How to Deal With Unreturned Calls

For the reluctant networker, unreturned calls can be a major obstacle, not to mention irritating! Unfortunately, it is a common scenario to meet someone you’re interested in talking to about their job and have them say, “Call me.” Then, when you call them and leave a message, they don’t call back.

I recommend calling back to find out from an assistant or co-worker when that person is usually in. More than half of the time, I’m able call back during those times and catch the person at their desk. If that doesn’t work, you might try sending a fax that says, “I’ve been trying to reach you to set up a brief informational interview. I will contact you at 11:00 a.m. tomorrow. Please let me know if that time is inconvenient.” When you call, if an assistant answers the phone, you can honestly say, “__________ is expecting my call.”

The bottom line is that there is no one method that works all the time. The best you can do is to keep trying until you find what works with each person. As long as you’re friendly and always ask if there is anything you can do for the person when you meet with him or her, you’ll get good results. However, if someone is rude to you or doesn’t practice what they preach (they act one way one time, another way the next) move on to better connections!