Recruiters: Have you ever been fired by a candidate even though they have accepted the position you worked hard to obtain for them? It happened to me today!

Long story but apparently this individual has asked our client that we do not contact him anymore as he felt too "pressured". However he has accepted the role that we introduced to him and did some very creative "out of the box" thinking in order to help him with his main motivating factor for changing jobs which was to reduce his travel time away from a young family. We were successful in cutting it down from traveling 2 weeks a month to a 3 hour different time zone to never (unless he chooses to) having to travel and working in the same time zone. Matching money, exact same job and technology. With a company that values his input and skills.

The assumed "pressure" was us asking if he wanted the job BEFORE starting the negotiation for his compensation ($27K over what the budget from our client was) as there is no point on negotiating if fundamentally he does not want the job.

Anyone else have a story like this?

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Comment by Linda Ferrante on January 25, 2012 at 11:04am: Just to clarify....you found him the job, he accepted, and then he fired you? Are you getting paid for your services? I have had candidates tell me they didn't want to work with me anymore (once they've interviewed) and they call the client directly. Doesn't happen often, but if you spend enough years doing this, it will!

In those cases, I've talked to the client about what was going on and the clients backed away from those candidates. I honestly don't know if people realize what they are doing sometimes!!

Comment by Stuart Musson on January 25, 2012 at 11:56am: @Linda...Yes we found him the job and the client is still paying us but we are not allowed to talk to the candidate anymore at his request...Go figure.

Comment by Tanya Chawla on January 25, 2012 at 2:26pm: Oh my, this was my very first placement in the industry. I placed a gal with a great ad agency in Manhattan. Candidate and I were in contact every day going back and forth negotiating salary (got her a $15k raise & stock options she never had before).

The day she started, I left her a voicemail saying “Hey, just wanted to see how your day went and if you have any questions etc etc” no response.

A week later… to follow up and make sure she adjusted (no response). At the end of the first month – no response. A LinkedIn Recommendation request at the end of the 90-day period – NO response! I never heard from her again.

I was just genuinely interested in hearing whether or not I did something good for her and my client, not interested in sharking her.... who knows!

Comment by Stuart Musson on January 25, 2012 at 3:35pm: @Tanya - Interesting how candidates react when you follow up with after placement service....

Comment by Tanya Chawla on January 25, 2012 at 6:31pm: @Stuart - have you had a client not get back to you after a placement.... that is the most interesting to me. You paid me so I'm getting back to you making sure you're at least satisfied with your investment, but I guess you don't want customer service....ok...

Comment by Steve Williams on January 26, 2012 at 9:07am: I had a client who offered a senior role on a Thursday with a lovely conversation in which he said I had gained his trust in the process. Very nice thank you! The offer was accepted by the candidate on the Friday, I bought a round of drinks in the evening (Cheers everybody.....) However, the client's PA withdrew the job offer on the Monday first thing and apart from a very vague email from him I've never spoken again with this client despite many attempts, coffee invites, dinner invites, etc. Bizarre behaviour, indeed, and just can't figure it out. I should say that the candidate was out of a job at the time and the client knew this so knew he wasn't resigning, etc. Still a poor show though.