Being cold-called by a recruiter

Is it just me, or does it get anyone else's back up?

[bhonda]

So there I was, happily coding away, and our office phone rang. We don't have phones each, because we rarely have to speak to anyone that's not within earshot anyway. Turned out the call was for me, which is unusual, because I don't have contact with external clients directly.

I took it, and the fella introduced himself as a headhunter. He then tried to convince me there was this perfect role for me that was being interviewed for at the moment, and my name came up in the 'discussions'.

After pushing him to find out how he found out about me, he said that his client (who was interviewing) knew me, and that's how they found me. But this client wanted to remain anonymous, so I don't know who that was.

I asked the very innocent question of whether he had just found me on LinkedIn, and called the company I've got listed as my current role, and he got very confused, said he didn't use LinkedIn, didn't understand what I meant.

When I turned his offer down, he was fairly persistent, to put it lightly, then ended the call with a bit of attitude and saying it was 'my loss'.

Is it just me, or does the whole thing sound like a load of BS?

Seriously - calling someone up completely out of the blue, at their actual office where everyone else can hear my side of the conversation, and trying to get me to go for another job? Seriously?

Maybe I've just missed the job opportunity of my life. But I bet I've just rather lost 10 minutes of my life.

[birdbrain]

Hi there bhonda,

I took it, and the fella introduced himself as a headhunter...

At that point there were two words that you should have used.
The first begins with an "F" the second with an "O".
They are guaranteed to produce excellent results and will save
you ten minutes of your life at each repetition. ;)

birdbrain

[piatkow]

This is normal practice in the UK.

Before I retired from the day job I had one particular recruiter calling me frequently. He didn't stop until I became quite rude. Naturally a few weeks later a redundancies were announced.

[tbear]

The first begins with an "F" the second with an "O".

I'm afraid I would have added an 'A' to those two words....LOL.

I hate cold callers and have no patience for them, at all. In the case you mention, this could create a very difficult situation.

[birdbrain]

Here are two essential links for those who are plagued by cold callers or junk mail in the UK...

1. Telephone Preference Service [tpsonline.org.uk]
   
2. Mail Preference Service [mpsonline.org.uk]
   

birdbrain

[engine]

It does seem odd that the call appears to come out of the blue, but sometimes it does.

Cold callers are only doing their job, so I do cut them some slack. However, those that don't listen and continue to waffle on won't get any sympathy from me. It's rare for me to be rude to them, but sometimes a simple thank you and goodbye, and to immediately hang up is the only way to end the call.

[piatkow]

Here are two essential links for those who are plagued by cold callers or junk mail in the UK...

Not much use when you are an employee being called at work by a recruiter.

TPS is a waste of time these days as the marketers just offshore their call centres.

[tbear]

Cold callers are only doing their job, so I do cut them some slack.

I can understand that, but, like door to door salespeople, most will do anything to get you on board. I'd suggest that only the newbie cold callers give up without a fight.
Before my current attitude, I had a cold caller who recalled 5 or 6 times in 10 minutes after I politely said no and hung up.
Entry into directories, etc, should be opt in, not opt out, more for security than anything else.

[birdbrain]

Hi there piatkow,

Not much use when you are an employee being called at work by a recruiter.

TPS is a waste of time these days as the marketers just offshore their call centres.

In that case use the two word bullet proof method that I suggested in my first post. ;)

birdbrain

[wheel]

>>>>After pushing him to find out how he found out about me, he said that his client (who was interviewing) knew me,

Can you smell that?

That's the smell of bullst wafting over the phone.

The headhunter industry is like the car sales industry. A whole lot of very high pressure sales tactics burying the occassional nugget of top quality performance.

I had a site years ago that was very attractive for recruiters to advertise on, I had some opportunity to interact with the industry. Tactics like cold calling people and telling them they 'were referred, but can't tell you from who' is standard. We eventually sold the site to one of the headhunter firms (that was a real class act), and I took some consolation from the fact that the other less scrupulous firms were basically locked out of the site going forward.

Now a good headhunter, that's worth developing a relationship with - but those folks don't send up suspicious signals when they cold call.

[blend27]

I usually just say that I am in the meeting, and nicely ask the perpetrator to give me a call in 15 on my personal/private line at 555-1212(or some other random number).

[piatkow]

In the case you mention, this could create a very difficult situation.

Wherever I have worked in IT being persued by agencies has been career enhancing. The usual management view being that anybody who isn't wanted elsewhere can't be worth keeping.

[blend27]

Wherever I have worked in IT being persued by agencies has been career enhancing.

Right-on!

I was once overheard by a new manager talking to a stray requiter. 2 Days later she(manager) asked me if I would join the company full time, I said depends on the offer. 3 more days later I was offered full time job at the company, which I politely declined. The gig continued for another 20 month, 3 6 month extensions after originally working there for almost a year. With pay raise, twice!

[lucy24]

nicely ask the perpetrator to give me a call in 15 on my personal/private line at 555-1212(or some other random number)

I hope "random" doesn't mean "made up off the top of my head". There's a real human at the end of that random number, and they don't want the call any more than you do. Probably less-- especially the repeat that comes 30 seconds later. And you don't want the follow-up call asking you to give the number again because they must have written it down wrong.

Come to think of it, if the recruiting has been outsourced, you could probably give them a number that literally begins in 555- and they wouldn't bat an eye.

[lawman]

For a good time call eight six seven five three oh ni-ee-ine.