As a recruiter I get very close to my candidates during their job selection and application process to the point of perhaps considering them as 'friends'. I will sometimes call my candidates three times in a day - firstly to wish them luck, secondly to gain feedback and thirdly to pass on feedback. I complete reference checks and am very excited when my 'friend' accept a position and give the start date for a month later.

Occasionally I will assist with resignation tactics and of course point out the fantastic points about the new challenge they are about to embark on.

However, rarely do I know what actually happens in that four weeks after a resignation is made.

I started to touch base with some of my candidates who are working their notice and have had some interesting comments made, for example: "It is awful," "I was offered $10,000 to stay," "My manager completely changed," "I had to write a manual on my job" and in one case "I was kept in a room for 45 minutes whilst they persuaded me to stay."

I know that as recruiters we often get put on gardening leave when we resign to join a competitor and I am guessing the reasons behind this are more than just database stealing. When a person decides to exit a company their mind is made up weeks before the resignation is made, they can be disruptive to others and at times burning bridges reaping the glory of their newly found job.

But in the case of these recent candidates who have decided to move on for career development opportunities, for more money or simply a better work life balance it really is a shame that in their final four weeks they can be left feeling negative about their employer.

I am interested to know what support other recruiters offer to candidates in what can be a very difficult time? I guess in some ways it really does re-iterate why they are leaving and the positives are that the role they leave could have got so poisonous it makes the new position seem amazing in comparison. However, as by this point we know the candidates fairly well it can be hard not to shoulder some of the burden in knowing they are working in a toxic environment.