Cold Calls

Have you ever heard of a cold call?  I didn't know what the term meant and thought it referred to getting the cold shoulder after you call or text someone (story of my lack of a dating life).  In the employment world, a cold call is when you call a potential employer or company for job opportunities and they don't know you're calling.  Kind of like telemarketing, but you try to avoid being annoying. 

Yesterday I decided to give cold calls a try.  28 cold calls to be more specific.  Online postings haven't been affective at this point, so I decided to take things into my own hands and call every hospital in Orange County and Long Beach.  Sounds fun, right? To tell you the truth, I didn't know what I was doing.  Talking on the phone and making phone calls is on my list of least favorite things to do.  It was umcomofrtable at first, but the more calls I made, the more direct and natural I got.  Let me tell you about what I did:

1.  Googled Orange County Hospitals.  20+ showed up.  As I called, I wrote down who I called and the phone number so I wouldn't accidentally repeat a call.  If I talked to a director or reached their voicemail, I would write down their name.

2.  The phone number posted online was for the hospital directory so I would stay on the phone and reach an operator.  I would ask to be directed to a Nutrition Director or Food Service Director. 

3.  Once my call was directed, 75% of the time I left a message via voicemail.  My message went like this, "Hi, my name is Shannon Murray and I am a recent nutrition graduate from Cal Poly San Luis Obispo.  I am looking for diet tech or diet aide jobs in the area and was wondering if your facility offered these positions.  I can imagine you are very busy, but would greatly appreciate if you could call me back at 555-555-5555 or email me at ABC@DEF.com with any opportunities or advice. Thanks so much, have a great day."

4.  A couple of times I was able to teach the director.  I did the same shpeal as the voicemail message minus the contact info.  My main goal was to discover which hospitals had diet aide or diet tech positions.  Many directors recommended looking at their hospital's online career database for openings (back to square one).  One facility had just hired Diet Techs and another facility had an open Diet Tech position but wanted a candidate with prior experience since their was no time to train one.  That was frustrating for me to hear, but I asked what they recommend I do to gain experience.  I was encouraged to start as a diet aide, especially at a teaching hospital such as St. Jude's.  One director even talked to me for a couple more minutes about where she went for her DI and even asked me about my future goals. 

The experience was draining and discouraging; I made 28 calls and found zero openings.  Not going to lie, there were tears of frustration and times I wanted to abandon my list.  I made myself stick with it until I had exhausted every hospital in a 40 mile radius.  However, I am happy to report that the field of dietetics and food service is filled with pleasant attitudes and incredibly resourceful workers.  I'm even happier to report that one nutrition director returned my message with a phone call which has lead to an interview tomorrow! 

What I learned: 

• Frequently check hospital databases for food service/nutrition openings.
• Check Food Service Healthcare Databases for jobs (i.e. Sodexo, Morrison, Aramark) since many hospitals contract from companies such as these.
• One hospital calls the position of diet aide/diet clerk a "Nutrition Embassador"