“Who’s the company? What’s the pay?” – The candidate’s perspective

9/16/20 - this is part 1 of 2:

You are working at a job you love. Great boss, great team, challenging work, sense of purpose, growth opportunities – whatever it is! Oh yeah, and you’re pretty good at your job. And work for a company with a great reputation. You are an A+ candidate! And you are the apple of a recruiter’s eye!

Ping! – Ring! – however the message come across whether an email, text, LinkedIn Message, or phone call. You get a few of these a day because of the items listed above. Some of these messages are titled "Incredible Opportunity - CITY YOU DON'T LIVE IN!", or "You are perfect - job you worked 5 years ago!"

But, for this blog post, this one catches your attention. “Amazing work culture”, “help company grow nationally”, “added headcount during COVID”, “(insert industry)” leader”, “manager has promoted everyone on team” – whatever hooks you. Typically, you don’t answer or call back these messages because again, you’re happy! But…curiosity. Really, you just kind of want to know who the position is with, and what it pays? You work in this city/area, you know who most of the great companies are. And if you’re really great at your job, maybe you have interacted with some of the folks at this company. Then, obviously, if it’s not at least what you’re currently making, what the hell’s the point of the call?! (Recruiters reading: Yeah, yeah – the perks! Yeah, yeah – the culture! Yeah, yeah – the benefits! Yes, all of those things and more matter when making a decision, but if we’re not close on salary - those things aren’t going to matter.)

At this point, let’s call it what it is. You’re interested in learning more. But, you’re busy. And, you’re happy in your current role. Do you want to carve out 30-45 minutes to chat with a recruiter? So, you respond, “I’m interested but very busy – can you tell me who it is with and a salary range?” And you soon receive the message that says in some fancy sense – “No.”

Let’s do a quick review of why you are receiving from the recruiter “Hey, I’d love to tell you over a call!” or “I really can’t right now, but let’s set up a time to chat”:

1) It’s a confidential search. There is someone in the role, they are looking to confidentially replace the person, and if they found out there would be a proverbial "S storm". This recruiter cannot tell you who the role is with. But, they should tell you upfront CONFIDENTIAL Search. You have to respect the confidential search, whether the recruiter is being truthful or not.

2) Something I alluded to earlier – you might know a lot of people at the company, and you might “backdoor” the recruiter. Backdoor being the deal where you learn who the company is, then instead of working with this recruiter you network into this role through an internal connection or perhaps another recruiter. I’ve got thoughts on this – I’m saving it for the second post!

3) The main reason - The recruiter wants to hook you into the phone call. I’ve been guilty of this. Most recruiters, one of their metrics is “profiles”, “qualified candidates” – whatever you want to call it. One of the keys of their job is to qualify candidates. But the recruiter has no incentive to potentially have you reply after giving you this info, “Thanks – not interested.” And don’t get it twisted, you might be a fantastic fit this particular role and this could be the job of your dreams. But at the end of the day, if neither of those are true the recruiter can check a metric box.

4) There are times when a client tells the recruiter to be discrete. Perhaps they’re recruiting for a family office, and the family doesn’t want their name tossed around. Or a company who’s extremely sensitive about their name being thrown around. These are rarer cases. It is for you the candidate to decide on the validity of this.

Back to you – the candidate. You get this reply from the recruiter. F. It’d just be nice to know these critical details to enhance your decision. What are your options?

1) Tell the recruiter you’re not going to move forward without knowing it first. Good ole game of candidate/recruiter chicken!

2) Book the call, and press on the call. Ask the recruiter if you can work backwards. “There are certain companies in town that’d I’d be really interested in, and some I wouldn't – would you at least be able to tell me who it is first and if I’m interested we’ll continue. If not, we can reschedule a call for later?” Same with pay – “If it’s not near where I am now, I’d prefer to schedule a call for later down the road.”

3) Book the call and go thru with the whole call. You could be a great fit! You chatted with a connected recruiter, and a relationship is born. Maybe you refer someone who you think could be fantastic. Maybe this call helps solidify that you truly are at an amazing place right now, and you can probably pass on other calls. There are really more positives then negatives. The worst case is you waste 15-20 minutes all in. Because a bad recruiting call won’t last that long.

This is all one example. In conclusion, I think it’s fair for you, the candidate, to ask out the gate these questions. It’s fair and honest. However, weigh your leverage. I think if you are an active seeker looking to leave your current employer, or someone who is currently not working, this tactic may not be your best course of action. If you’re in these positions, you should be trying to network and chat with more people, not less.

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We’re going to cover this topic from the recruiter’s perspective in our next post. Looking forward to it!