You messed up. You had a scheduled phone call with a recruiter to talk about a job or interview. And then something happened that caused you to miss it. Here is what to do when you miss a recruiter’s call.

1. Keep Calm and Do Not Panic

Panicking and fear always lead to irrational actions. And these actions usually make you look like an undesirable job candidate. Every company likes a person who stays calm under pressure.

2. Give Your Recruiter His or Her Own Ringtone

You will receive calls on your cell phone from friends, family, and telemarketers. However, recruiters are professional connections, so you need to know when it is “the recruiter” who calls.

The last thing you want to do is answer a call thinking it is a friend by saying, “Wassup?”, or worse, take your frustrations out on a recruiter who you mistakenly thought was a telemarketer.

Now, when you hear that special ringtone you know it is time to talk business!

3. If Possible Call Back Right Away

When you missed the call and immediately catch your mistake, call back right away. Use one of these excuses:

  • “Sorry the call dropped”
  • “I dropped my phone”
  • “I stepped away to answer the door”

You can only use these if you can immediately call back right after noticing you missed the call.

 4. Send an Email to Reschedule With Apologies

If you completely miss the time frame scheduled for the call and now it is too late to call back, send an email to reschedule.

Be sure to apologize, but this time simply say that you had unintentionally missed the call. Politely ask to reschedule by offering a time and date and hope for the best. The purpose of doing this is to avoid any future back-and-forth emails for setting up a new call. You missed the call. Make it simple for the recruiter to call you again.

5. Look for Other Job Openings

Write this one off as a mistake you will never make again. Things happen and from time to time you have recruiters and hiring managers who will not reschedule. Some take the approach, “How reliable are you, if you cannot make appointments?” or “They must not want the job badly enough.”

Whatever others think is out of your control. If you lose recruiter connections or job interviews due to a missed phone call, then it wasn’t meant to be. You can only try to fix your mistakes and hope the recruiter will schedule a new call.

6. Create a Discipline for How You Handle Phone Calls

You missed a call and there was a reason for it. Take inventory, find out why you missed the call and then create an interview discipline for phone calls. For example:

  • Do not plan to be right on time. Prepare to be ready one hour before the call.
  • Create a designated place for you to take calls where you cannot be disturbed.
  • Avoid taking calls from anyone other than the recruiter for 30 minutes prior to the call.
  • Make sure you cell phone settings will allow you to hear the call.

The reasons for this excessive planning: You are reducing stress before the call so that you sound relaxed and confident when it is time to speak.

Getting stuck somewhere, background noise or distractions, and your overall mood can affect the way you sound on a call. Even worse it can cause you to miss the call completely.