Don't Be A Ghost - Communication Is Key

There I said it. Don't be a ghost. No I'm not talking about the kind of ghost that lives in your attic or under your bed, but the kind of ghost that makes appointments and then never shows up. Look I get it, we all get busy and occasionally miss a meeting or show up late, but when you're doing it habitually word gets around town.

In the staffing and recruiting world, you don't want to get tagged as someone who doesn't show up for meetings. Or even worse someone that doesn't show up and never follows up. I've spoken to numerous talented people who were laid off over the past year and they're facing challenges finding a new job while doing everything right. Can you imagine the difficulty you'll face if you aren't communicating effectively.

Some thing you can do to ensure you attend meetings and build a solid reputation:

• Don't book back to back meetings, we've all been on a call that ran over it's scheduled time.

• Don't book anything 30 minutes or after your scheduled meeting, whether it's an interview, client meeting or site visit. Give yourself ample time to deal with last minute "what ifs".

• If you must cancel, give as much notice as you can to all the appropriate people. Do NOT miss this.

• If you need to reschedule, give as much notice as you possibly can. Set clear expectations and be flexible with the timing for your rescheduled meeting.

• Be prepared. Do not show up without preparing, you are wasting your time and someone elses.

Of course this isn't an exhaustive list, but it's great place to start. Over the next few weeks I'll be writing more about interviewing, the state of staffing and what you can do to get noticed in a sea of candidates.