Phone anxiety..... is this a thing

[Firefightress1]

I'm prepared to be educated but I've been helping a friend recruit for a job in a hotel. She created a job advert and we posted it online and on social media.

It gave details about the job and she had put her phone number to call to apply or for further info. She wanted to talk to candidates as its the way she has always recruited. It might be old school, I don't know.

Anyway, She had a lot of responses on Facebook and through private messages but no calls.
I replied on the post just to say to call the phone number as its quicker and she might not monitor replies and I was met with a barrage of unkind comments.

A majority saying they cannot phone as they have phone anxiety, this is a recognised trait and I should be more understanding. The job involves answering the phone in occasion and making outgoing calls to suppliers.

I'm so confused, I've never heard of it!
Everyone has a mobile phone but does no one actually make calls anymore?
I'm only 40 so not ancient but I'm no spring chicken either.
Just wondering if I'm totally unreasonable? How can they do the a job if they can't even call to apply. I'm 😕

You asked for advice, you’ve been given it, but don’t seem to want it.

Well it can’t be that normal, no one has applied that way. If it was so common, people would be used to doing it that way and would have done it that way.

I've taken it and passed it on but I don't see how its unprofessional? This hotel had to close for 2 months due to lack of staff after the Summer holidays and all their staff went back to the main cities. They are desperate to get up to full capacity so surely the quickest way to recruit is to speak to people on the phone and sift?

But perhaps it's not the most preferable way to communicate by the people they're trying to recruit - hence no staff.

I want to decide whether to actually apply for the job before I have to be put on the spot over the phone.

Yes it’s real.
I can’t bare to speak to people on the phone, I get myself into a right state before any phone calls o have to make, it’s awful and it’s putting a real obstacle on me finding work as virtually all wfh jobs are phone based!

As stated above, recruitment processes should be clear, standardised, and documented. Application by phone is none of those things. As such, it’s unprofessional.

Looking at CVs and cover letters and then speaking to and testing only the appropriate applicants is considerably quicker and more efficient than having a series of telephone calls with people who may or may not be suitable. The process will take the exact same amount of time (you were going to interview them, anyway) and it will be professional.

Have you tried sensee, they are remote online customer service and they do a lot of live chat. Google them, I know a few people that work there and they are flexible.

Thanks

Is phone anxiety a recognised trait of something? Or are the vast majority of people that responded to the ad online just self diagnosing something that they don't like doing, rather than suffering genuine anxiety over it?

There is a huge difference between "I don't like phone calls" and getting physical symptoms when trying to make a call. If you have a specific anxiety about something, the worst thing you can do is avoid it.

If they GENUINELY have some kind of phone anxiety then they will be no good for the job anyway. Stick to your guns most of them (not all of them) just need to get on with it. Not many people like calling up but it has to be done in this scenario

"Answering and making phone calls" as part of a job is different, though. That will be about specific things which follow a "script". People with social anxiety/ASH/ADHD might be able to handle that.

Spontaneous calls, calls to people they don't know, calls about themselves, calls where they will be required to listen or respond while panicking are the ones that are avoided.

I hate phone calls, but I do sometimes have to make them. If I wanted a job and was told the only way to apply was to call then i would (or wouldnt apply for the job) I think candidates unwilling to phone are making it easier for recruitment as they won't be suitable for the job

Phone anxiety is a thing, especially among the young who are used to communicating by text or email.

Personally I prefer to communicate via text-based means rather than the phone where possible. It's just easier, less stressful, more time to consider your answer rather than being put on the spot. However that doesn't mean I can't phone. If a job advert asked for calls rather than any other contact method I would phone. If someone literally can't phone, I would wonder why they are applying for a job that involves using the phone.

"she didn't provide an email or ask for private messages. It clearly says call in to the hotel to apply or call the number" In that case she won't have received any of the emails or messages then will she :)

I'm 41 so the same age as you and phone fear was definitely a thing for me and several others when I was younger. But it also doesn't help that your friend is approaching this in an unusual way.

Did she not give an email address in the ad at all? She wanted to waste her time speaking to 100% of all applicants? If so, that's an odd way to approach it, so I'm not surprised she hasn't had much interest.

Surely the logical thing to do is get applicants to email in their CV then arrange to phone the shortlisted people at a convenient time, ie how job searches are usually carried out. She still gets to speak to people but in a more controlled way.

If someone literally can't phone, I would wonder why they are applying for a job that involves using the phone.

I agree. My job is internet based, but we have regular Teams calls, and the odd telephone call.

That's exactly where the fear came from! So many weird experiences trying to phone friends on their landlines only for random family members to answer and pretend the person didn't exist or have to have excruciating conversations with them. It instilled a massive dislike / fear of phones for me as a teenager.

I got over it when I started working in offices etc as I had no choice.

'Phone anxiety' is nothing new, I started work in the 80s and remember my manager forcing me to make calls to try and make me get over it.

In my 50s now and still hate it - I zone out and lose the thread of the conversation, talk over people, there are awkward silences, I'm always asking people to repeat themselves as I haven't taken in the info quickly enough.

Thankfully my current job is no phone calls, just pre-arranged zooms (I'm fine if I can see the person's face and body language) and lots of emails (I write far more quickly and articulately than I speak).

The advert is on the business Facebook which has a private message and email option.

So many weird experiences trying to phone friends on their landlines only for random family members to answer and pretend the person didn't exist or have to have excruciating conversations with them.

I think your friends had weird family members. I remember chatting for hours with my school friends back in the 1970s. I never had any of their family members doing this.

It's because everyone's into messaging and emailing now. Shame.

I'm a couple of years older than you, OP and have had phone anxiety for years. Since I was a kid. I will always avoid making a call if there is any other option - thank god for Deliveroo, Uber etc!
Are phone applications an old fashioned thing though or are they a local thing? I've never heard of that as a process. I was first applying for jobs in the late 90s by dropping my Saturday job paper CV into local shops and then in the early 00s posting it to potential employers, progressing to email with a couple of years.
I work in TV, which recruitments at very short notice and can't remotely see the benefit of phone applications. I've had to do similar once, when I needed several people to start in about 12 hours time but still got CVs emailed in for me to then to a 5 min phone interview with. It's massively more time consuming for both the employer and the potential employees to start the process with a call. Not to mention opening the company up to potential discrimination charges.
Aside from all of that though, your friend desperately needs staff and the overwhelming feedback she's getting from people job hunting in the area is that this process doesn't really appeal to them. Isn't it worth amending it to something that does, if she really needs to get those applications in fast, in big numbers?

Unfortunately it will never be big numbers due to the area, but if its phone anxiety that's an issue then surely its more of a waste of time if people can't or won't answer the phone. I've passed everyone's advice on.

If they have to use the phone as part of the job then it's clearly unsuitable for them if they have phone anxiety. I don't like making phone calls but needs must!

Call me old-fashioned but if I could just make a call as part of the 'first sift' then I'm fine with that. Even a bit handy if an essential job requirement includes "good telephone manner".

But it's probably down to location - where I live (north Devon, but not Barnstaple) decent jobs are so scarce it's a rare thing to phone for a job - normally there's several hideous layers of 'sifting' first.

No idea telephone anxiety was a thing, but then I could aver that FB, Insta and Pintoboring gave me anxiety instead of admitting I just think they're fluffy-stupid and don't use them.