Why you should not ask “are you hiring?”
Hat tip to Michael Lunsford for the inspiration for this post on why not to ask, are you hiring? Michael and I chat through DMs (Direct Messages) on Twitter now and then and he inspired more than one blog post.
We talked about how people say there are no jobs. Michael pointed out that the strategy some people use for inquiring about openings is often why they get the “no” answer.
Don’t sound desperate
This gives the impression you are an “I’ll take anything” job seeker.
When people go door to door and ask are you hiring?, they are sending the message of desperation and the “I’ll take anything” model of job search, and no one wants to hire desperate or the “I’ll take anything” bunch.
Employers are looking for people who can “do the job” and so when they are looking for a new employee; they want to have the person prove why they fit the job.
Don’t ask — are you hiring?
Michael was telling me that they had an opening when the last person stopped by to ask the ill-phrased question: “Are you hiring?” He suggested a simple change in the question would work magic: “Hey, I hear you’re hiring. Whom should I talk to?”
After this post published last night,
Michael added more of his strategy in this approach via DM:
That whole “I hear you’re hiring” thing is very disarming. They might think to themselves “I didn’t know we were hiring, I better check.”
If they’re not really hiring, all you have to say is, “it must have been old information.”
Might even open an opportunity to leave a calling card or resume “just in case.”
Try this instead of asking "are you hiring?"
Try that strategy next time you are tempted to ask “are you hiring?” Job search is always about strategy and marketing.
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