By Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter

What should I look out for if I get contacted by a recruiter? How should I respond?

The Recruiter Mindset: The Ultimate Guide to Working with Executive Search Recruiters

I’m Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter. I coach people in organizations and the coaching tends to be around the workplace. So, it could be about your job search with hiring, being a better manager or leader, like I said, overall being more effective at work.

And the question I received from someone basically translates into if I get a call from a recruiter, is there something I should look out for? I don’t think look out for is the right choice of terms because it’s almost adversarial. I was started by asking the person to repeat their name and the firm that they’re with. So, this way, it logs into your mind where you can jot it down.

If it’s a company you’ve never heard the name of before, the likelihood is it’s a third-party recruiter. And once you’ve heard the name and jotted it down, you know, the simplest place I would start off with is could you tell me about the role that you’re recruiting for and what was it in my background that piqued your interest? The reason I say that is they’re going to dive into their evaluation process but you don’t know what the target is that they’re looking for. So, you don’t want to talk with them about a job that you’re not interested in, right? And if you do, consider a good practice but, you know, you want to get a sense of what it is that they’re trying to find out about your background so that, in this way, you can tailor your answers to what matters to them instead of just talking about what you’ve done.

Remember, from their standpoint, they are trying to fill a job, right? And, as such, you want to know what that job is so you can talk about your experience and how it fits. Now, among the questions you might ask is, you know, what’s the comp level for the role? Well, it’s going to depend. Yes, of course, it’s going to depend.

But could you give me a sense of the range of the role? Well, it’s going to depend. I understand that. But, you know, I don’t want to waste my time talking with you about a job that’s going to pay too little.

How much are you making? I asked you first and you make a joke out of it. Well, I can’t reveal that. Why not? You know, there’s a dance that you may have to play normally with a corporate recruit . . . I’m sorry . . . with the agency recruiter who’s afraid that they can’t have the opportunity to talk you into something if they reveal the price is too low for you.

So, just understand the nonsense that goes on. That’s one thing to look out for is the dance where they’re not going to reveal compensation. A good one may or may not reveal who the client is because they don’t know if they can trust you to contact the firm directly.

So, to me, that’s not per se an issue. Could you give me a sense of who the client is and what they do? Well, it’s a major such and such. Yeah.

Where’s it located? Okay. Good. And how large a department will I be leading or heading up or working in? Good.

And you start to notice whether they can give you information about the firm, about the role because that signals to you whether they have a good enough relationship to talk with you about the job and whether you should listen. I’m Jeff Altman. Hope you found this helpful.

Visit TheBigGameHunter.us. I’ve got a lot more there that you can watch, listen to or read that’ll help you find work more quickly. I also want to mention, you know, if you’re interested in one-on-one coaching, what you can also do is schedule a free discovery call with me on my website. Again, that’s TheBigGameHunter.us. And if you want to subscribe to my channel on YouTube and you’re watching there, look in the lower right hand corner.

There’s an icon there on YouTube and you can click on that and subscribe to my channel. Have a great day and take care!

 

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