THINGS YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT RECRUITING BUT WERE AFRAID TO ASK.

Amy Ala and I have decided to collaborate on a blog.  How about that dahling! A classy internal corporate recruiter and the "Phyllis Diller' of  third party headhunting actually collaborating on something.  We will take questions, situations, problems and try to give suggestions, opinions, advice from our different sides of the industry and in a lot of cases our different generations.  I am generation A and she's X so we should have it covered.  If you would like for us to take your specific question or situation email either of us.  We will of course put our gorgeous, brilliant, hilarious heads together and see if we can shed some light on "THE STICKY STUFF"

The Situation this week: 

You just found out that the company is for sale.  It's a big secret.  Nobody is supposed to know except the top execs.  You are a recruiter.  Do you continue to recruit and fill positions knowing that there is a high probability that when the company sells people will be laid off or have to move if they want a job or the job and the supervisor will change.  What if you recruit someone who quits a good job to join and gets laid off 60 days later.  You knew it might happen and you didn't and couldn't tell them.  Yuck!  What do you do?

As an Internal Corporate Recruiter here is what Amy has to say:

Wow.  Well, sad to say, as a corporate recruiter my first instinct is “What about ME?”  If a company is being sold, then what does that mean for the recruiting strategy and my own job security?  Does the buying company have a corporate office elsewhere?  Will I be out of a job?  Or worse – be asked to RELOCATE? (I can’t imagine living anywhere else).

Here’s the catch.  I’m not supposed to know about this.  Probably heard it from some smart agency recruiter whose job it is to have an ear to the ground and hear these rumblings before anyone else.  I shouldn’t know… but now I do.  Enough about me, back to the original question.  Do I still RECRUIT?

As difficult as it may be, yes.  Yes, I do.  I have a job to perform.  I am paid to source, attract, and facilitate the hiring of talent for my company.  I can’t walk away and focus on other (safer) business, like my third party friends.  Maybe my pitch changes a little.  Maybe I don’t focus as much on company growth, stability, all the other fantastic things we usually discuss with prospective candidates.  Maybe I’ll probe more for adaptability, willingness to adjust to change.  After all, being sold doesn’t always equal being laid off.  But it sure will mean things will be different.   

As a Third Party Recruiter here is what Sandra has to say:

Well Rat Crap,  I have three open reqs on my desk.  I just got a nervous phone call from my Sr. contact in HR.  He Knows the company is being sold and he is at high risk for being redundant based on the size of the buyers HR department so his resume is now in my inbox and i am sworn to secret status.  The internal recruiters i am working with do not know and They CANNOT KNOW.  Alrighty then.  Do i still RECRUIT.

Sorry, the game changes.  Ethically I won't go recruit a passive candidate and convince them to quit a good job to join when i know the company is being sold and senior people are already putting their resumes quietly in the hands of a headhunter.  No can do.

The only candidates i will submit at this point are those that are unemployed, do not have to relo and are stressed enough that they would welcome the opportunity to be employed even if they get laid off or might have to move later.  But, my sell mode just went from 10 to minus 1.  In fact i probably won't do much with this company until after the sale is announced and things shake out.  It's even going to be a bit difficult to represent candidates coming out of this company because i am going to have to soft peddle their reason for wanting to make a change.  I hate secret sticky stuff.

As to the internal recruiters i work with.  Nope, i can't say anything even though i really like them and wish i could.  Maybe i can recruit one of them for a great job if i have one come up but i can't tell them, i gave my word.  If they ask about a rumor i have to disavow any knowledge.  So if it happens to be my cousin Sally, things will be a bit tense at family holiday dinner if she ever finds out i knew, didn't tell her and she got cut.  Business is business.  If i happen to be dating one of the internals...well like they say, men are like buses and this one is going to run over me.

What would you do either as an internal or thrid party recruiter?