An answering machine solves those problems. You determine exactly what message is given (and the tone in which it is given), and you can program a machine to answer on the first or second ring (which I recommend).
The disadvantage of an answering machine is that it involves an initial investment. You can't cancel it as you would an answering service. Still, today's answering machines come at all prices, and a dependable one can be bought for a relatively small amount of money.
A thought about the greeting you record on an answering machine: if you tend to have a brusque telephone manner, or sound uncomfortable in a recorded message, get someone else to record it for you. And don't be cute. New answering-machine owners seem to enjoy the exercise of creative license-impersonating a movie star, using music behind the announcement, writing silly prose to get across the simple message that they aren't available and will call back. Avoid the temptation. Keep it simple: "This is John Jones. I'm unable to take your call now, but if you'll please leave your name and phone number and a brief message following the beep, I'll get back to you as soon as possible."
How you establish the proper environment for your job search depends a great deal on you and on your work habits. The important thing is to attack the task of job hunting with the same resolve and sense of organization that you applied in your previous job. If it's a first job you are going after, it's a good opportunity to create good work habits that will carry over once you have landed something.
Looking for a job is a job and a half.
Viewing it that way will help make your search more productive and successful.
But for those who are not content to remain within a closely prescribed data processing specialty, an open attitude toward all the possibilities and potentials of the field make sense.
Frank Goldschmidt, a data processing specialist in our Boston office, recently told me of a young man he had been dealing with who typified someone who sets a goal for the future and is willing to make a variety of moves in order to obtain the necessary experience and knowledge to reach it. This young man's objective was to become a systems programmer in an IBM MVS shop. He had the education, intelligence, and desire, but lacked the right "buzz words." His experience included only PLl programming in an IBM DOS shop.
His first move was to take a PLl/COBOL job on the basis of his PLl skill. Next, he went to a COBOL/OSVSlshop based upon his COBOL skill. His next move was to ask for a vacant systems-programming slot. He got it, then was offered an MVS job on the basis of his systems programming experience.
While this young man found it necessary to change companies to acquire skills, the same career progression can sometimes be achieved by seeking transfer within your own company.
The next question that should be pondered by the job seeker is the industry in which the work will be performed. This is an interesting area because, while some people put it first on their list of considerations, my research indicates that it should rank considerably lower than that. Job satisfaction, according to my studies, ranks much higher than does happiness with the field in which the job is performed. A good programmer, analyst, or MIS specialist will find happiness performing those tasks in any industry provided that everything is right about the job itself - salary, surroundings, challenges, and advancement opportunities. Based upon my experience, I would strongly suggest that the industry in which the data processor functions be considered less important than the job itself-provided, of course, that the industry isn't on a downward spiral. If it is, future potential might be limited.
Still, there are so-called glamour industries that hold out important psychological lures for certain individuals. Take the case of someone who has always wanted to be a rock-and-roll star but, because of the realities of earning a living and supporting a family, has also pursued an education in data processing. It might be important for that person to work as a programmer in some aspect of the music industry, even though the job itself might pay less and have to be performed in uncomfortable physical surroundings. There's little doubt that being interested in the end product of data processing-tracking record sales, let's say, instead of tracking the sales of nuts and bolts-can make a big difference in a person's mental attitude on the job and, by extension, affect that person's performance and career growth. If that's the case with you, it narrows down the jobs you will pursue. If it isn't - and your pleasure comes from the work you perform, rather than from the industry in which it is conducted - your horizons are broadened considerably.
