With going to WINZ employment seminars I thought it was about time to do one of the things that I’ve been told to check – that of my voicemail message.

If you’re looking for work, your voicemail message on your phone could be the make or break point. You don’t really want a possible employer calling you hearing a loud burping sound and then a beep, do you? Or being told to F-off, I’m not going to call you back.

So not having done anything with my voicemail since I got my first phone eight years ago, I thought it was about time to double check what my message said. Cause frankly, what could 16-year-old me possibly have recorded?

This was easier said than done.

I tried to call my voicemail, something that I have been able to do in the past, no problems. But it asked me for my phone number, sure, enter that. “Your number is not listed.”

Say what now?

Yeah, my number wasn’t listed. Does not make sense as I have received voicemails before and have used the service many times.

I got Man Piece to call my phone to see what my message said. It just hung up on him.

Not a good look for prospective employers.

So I called Vodafone. The first guy I talked to was pre-occupied with the last time I had actually received a voicemail and thought that me changing from pre-paid to plan might have cancelled my voicemail.

Yeah, nah. Same number the whole time. Plus, I changed to plan at the beginning of October last year. Turns out, I hadn’t received a voicemail since November last year. Now that didn’t seem right. But I’m usually pretty good at picking up my phone and usually when I have a missed call it’s usually from someone I know like my parents or sister.

So this guy went on saying my voicemail had been turned off. No explanation for how that happened, cause I sure didn’t do it. So I asked him to turn it back on. He said he did and to call 701 to set up my voicemail again.

So I called and got the same, “Your number is not listed.”

Thanks dude.

I called Vodafone again. This time I got a very helpful young man who wanted to talk about the weather and the rugby. He saw what the problem was and actually turned my voicemail back on. This time when I called 701, I was able to record a message. One that I know no prospective employer is going to take offence at.

Ah, the things an unemployed journalist with nothing to do on a Saturday night, while Man Piece plays games on his PC, does.