PRSSA at SIUC

By Kristian Baldwin

One area that many professionals overlook is leaving a professional voice mail. There are a few things that you need to remember when leaving a voice mail to a boss, co-worker, etc. With growing technology you would think that the voice mail is going out of style but think again. Here are a few tips for leaving a professional voice mail...

Important Information First

State your name, number, and business at the beginning of the voice mail. This way the listener knows who the call is from and they can write down the given information.

Make sure you repeat this information twice so the listener will only have to play your message once.

Leave a Specific Request

When leaving a voice mail you want to make sure that you have a reason for calling. State your purpose for leaving this message so you can get a returned phone call.

Be direct with your listener and practice sounding natural before you make the call.

Be Short and Sweet

Keep the message between 15-30 seconds long. That gives you enough time to leave all of your important information as well as your point of the message.

Speak slowly and clearly. Rushing through the message could leave your listener unclear of things that you have mentioned because you were not speaking slowly and clearly.

These tips will help you if you have a phone interview and must return the phone call or your boss has called and you need to leave a message. There are many other tips that would be helpful with leaving a voice mail but these are just a few to get you started.