This question was asked recently in one of my groups:
I just joined this industry and I would like to ask how do you source for names if the receptionist said their directory is sorted by names not by department so she cannot connect you to anyone unless you give them a name?

Receptionists don’t always tell you the truth. Uh – duh! That’s right; some of them routinely misrepresent their state of affairs on orders from above. When she tells you that their directory is “sorted by names” she’s probably telling you the truth. What she isn’t telling you is that she has the ability to search (and re-sort) that directory using a multitude of functions – by title, location, extension number, etc. So she’s not really telling you the whole truth but you haven’t pressed her for the whole truth, have you?

Now when she tells you she can’t connect you to anyone unless you give her a name, she again is probably telling you the truth. That may be the company policy. That doesn’t mean she doesn’t know who everyone is and what they do; it doesn’t mean she can’t recite by heart the extension numbers of most of her company’s employees and tell you who’s on maternity leave and who’s out on disability. She probably knows too who’s about to get the axe too as well as who’s kissing who in the copy room.

She knows far more than you’re giving her credit for knowing and once you realize this you can help her better to “help you”. This ’07 ERE article - How to Make a Gatekeeper Feel Comfortable – might help you achieve your mission.
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