Recruiters calling at work? (job hunting, employee, extension, secretaries)

[homeboi]

As the title states, this is one of my pet peeves.
Do recruiters do this on purpose to try to get you fired quicker? (so they can have a candidate)
I know this may sound a bit childish, but you never know in this dog-eat-dog job market.

Anyone else hates this behavior by recruiters?

[e130478]

A recruiter who calls you at work is a recruiter who doesn't last long in the industry, plain and simple. These people are usually very desperate to meet their quota and are on their way out. If a recruiter were to get me fired, what are the chances that I would utilize his or her services to find me another job, anyway?

[HeadhunterPaul]

Originally Posted by homeboi

As the title states, this is one of my pet peeves.
Do recruiters do this on purpose to try to get you fired quicker? (so they can have a candidate)
I know this may sound a bit childish, but you never know in this dog-eat-dog job market.

Anyone else hates this behavior by recruiters?

HomeBoi,

Both you and e130478 are both very confused and highly unfamiliar with the art of dealing with recruiters.

More sophisticated professionals know being called by a headhunter is a good thing, not a bad thing.

First, are you both saying you would prefer phone calls at home while you are eating dinner?

Okay, let's go back to basics because the sooner you learn this, the better off you will be.

Understand that if you got a call from a recruiter/executive search consultant, it could very well mean you are highly qualified and well thought of in your industry.

This means you are a valued professional other employers would want to hire.

Do I have to remind you that people get better jobs and more money by changing jobs?

Next, we call people at work because that is where they are found. It is relatively easy to reach out to someone at their workplace because most companies can be accessed by phone. We call the switchboard and ask for you or we find out your extension and/or use the 'dial by name' directory and then we are talking to you or, in many cases, an administrative or executive assistant.

Our clients want us to find them highly qualified people.

You, as a 'highly qualified' person, are on the job. Where else would I expect to find you?

And please, no crybaby stuff about 'getting fired'.

Either you recognize you have been given an opportunity to get a better job and you quickly whisper into the phone your cell number and tell that headhunter to call you later, at a specific time or,

...you tell that headhunter to call you at home and give him/her your home number/cell phone and HANG UP.

Or, if you are being watched (maybe you are a nurse and have just been called to the nurse's station to take the call and have four other nurses standing next to you plus the secretaries listening), you can turn this to your advantage (with your present employer) and say either nicely or not, "please do not call me, I am very busy!" and then hang up, saying under your breath, loudly enough for the group to hear, you 'hate recruiters' and then walk back to whatever you were doing.

What's so hard about that???

People get calls from recruiters all the time.

It is an opportunity to be assessed as being qualified and appropriate for that recruiter's search assignment. To you, that could mean a better job.

And you come here, to complain?

Gimme a break!

Now, had you complained that you get too many calls from recruiters, each day, that would be a common enough complaint.

All the Best of the Best get calls all the time from headhunters. You should consider yourself so lucky.

And if you are happy where you are and have no reason to be taking a better job, then just tell that recruiter, 'no thanks, I'm happy here and please don't call again' and then HANG UP.

You'll make points with your boss, even if you are being short-sighted about the opportunity of being offered a better job.

........................

Now, for e130478:

"A recruiter who calls you at work is a recruiter who doesn't last long in the industry, plain and simple."

Where did you hear that? You are very much mistaken. Headhunters/Recruiters spend their entire day, calling professionals at work. THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.

Where have you been?

...........

"These people are usually very desperate to meet their quota and are on their way out."

Again, you are misinformed. Recruiters/Headhunters spend their day calling professionals at their workplace. It goes on all the time. It is Standard Practice.

..............

"If a recruiter were to get me fired, what are the chances that I would utilize his or her services to find me another job, anyway?"


How can a recruiter get you fired?

That would only happen if you were on the phone with one, your employer heard you and thought you had initiated the call.

Let me help you out:

If a recruiter calls, it is about what might be a better job. You should listen to what they have to say.

If your boss is close by, let that recruiter know you can't take the call just then and ask that recruiter to call back at a better time, letting him/her know when that would be.

Or give that recruiter your cell or home number, letting them know you are busy and can't stay on the phone, letting that person know when they should call back.

And if you are being watched -which is how you sound from the tone of your post- just tell or yell at the recruiter, telling that person to never call you back again.

Believe me, they won't. Problem solved until the next recruiter foolishly calls you.

....................

Now for the other eye-opening part, e130478:

"If a recruiter were to get me fired...what are the chances that I would utilize his or her services to find me another job, anyway?..."


So you can learn about our business because it is more than clear you are totally uninformed here-

As a rule, recruiters/headhunters do not find people jobs. We are in the business of recruiting people who are doing a job a client wants them to be doing for them. We then recruit them and send them on interviews where, hopefully, they are made an offer to take a better job. If they don't get an offer or are not make a 'better' offer, that person simply keeps their job and nothing more is said.

We are not in the employment agency business. We don't find job for people who got fired. No Thanks! If you came to me, saying you had just been fired, I'd show you the door.

So first, we don't get people fired, they get themselves fired.

The days when an employer would fire a staff member just because they were talking to a recruiter are over unless that employee is already on that employer's bad side.

People who are considered to be high value and come to their boss with the news they have been made an offer by another company usually get, in response, a Counter Offer.

Not always, but if someone is considered to be filling an important role in the company, their employer won't just agree to see them leave without attempting to offer them a 'better situation' so they stay and keep their job.

The very idea a recruiter would 'get you fired' is absurd unless it was done deliberately and frankly, that technique was only taught to us old-timers and most likely, none of the current wave of Millennial recruiters you may run into even know that technique of recruitment.


One more time- recruiters do not deliberately get people fired. If you are caught talking to us, then you should hang up after yelling something into the phone about 'never call me again!' so your boss does not know you were taking advantage of the situation to know about what might have been a better job.

.........................

Thank you, both. I've not heard anything so silly in weeks.

Read about how you can improve your career by having a headhunter/recruiter guide you to a better job. Your complaints are in fact, non-existent in the real world.



Thanks again for the laugh,


Paul



....

[MainLineMommy]

Hmm...interesting perspective from the first 2 posters. When I get a call from a recruiter, I try to treat them with courtesy and hear them out if I have time. If I'm busy, I invite them to connect with me on LinkedIn and give them my email address and ask if they can communicate with me via email or LinkedIn message. It never hurts to build your network. And even if I'm not currently looking, I like to know what positions are available and am always willing to pass the information along to anyone in my network that I know is looking and might be a good fit. Good recruiters will differentiate themselves quickly and will be added to my short list of people to call if I have an open position to fill in my department or if I'm quietly looking for a new opportunity. Bad recruiters will also make themselves known and I'll simply let them know that I'm not currently interested in using their services and that I'll keep their information for the future, but to please take me off of their contact list. It's as simple as that. Be good to people and they may be good to you in the future. You have no idea what your needs may be in the future, or how you may be able to use your contacts to help someone else.

Edited to add: Employers know that recruiters call. Handle yourself and the situation professionally. Even when turning down a offer to submit your resume to a competitor, you are still representing yourself and the company. If you are interested, do it quietly. If a recruiter calls and your boss is sitting right there, you can always say, "I'm sorry, what was your name again?" [write it down] "What were you calling for? Oh, thanks for the call but I am currently not looking for new opportunities and don't know anyone who I could refer. But thanks for calling." Hang up the phone and throw away the post-it note. You can fish it out of the trash later and call the recruiter from home if you're interested.

[e130478]

Originally Posted by HeadhunterPaul

HomeBoi,

Both you and e130478 are both very confused and highly unfamiliar with the art of dealing with recruiters.

More sophisticated professionals know being called by a headhunter is a good thing, not a bad thing.

First, are you both saying you would prefer phone calls at home while you are eating dinner?

Okay, let's go back to basics because the sooner you learn this, the better off you will be.

Understand that if you got a call from a recruiter/executive search consultant, it could very well mean you are highly qualified and well thought of in your industry.

This means you are a valued professional other employers would want to hire.

Do I have to remind you that people get better jobs and more money by changing jobs?

Next, we call people at work because that is where they are found. It is relatively easy to reach out to someone at their workplace because most companies can be accessed by phone. We call the switchboard and ask for you or we find out your extension and/or use the 'dial by name' directory and then we are talking to you or, in many cases, an administrative or executive assistant.

Our clients want us to find them highly qualified people.

You, as a 'highly qualified' person, are on the job. Where else would I expect to find you?

And please, no crybaby stuff about 'getting fired'.

Either you recognize you have been given an opportunity to get a better job and you quickly whisper into the phone your cell number and tell that headhunter to call you later, at a specific time or,

...you tell that headhunter to call you at home and give him/her your home number/cell phone and HANG UP.

Or, if you are being watched (maybe you are a nurse and have just been called to the nurse's station to take the call and have four other nurses standing next to you plus the secretaries listening), you can turn this to your advantage (with your present employer) and say either nicely or not, "please do not call me, I am very busy!" and then hang up, saying under your breath, loudly enough for the group to hear, you 'hate recruiters' and then walk back to whatever you were doing.

What's so hard about that???

People get calls from recruiters all the time.

It is an opportunity to be assessed as being qualified and appropriate for that recruiter's search assignment. To you, that could mean a better job.

And you come here, to complain?

Gimme a break!

Now, had you complained that you get too many calls from recruiters, each day, that would be a common enough complaint.

All the Best of the Best get calls all the time from headhunters. You should consider yourself so lucky.

And if you are happy where you are and have no reason to be taking a better job, then just tell that recruiter, 'no thanks, I'm happy here and please don't call again' and then HANG UP.

You'll make points with your boss, even if you are being short-sighted about the opportunity of being offered a better job.

........................

Now, for e130478:

"A recruiter who calls you at work is a recruiter who doesn't last long in the industry, plain and simple."

Where did you hear that? You are very much mistaken. Headhunters/Recruiters spend their entire day, calling professionals at work. THAT IS WHAT THEY ARE SUPPOSED TO DO.

Where have you been?

...........

"These people are usually very desperate to meet their quota and are on their way out."

Again, you are misinformed. Recruiters/Headhunters spend their day calling professionals at their workplace. It goes on all the time. It is Standard Practice.

..............

"If a recruiter were to get me fired, what are the chances that I would utilize his or her services to find me another job, anyway?"


How can a recruiter get you fired?

That would only happen if you were on the phone with one, your employer heard you and thought you had initiated the call.

Let me help you out:

If a recruiter calls, it is about what might be a better job. You should listen to what they have to say.

If your boss is close by, let that recruiter know you can't take the call just then and ask that recruiter to call back at a better time, letting him/her know when that would be.

Or give that recruiter your cell or home number, letting them know you are busy and can't stay on the phone, letting that person know when they should call back.

And if you are being watched -which is how you sound from the tone of your post- just tell or yell at the recruiter, telling that person to never call you back again.

Believe me, they won't. Problem solved until the next recruiter foolishly calls you.

....................

Now for the other eye-opening part, e130478:

"If a recruiter were to get me fired...what are the chances that I would utilize his or her services to find me another job, anyway?..."


So you can learn about our business because it is more than clear you are totally uninformed here-

As a rule, recruiters/headhunters do not find people jobs. We are in the business of recruiting people who are doing a job a client wants them to be doing for them. We then recruit them and send them on interviews where, hopefully, they are made an offer to take a better job. If they don't get an offer or are not make a 'better' offer, that person simply keeps their job and nothing more is said.

We are not in the employment agency business. We don't find job for people who got fired. No Thanks! If you came to me, saying you had just been fired, I'd show you the door.

So first, we don't get people fired, they get themselves fired.

The days when an employer would fire a staff member just because they were talking to a recruiter are over unless that employee is already on that employer's bad side.

People who are considered to be high value and come to their boss with the news they have been made an offer by another company usually get, in response, a Counter Offer.

Not always, but if someone is considered to be filling an important role in the company, their employer won't just agree to see them leave without attempting to offer them a 'better situation' so they stay and keep their job.

The very idea a recruiter would 'get you fired' is absurd unless it was done deliberately and frankly, that technique was only taught to us old-timers and most likely, none of the current wave of Millennial recruiters you may run into even know that technique of recruitment.


One more time- recruiters do not deliberately get people fired. If you are caught talking to us, then you should hang up after yelling something into the phone about 'never call me again!' so your boss does not know you were taking advantage of the situation to know about what might have been a better job.

.........................

Thank you, both. I've not heard anything so silly in weeks.

Read about how you can improve your career by having a headhunter/recruiter guide you to a better job. Your complaints are in fact, non-existent in the real world.



Thanks again for the laugh,


Paul



....

I think you're trolling, but if not, lol. I work in tech, and I can tell you for certain that the recruiting profession in general is universally reviled by developers. You harass us with unwanted jobs and stop at nothing to do it. Good engineers don't feel flattered by unsolicited recruitment pitches at work; we can lose and find work in an hour without even picking up a phone given the current market conditions. Second, and sorry to say, the best engineering jobs are not vetted via recruiters; they are yielded from networking with other good engineers and CEOs. Since you're obviously trolling, I'm probably wasting my time. But everything you said is the exact opposite of reality.

[HeadhunterPaul]

Originally Posted by e130478

I think you're trolling, but if not, lol. I work in tech, and I can tell you for certain that the recruiting profession in general is universally reviled by developers. You harass us with unwanted jobs and stop at nothing to do it. Good engineers don't feel flattered by unsolicited recruitment pitches at work; we can lose and find work in an hour without even picking up a phone given the current market conditions. Second, and sorry to say, the best engineering jobs are not vetted via recruiters; they are yielded from networking with other good engineers and CEOs. Since you're obviously trolling, I'm probably wasting my time. But everything you said is the exact opposite of reality.

Uh-huh.

Some of what you say is perfectly true.

But none of it means what I said is not equally true.


Your post about getting fired and then 'not' asking the same recruiter who would have gotten you fired to find you new job was just plain bizarre.

From your post above, it is more clear you know something of Life but it is still not true you are clear on what makes a headhunter tick.

Networking is one way, getting a call from a HH is another.


Plain and simple.

Also, what is at work here is that the IT field is flooded with recruiters/headhunters, many of whom are not only incompetent, they are abusive. So it is understandable why you would hit me with your broad brush. That this is your only perspective is a shame but as you said, you don't need me so what's the difference, n'est-ce pas?


If it is possible here, you should read my post history and you will see I clearly understand my business.

Or, you can just remain argumentative.


Let's make a deal- you don't call me and I certainly won't call you, 'kay?


CYA


...

[sonetlumiere]

If a crooter calls you at work, you can always ask him/her to call you at a more convenient time. That being said, it may not be a very productive conversation. If you have a mad rare skill set and pedigree that is in high demand, you may get the sorts of calls HHP describes. This only happens a small percentage of the time. I work in IT and the calls I get from recruiters can be classified as follows:

1) Temp Agency recruiters calling about some technology I haven't worked with in years for a 3 month contract job 3,000 miles away at some low ball rate with no per diem or travel allowance. They sound miffed when I object to moving across country for their crappy gig, assuming I haven't slammed down the receiver by this point. They can't find a suitable H-1B transfer so they are forced to call locals.

2) Temp agency recruiters calling to get a current copy of my resume for inventory. They have no current client requisitions but like to stockpile resumes in the event one comes in. These are usually secondary and tertiary vendors who will sub you out to the prime vendor who then will submit you to the client SHOULD A JOB EVER MATERIALIZE.

3) Temp Agency recruiters who have no job but try to coerce you into taking online skills tests and filling out applications so they can solicit business from your "references".

No recruiter will call you for a FTE IT position unless it is a "C" level spot and you are a known thought leader in the field.

I got my current spot via an employee referral and most other openings in my company are likewise filled.

Again, these are my own observations limited to the IT arena; YMMV.

[MSchemist80]

If a recruiter called me at work I'd probably ask that they call back on my cell at lunch or after work if I was at all interested. If it was a staffing agency recruiter I'd tell them to get lost. Seriously, I am really going to quit my FTE job for a crap temp job?

[ohhwanderlust]

Originally Posted by homeboi

As the title states, this is one of my pet peeves.
Do recruiters do this on purpose to try to get you fired quicker? (so they can have a candidate)
I know this may sound a bit childish, but you never know in this dog-eat-dog job market.

Anyone else hates this behavior by recruiters?

Why would anyone give recruiters their work number? They're going to call at whatever number you list on your job hunting docs, which should never include your work number. Common sense.

[slim04]

I think the issues with recruiters cold calling is that they really don't know you and you really don't know them, so the chances that it is going to work out beneficially for both parties is low and will end up a waste of time. That's been my experience in my career.

It is different was a recruiter calls me and says that he placed a former colleague of mine successfully and referred me for a position that a recruiter was trying to fill. I could call the colleague to gauge whether this recruiter was any good or just a trolling windbag.

The recruiters I worked with in the past were those that I got "rave" reviews from people I know and trust, those that I used to work with and know, or those that I met in professional functions and was impressed with their presentations, knowledge and connections in my industry. Those were the people I was willing to meet, discuss my career and skills, and scope out how I would like my career to go and see if there were any possibilities.

The recruiters that are cold calling are also calling hundreds of other people and are basically throwing darts trying to get something to hit.