Recruiters who think they're slick

Just received a call from a recruiter asking me ( a retained search firm) "if the opening for a senior auditor controller was still open?" Confused at the title and her question, I asked her why she was inquiring. She replied "uh..h we're the agency you gave the order to and we wanted to see if the position is still active." Although the mischievous side of me wanted to prolong the agony, I decided to give her a heads up and ended the call.

If you're calling on an open order, for God's sake, just be honest..I would tell you what's up without any ill will. When you lie, people know it and they despise you for it. That goes for hiring managers and HR representatives who can smell bs a mile away.

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Permalink Reply by Brian Keith on December 16, 2009 at 1:51pm

lol good stuff Bill. It's unfortunate that common sense seems to rarely be common practice!

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ward on December 16, 2009 at 2:58pm

Hey Brian,

People with common sense need to be put on the endangered species list!

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ward on December 16, 2009 at 3:04pm

Rayanne,

Good point. I guess if you need to keep your job and you work for an agency that is the equivalent of a boiler room environment, than it's a dial for dollars mentality and its a means to an end. I guess it's a living for many, but I'd rather be dealing three card monte games on tourists.

Rayanne said:

Nice..., why do they do it? Fear?

In my first recruiting position, my boss encouraged me to lie all the time. I quickly changed this practice when I realized it got me nowhere except kicked to the curb in most calls. The days of blocked IDs and rusing are still here, but will those that use these tactics be here for much longer?

Step up, say who you are and what you are offering. You will be remembered. For the right reasons.

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Permalink Reply by Julia Stone on December 16, 2009 at 4:54pm

I don't know if I want to laugh or throw up, maybe a little of both.

Usually, I keep a mental note of the professional, courteous cold callers from various industries. If they don't piss me off, I figure they might make good sales people. If they call back regularly and don't tick me off, well, I am very impressed. When they lie to me, I tend to rip into them like a lion who just got a raw piece of meat. I smell insecurity in their lies, and I show no mercy.

But how many HR people really take the time to really check on the agencies they work with? I have to guess from the call that many don't even remember the names. Clearly someone thought it would work, well enough to write it on their script. It takes effort on both sides, and if you work with a good agency you should tell others about it too.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ward on December 16, 2009 at 5:11pm

Karen,

How frustrating. I'm sure people over on Linkedin would say "hey, that's the nature of the business. If you can't stand the heat..." I just don't see it that way. You're examples clearly show us why we seem to have a rep as recruiters not to trust one another all that much. You can compete without compromising your character or integrity.

Great stories Karen!

KarenM said:

Bill,
that is great.. may I share a story of my own

Ring Ring - Hi, my name is John, and am interested in applying for your position
me, looking down at the caller ID seeing it is slimy recruiting company Inc - Hi John, where are you calling from
- As I said I am john, and saw that you had an opening for a sales position, want to submit my resume, can you tell me who the company is before I submit my resume?
- John, I know you are a recruiter... I have caller ID - You are a cherry picking scum ball
- is this how you talk to candidates
Click..

Another incident.. gee I am on a roll -- Member of Top Echelon network, you know that Sharing Network, where recruiters PAY money to have other recruiters help each other out.. There was a PRIVATE mutual sharing job board where I happened to mention that my client was in Tuscon.. My client and I spoke later that evening, where she mentioned that she had had several calls from recruiters from Top Echelon about the position within an hour after I posted, and they were demonstrating that they had a team of other recruiters that could help fill the position.
Oh, did I mention that she never had any recruiter calling her prior to this.. Small upstart company, brand new job opening, that wasn't even posted online.

One other time, a recruiter calls up a couple of candidates reading my job order to the candidates trying to figure out who my client was..

Best one was where another recruiter asked me for the name of my client on a VERY confidential search many many years ago, I said, just dont' call anyone who worked in this particular city. client calls me later asking how come he got a call regarding the said confidential search that noone was to be aware of.. Seems that the "friendly" recruiter called every company in said particular city, to locate the job order.

Woah, that felt good getting that off my Chest.. Yeah, there are some slime balls in our industry.. Seriously, if you can't get your own job order and have to cherrry pick like this, maybe that is a clue that you should be trying something else.

it is people like this that hurt the good ones.

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Permalink Reply by Bill Ward on December 16, 2009 at 5:29pm

Julia,

You bring up an interesting point. You can't fault somebody for being a good "hunter." In fact, it can be down right impressive when someone can build rapport quickly. Attempting to be deceptive on the other hand kills your chances as you have pointed out.

Julia Stone said:

I don't know if I want to laugh or throw up, maybe a little of both.

Usually, I keep a mental note of the professional, courteous cold callers from various industries. If they don't piss me off, I figure they might make good sales people. If they call back regularly and don't tick me off, well, I am very impressed. When they lie to me, I tend to rip into them like a lion who just got a raw piece of meat. I smell insecurity in their lies, and I show no mercy.

But how many HR people really take the time to really check on the agencies they work with? I have to guess from the call that many don't even remember the names. Clearly someone thought it would work, well enough to write it on their script. It takes effort on both sides, and if you work with a good agency you should tell others about it too.

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Permalink Reply by Fran Hogan on December 17, 2009 at 8:46am

Ugh! It annoys me just to read these stories. Unfortunately Bill, it is the nature of the business for a lot of recruiting firms. It's sad - they ruin the reputation of the whole industry... and take a lot of the fun out of it.

I was so naive the first time a slimey got to me I didn't realize what was going on until I got off the phone and told my manager. Luckily over the past 10 years I've been in a specialty (placing sales pros for building products manufacturers & distributors) not a lot of other independent recruiters share....it's not very sexy :-)

I don't have to worry as much about the slimeys trying to scam me. I still keep my slimey antenna tuned though....you can never be too cautious.