were in a meeting and they're like, I hate when people just are so, you know, what's the right word or vague?
00;03;17;03 - 00;03;36;10
McKinley Hatch
Vague. Thank you. I was like, Why is that word when they're so vague in their emails? And I'm like, I'm so guilty of that. Every time I email the lady that does websites on campus and I'm submitting web requests on my website update, I'm like, Yeah, that's super helpful. Like, what kind of update is this? What's the date like?
00;03;36;10 - 00;03;41;14
McKinley Hatch
What's the timeline? So let's talk about subject lines and why that matters.
00;03;41;16 - 00;04;00;26
Jerry Ross
I think it needs to be direct and it needs to tell them kind of the action it determines they need to take. One of my interactions is I get employers to come to job fairs, but a lot of times the person that signs up for the job fair isn't the person that's actually going to be there. So I will put in that subject line pass on to attendee that lets them know they can't just look at this in four days.
00;04;00;26 - 00;04;19;04
Jerry Ross
If it's coming up tomorrow or in the next few days, it gives them some a timeline as to when do they need to read this and kind of how vital is it to our business that we're conducting together. So whatever we can do to kind of get across some of that timeline direction to them? And also, what does this mean to them?
00;04;19;07 - 00;04;22;19
Jerry Ross
What do they what action do they need to take and how fast do they need to take it?
00;04;22;22 - 00;04;40;20
Mackenzie Jenkins
Yeah, one thing like just starting out in my career, like I don't feel like I get a ton of emails, maybe as much as like some directors and supervisors on campus and just in jobs in general. So for me, I'm like, maybe I don't need to make it this detailed because they're only going to get I'm only getting five emails, right?
00;04;40;20 - 00;04;59;19
Mackenzie Jenkins
So I'm going to look at all of them. But when there's people that are getting like 100 emails a day, I think having subject lines and targeted, I guess I don't know if that's right word and subject lines, it's a lot more helpful for them to know what they need to look at and if it's important.
00;04;59;21 - 00;05;26;04
Jerry Ross
And I've had experiences through my recruiting time where I came back and I had 1400 emails in my inbox off of a weekend, right? So what can you do to write something other than resume and close? Right. Right. We know your resume is enclosed. Like what? Can we do something like looking forward to working together, something that would attract some attention to something that sets you apart if you're on that side of the job spectrum, I think is a great idea.
00;05;26;10 - 00;05;43;05
Brandon Street
Yeah. Yeah. I want to talk a little bit more about the other parts of the resume. I think we didn't address a little bit as well what you title. Somebody depends on again what you know about them and your personal relationship with them. Because the first time you speak to a dean on campus probably shouldn't be Hey Bob.
00;05;43;11 - 00;05;58;11
Brandon Street
Right. Especially if it's for Harvard, Right. I think it's important to understand in that case, we're probably to call them dean so and so. Right. And make sure that we we call them by professional names until we establish some type of relationship with them, with the colleagues in my office. You know, I may say, hey, McKinley, you know what I mean?
00;05;58;14 - 00;06;16;22
Brandon Street
Or Hey, Jerry. But but at the same time, we're not going to be doing that with people who we have a professional relationship with and we may not know as well. So to make sure we we obviously title that correctly, the content of the email is direct as we're talking about, but also we have a professional closing to that email as well.
00;06;16;24 - 00;06;42;03
McKinley Hatch
Yeah, Yeah. I think that's really important. And noting that you keep addressing them that way unless they correct you, right. Like once you, you know, Dr. So-and-so Dean So and so you keep doing that until they say, call me this, right? And so you just got to keep that professionalism up. Let's talk about you've already talked about it a little bit, email etiquette, right?
00;06;42;08 - 00;06;47;12
McKinley Hatch
Addressing them professionally. Right. What else do we want to talk about with email etiquette?
00;06;47;15 - 00;07;10;29
Brandon Street
I think when we respond to emails, we I think it's important to understand that when people email you, they expect a response probably within 24 to 48 hours of possible that they're expecting you to get back in in a timely manner and not something a week or two weeks later you're responding to. So it's important to make sure that you're addressing your emails in a timely manner and getting back to them with the content they're asking for as well.
00;07;11;02 - 00;07;25;11
Brandon Street
How many times have we sent an email and got a response? And we're like, That's not at all what I asked. Right? And very quickly, they understand you didn't read that email. So it's it's important to ensure that you read that email, respond in a timely manner if the content they're looking for.
00;07;25;13 - 00;07;53;27
Jerry Ross
One of the tactics I've used is say, I'm sending an email and I have multiple things I need answered, I won't just give it one paragraph. I will strategically put lines in between different things that I need answered, hoping that they can understand. Those are separate topics and I would like separate answers received back with those. Also, something about etiquette is early on in my career I found that my email signature that is available on my computer is different than what sends on my phone.
00;07;53;29 - 00;08;20;16
Jerry Ross
Right? So maybe we're at the early stages of our relationship, some with someone and the first time we communicated was via computer and they know who you are. The second time is via phone and all they know is your email address. So making sure that we're sending consistent signatures between those two or if it's coming from your phone, you also may include your name or phone number or whatever you need to keep that contact established, but make sure that you know the medium in which you're sending and how it's going to be viewed on their side.
00;08;20;18 - 00;08;41;14
Mackenzie Jenkins
Yeah. I also think one other thing to know is staying away from my jargon and haha and a thousand exclamation points that I love to do. I swear every time I'm writing an email I like put an exclamation point and then I'm like, my gosh, I have to go back and put a period in that spot just because that's, that's not as professional, right?
00;08;41;14 - 00;08;46;27
Mackenzie Jenkins
So making sure no emojis, GIFs. Yeah. Yeah.
00;08;46;29 - 00;08;49;11
Brandon Street
you're saying no GIFs. My bad.
00;08;49;14 - 00;08;57;06
Mackenzie Jenkins
And just kidding. But no, know your audience, know who you're sending it to and if it's a professional email, make sure you're here doing those things.
00;08;57;08 - 00;09;10;05
McKinley Hatch
Yeah. And I think what Brandon said earlier too, is like, the more you get to know them, you know, like, I know we've all sent each other GIFs, but we work really closely together, you know, and but I'm not going to send that to our vice president.
00;09;10;07 - 00;09;31;09
McKinley Hatch
Like, no way. Right? And so, yeah, I love that. And one last thing I want to talk about with email etiquette is if you're going to be out of town to put the the automatic vacation responder and turn those on, I'm guilty like some Fridays that I have off, I forget to put it on. And when people are emailing me, they're expecting if they don't get that back, that I'm there at work.
00;09;31;09 - 00;09;52;16
McKinley Hatch
And so I should be responding to them in that 24 to 48 hours. And if I don't because I had time off, then they don't understand where I was and what I'm doing. So just making sure that those are on as well. So let's jump into phone etiquette. We've talked about email etiquette up to this point. Let's talk about phones and then we'll dive into, you know, voicemails later.
00;09;52;18 - 00;10;02;10
McKinley Hatch
But there's a lot that goes into phone calls and it can make or break, you know, a relationship with somebody's professional standards. Right. So let's talk about that.
00;10;02;12 - 00;10;20;12
Brandon Street
Well, I think we need to understand the different hats we wear on her answering a phone, too, right? I mean, typically we're talking in this case about professional and your professional hat. And so if I'm answering the phone at work, I usually do a couple of standard things. One is I let them know what office you're calling and who are speaking to them.
00;10;20;15 - 00;10;39;13
Brandon Street
So if somebody calls me, I just say, career professional development. This is Brandon, right? So they understand who they're calling and whom they're speaking to. I think that's important because there's a lot of different departments on campus, right. And even different people with in our office. And there could be times where they either call the wrong place or just tried a number, Right.
00;10;39;15 - 00;10;42;26
Brandon Street
So that they know who we are.
00;10;42;28 - 00;11;07;18
Jerry Ross
Also, the backgrounds. I'll be the first one to admit my kids are feral, right? So if I'm at home and I get a work conversation and I know this needs to be business, I'm sprinting away from them. So what can we do to put ourselves in a professional space? Also right to make sure that we don't have background things going on, that we're able to communicate effectively by getting away from some of those distractions that might happen to us on different things.
00;11;07;21 - 00;11;33;22
Jerry Ross
When we're answering phone in a car, should we turn off the radio? Should we take a second to let the people in the car know, Hey guys, I've got a serious conversation I'm going to have right now. Give me a couple of moments, please. So people are typically okay with waiting for an extra ring or two to be able to effectively communicate, check your surroundings and make sure that we're putting ourself into a positive light where we can have effective two way communication.
00;11;33;24 - 00;11;56;02
McKinley Hatch
Yeah, awesome. Thanks, guys. One thing I wanted to say as well, what I know I've had this experience on campus and in other past jobs and that always happens. And so I want to make sure our students are aware of it. When you're calling somewhere and you're asking a question, they don't know the answer. It's so frustrating right when they come back and I don't know.
00;11;56;05 - 00;12;22;13
McKinley Hatch
Okay, well, is there someone that does that I can speak to about this? You know? And so I think keeping in mind as students and as professionals, when you get those calls and you don't know the answer to the question, rather than making something up and pretending you do know because that could hurt you in the long run as well, is just saying simply it's it's okay to say, you know, you know what, I'm not sure, but let me talk to people and find out and I'll get back to you.
00;12;22;20 - 00;12;25;01
McKinley Hatch
And then that follow up is really important as well.
00;12;25;01 - 00;12;48;20
Brandon Street
So I think the same you bring up a good point. I think the same with transfers, you know, in within your department or your company. Sometimes we just like say, that's not my area, call so-and-so. But I think it's easier if you just to help transfer that person. Customer services higher. When you say, let me just get you connected with them real quick and you transfer them to that department, makes it so much easier for them having to hang up or try to find the number, you know?
00;12;48;20 - 00;12;53;00
Brandon Street
And so it's all about making sure that they have a good experience when they do call you.
00;12;53;02 - 00;13;05;08
McKinley Hatch
Yeah, I love that. We've talked about phone calls. Now, the other end voice mails. This one's always so, so fun. Let's talk about professional voicemails. What does that look like?
00;13;05;08 - 00;13;08;13
Brandon Street
It looks like setting one up. Yeah. First of all, yes.
00;13;08;15 - 00;13;30;16
Mackenzie Jenkins
We get a lot of those calling in and it's either the voicemail boxes and set up or they're their voicemail boxes full. So then you can't leave a message. So that's super frustrating and really not professional, especially whether you're, you know, if you're applying to a job and someone's trying to call you back and it's a message, well, I'm like, I don't want to hire you
00;13;30;16 - 00;13;34;28
Mackenzie Jenkins
then here. If you don't if you're not professional in that way. So something to keep in mind.
00;13;34;28 - 00;13;50;25
Brandon Street
Well, they may not call you back. You know, they may try calling. You want to interview you and you and your voice message isn't set up. It's they're not going to call you, you know, more than a couple of times at the most. And so make sure that you have that set up. And as we talk about it professionally, voice message as well.
00;13;50;27 - 00;13;51;29
Brandon Street
Yeah.
00;13;52;02 - 00;14;09;29
Jerry Ross
I would practice a voicemail prior to calling someone. So of course, the hope is that they pick up a phone and we have a conversation, but if they don't, I would make a point to make sure that the message I was leaving had every bit of information they needed. But our entire conversation about a way to get back a hold of me.
00;14;09;29 - 00;14;23;15
Jerry Ross
A lot of times with cell phones, we're so used to people having our number, but a lot of times when we're interacting with recruiters or other things, there may be a long list of numbers inside of their phone. They may have missed ten calls and they're not sure which one was you, but you're the only one that left a message.
00;14;23;17 - 00;14;42;14
Jerry Ross
So I will rehearse that voicemail prior to picking up the phone just to make sure if it goes there, I'm leaving a concise directed message with some instructions on how to get a hold of me when they go to call me back and be very clear. That's kind of another trick with these is we can't tell whether you're going in or out with things.
00;14;42;14 - 00;14;54;26
Jerry Ross
So typically I will repeat the number that I need them to call me back, even though it makes me sound old. I am. I'll live with it. But whatever we need to do to make sure that they have all of the information they need to carry out the next steps or to be able to get back a hold of you.
00;14;54;28 - 00;15;21;09
Brandon Street
Yeah. The other thing I'd say is make sure if you do create a voice message, make sure it's professional. How many times you call those individuals where they say hello and then you start talking. They say hello and I get I fall for that every single time. Every time. And I don't like it. It makes me mad. And so, you know, make sure that, you know, as we're we're applying for jobs and those types of things, we're not putting the employer in a situation where they are frustrated or mad because of your voice message.
00;15;21;09 - 00;15;21;15
Brandon Street
Right?
00;15;21;17 - 00;15;42;18
Mackenzie Jenkins
We had one that was like two minute long voicemail the other day. We're like, where is this going? It was interesting. Hello. What was so interesting? The other thing too, is make sure that you're clearing out your voicemails and deleting those so that when people do call you if your voicemail box is full, make sure to go in and delete those.
00;15;42;21 - 00;16;02;05
McKinley Hatch
And there's nothing wrong with if you know you're expecting a call, say you applied for a job, you know, and you're like, I'm hopeful to be getting a call. There's nothing wrong with having someone, you know, a good friend, family member, someone give you a call and see what the voicemail sounds like, you know, if it's full and everything.
00;16;02;05 - 00;16;28;02
McKinley Hatch
Right that like that to do a test around to. Yeah. Well I like what Jerry said. No progressive commercial here make sure to leave your number. Even though caller ideas exist, it's always helpful. Right? And I like it better that way too. When I'm listening to voicemails on like my work phone, you know, as you're applying for jobs, you just want that readily available to you.
00;16;28;02 - 00;16;48;00
McKinley Hatch
So let's talk about phone call interruption. So we've all been on a call. We're on a call and get another call at the same time. What do you do? Especially when the call coming in is very important and you do not want to, you know, miss that. What do you do then?
00;16;48;02 - 00;17;07;26
Jerry Ross
Magic on mute button. Hey, give me just a moment. I want to make sure that we can have a great conversation. Give me just a second. Hit the mute button. Take care of your distractions as quick, quickly as you can, and get back on the call. I think you're better off to put yourself into a quiet space than you are to try and deal with the two things at the same time.
00;17;07;28 - 00;17;23;29
Jerry Ross
So I like muting the call I'm currently on till I can get things focused and back together or, you know, gesturing towards the person that doesn't understand. You may be on the phone. There's multiple ways that we can tell people we need a few moments to take care of their additional need.
00;17;24;01 - 00;17;40;00
Brandon Street
And if we're getting a call while we're on a call, I think, you know, one thing we can do is tell the current caller, hey, listen, you know, I'm getting the call. I need to take just one moment in my home. Just a second. I'll get right back to you. And and as you answer the phone, let the individual know you're you're on another call and how long it'll be before you can get back to them.
00;17;40;00 - 00;17;54;18
Brandon Street
But they'll call them right back and then get back on as quickly as you can with the other person. Don't leave them on Hold a whole other conversation. Why they're on hold, I think I think it's important to get back to the original caller as quickly as possible and allow the other caller that called in to say, hey, you know, I'll be with you.
00;17;54;18 - 00;17;57;23
Brandon Street
I'll probably be able to call you in 3 to 5 minutes, you know?
00;17;57;25 - 00;18;19;05
McKinley Hatch
Yeah. Awesome. Let's wrap up talking about handling challenging communication. I know we've all had, I like to say, awkward emails where your phone calls where people are upset, especially in customer service based, you know, jobs. How do you handle those?
00;18;19;07 - 00;18;38;09
Jerry Ross
You know, it's it's hard. But sometimes, especially when we're dealing with email, I feel like people don't understand tone at times, right. And maybe they're frustrated that they've struggled to get a hold of you or different things. But depending on where you are, like Brandon, you spoke about making sure that we're giving communication at the level of the recipient.
00;18;38;09 - 00;18;56;10
Jerry Ross
Sometimes we may think I've called this person four times, but writing that down doesn't put you in the best of light, right? So maybe instead of saying, I've tried to call you four times and I can't ever get a hold of you, maybe ask, Hey, I'm not sure if you received my message. When would be a good time for us to chat?
00;18;56;15 - 00;19;18;02
Jerry Ross
Right? And without saying I've called you four times, say you've called four times, and try and figure out a good time for them to come back with you. I feel like a lot of times when the situations turn challenging, it's just a communication effort and what can we do to reevaluate how we're going with that communication and ask the recipient what's a good way to get a hold of them, especially when you're job hunting.
00;19;18;02 - 00;19;37;02
Jerry Ross
Sometimes you are leaving multiple messages, multiple places and you're frustrated that they're not calling you back. What can you do to try and narrow down a specific time inside of their schedule? And maybe you need to adjust for them to make that communication back. But don't ever let things become personal. This is business and make sure that we're dealing with them on a business level.
00;19;37;02 - 00;19;47;01
Jerry Ross
And it's not emotional, even though it may be emotional to you that you're emotional, that you want a job or you need results or action inside of things. Always maintain that professionalism.
00;19;47;04 - 00;20;12;20
Brandon Street
And remember, when you're on the job, you represent more than you. You represent a department, a company, in our case, a university, right. And so certain conversations we have could literally turn a person or a family away from enrolling in our case at our university. Right. And or buying from someone's business or things like that. And so just remember that, you know, when people do get frustrated and things, it's not usually you, they're frustrated at.
00;20;12;20 - 00;20;36;01
Brandon Street
That's usually a situation and strive not to make that, as Jerry said, personal and don't take it personal. Understand that there's something frustrating them. Try to find the resolution to that frustration and solve problems. And I found people I've got on the phone with who have been very frustrated. By the time we got off, they were thanking me for being patient and for helping them resolve what they needed to and and sent positive things even to my supervisor.
00;20;36;01 - 00;20;44;14
Brandon Street
Because our conversation, if you do it right, they leave happy and and rewarded in the situation rather than us both leaving frustrated.
00;20;44;16 - 00;21;14;17
Mackenzie Jenkins
Yeah I think phone calls are harder because you're you're on the phone with them but if you get an angry email or something like that like always just take a step back, take some time to think about what you're going to say instead of just replying quickly in a heated argument situation. I've had some times where I've come to Brandon and I'm like, I can't tell this person's mad at me or not, but I'm just like, I'm just going to give it a minute and think about it and then write them back.
00;21;14;19 - 00;21;31;02
Jerry Ross
I've had situations where someone got me upset with what they wrote or, you know, it's almost there are times when I feel like people may try and get you a little bit to where I would walk outside and just go take a lap, right, and just go clear my head and say they're not really upset at me. They're upset at the problem and how can I solve it?
00;21;31;02 - 00;21;42;27
Jerry Ross
But sometimes you have to remove yourself a little bit before you send back that snippy message, whatever you want it to be, as though cooler heads prevail. Take a second. Think about it. Resolve the problem, not the person.
00;21;43;00 - 00;22;15;06
McKinley Hatch
Cooler heads quadratics. Yes. Thank you, guys. And thanks, Mackenzie, for joining us on our podcast today. Don't forget, listeners, to subscribe to Career Cafe and share it with your friends and fellow students. Don't forget to connect with us on social media, on Instagram specifically as you Career Center, and join us next week for our episode on From Candidate to Contributor, Aligning yourself with the Ideal Job.
00;22;15;08 - 00;22;19;19
McKinley Hatch
And then we're going to sign off with Mac. You've got a joke for us today, don't you?
00;22;19;22 - 00;22;29;17
Mackenzie Jenkins
you ready for it? All right. This goes out to all all those science majors out there. I'm aspirant to be a chemist.
00;22;29;19 - 00;22;32;09
Brandon Street
Yes, yes, you are. Yes.
00;22;32;12 - 00;22;33;14
McKinley Hatch
That's good.
00;22;33;16 - 00;22;34;29
Brandon Street
That's good. I like to.
00;22;35;02 - 00;22;35;24
McKinley Hatch
See you next week.