Contributor Rick Paine is an expert on the college recruiting process. He is also the Director of Swimming at American College Connection (ACC).
ACC is a SwimSwam Partner.
It is estimated there are between 35,000 to 45,000 swimmers from the U.S. and around the world who want to swim in college in the U.S every year.
There are only approximately 2000 spots (not scholarships) available each year.
A simple and easy way to separate yourself is to personalize your voice message on your cell phone.
Most cell phone users simply use the impersonal automated message to let callers know they are not available.
Take a few minutes and record a personal greeting. This is usually the first time a coach will hear your voice. Put some energy and enthusiasm in your message.
College coaches will make an average of 10 recruiting calls every night. Many calls end up with them having to leave a message.
What would you rather hear?
“Hello, you have reached 555-9696. Leave a message at the tone.”
Or
“Hi, you have reached Suzy Smith. Sorry to miss your call, but if you leave your name and number I will be sure to get back with you as soon as I can. Thanks for the call and have a great day!”
Or you can have your voice mail enabled AND you can pick up “unknown” numbers. Not a recruiting coach here, but someone who works in higher education and I can’t tell you the number of times I call a COLLEGE student who has called me first and they don’t pick up, they have a “full” voice mail or when I do leave a message they call me back without listening to it and say something to the effect “I just missed a call from this number” (usually I have answered their questions in the voice mail)- parents, please do better.
If you work in higher education, aren’t you the ‘business’ and they the ‘customer’? You know that young people don’t like phone calls and even moreso hate voicemails…so maybe you should take the onus on yourself to ‘do better’ when it comes to the manner in which you communicate to your ‘customer’?
Or..you can take 5 minutes, do some research on the team, and write how you see yourself fitting in on the team in an email.