Recruitment etiquette

Author
Discussion

anxious_ant

Original Poster:

2,626 posts

78 months

Monday 27th January 2020
quotequote all
Hypothetical scenario:

A recruitment consultant has been contacting John for months asking if he is interested in looking at job opportunities.
After a few time John agrees, if a role fitting a provided set of criteria emerges.
A suitable role emerged ad John was introduced by said consultant.
Interviews went well, offer was made. It was a lengthy interview process, 3 stages with a final interview with CEO and CTO.
John went back to his current employer with the news and after discussions secured a better package.
John apologises to consultant, mentioned that he would not be accepting the offer.
Consultant not happy for time wasting and mentioned that John cost him his reputation.
He also loosely threatened to pass negative feedback to other potential employers

Is John in the wrong here?

deckster

9,630 posts

254 months

Monday 27th January 2020
quotequote all
The recruitment consultant is just doing his job. He needs John to take the role, or he doesn't get paid. So he will say anything, up to and including this kind of blackmail if the recruitment consultant is a poor example of the breed.

It is extremely common for people to go through the interview process and decide the job's not for them. That's what the process is for.

John is worrying about nothing. But at least he now knows what kind of person the recruitment consultant is and can block him in the future.


Brads67

3,199 posts

97 months

Monday 27th January 2020
quotequote all
No

They are just in the huff about loss of finders fee.

deggles

614 posts

201 months

Monday 27th January 2020
quotequote all
anxious_ant said:
Is John in the wrong here?
No. Recruitment consultant is a tt.

HTH.

anxious_ant

Original Poster:

2,626 posts

78 months

Monday 27th January 2020
quotequote all
Many thanks for the insights.

Must say John hasn't dealt with many recruitment consultants and such an experience is quite unnerving. smile


vaud

50,291 posts

154 months

Monday 27th January 2020
quotequote all
Cost him a fee, not a reputation.

It happens all of the time.

Hiring companies factor it in. It's mildly annoying, nothing more.

Macneil

883 posts

79 months

Monday 27th January 2020
quotequote all
It does happen all the time. You are just a prospect for the recruiter, that's why they pursued you for so long anyway.

No-one where I work has ever joined without being counter offered by their current employer, and one guy turned the job down.

anxious_ant

Original Poster:

2,626 posts

78 months

Tuesday 28th January 2020
quotequote all
I've only had experience with handful of recruiters in the past and can honestly say only one is helpful.
The last one kept pestering for a phone call even though I've said I'm only interested if a role meeting my specific requirements pops up.
"I've got a few suitable roles in the pipeline, when can I call you?"
Finally agreed to a call and I find it a total waste of time.
Roles are non-existent and it was mostly a data mining exercise.
Got another call and was pushed to go for a role that is obviously not for me, I've only went for the phone interview as the recruiter basically lied about the actual job requirements.
It's definitely frustrating experience.

T5R+

1,225 posts

208 months

Tuesday 28th January 2020
quotequote all
If CEO and CTO of a significant business - then you will have blotted the RCs copy book to some degree.

It is highly likely that John may leave at some stage soon.


enforcer666

36 posts

66 months

Tuesday 28th January 2020
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There is certainly an influx of unprofessional recruiters, mostly young inexperienced folks chasing commision above anything else. Don't really care about job seekers at all.

Give it some time and it's easy to spot ones that you'll want to black list.

bad company

18,484 posts

265 months

Sunday 2nd February 2020
quotequote all
Ex owner of a recruitment agency here.

The recruiter is to say the least being unprofessional. ‘Counter offers’ from existing employers happen on a regular basis but for obvious reasons they are unwelcome. In my experience most candidates who accept a counter offer from their existing firms often come back as whatever the problems/issues were don’t go away. If the recruiter handles the situation professionally and gracefully the candidate will most likely come back to them.

The threats are just ridiculous. I’d have fired any of my recruiters if they did that.

WonkeyDonkey

2,333 posts

102 months

Sunday 2nd February 2020
quotequote all
John can also pass on bad feedback to all his work colleagues about this certain recruiter. Very naive from the recruiter.

bad company

18,484 posts

265 months

Sunday 2nd February 2020
quotequote all
WonkeyDonkey said:
John can also pass on bad feedback to all his work colleagues about this certain recruiter. Very naive from the recruiter.
True but John probably doesn’t want anyone to know he was even speaking with the recruiter. If I was John I’d just tell the recruiter never to contact him again and to remove all of his details from the recruiter’s database. He could make a complaint to the agency but I’d say not worth the hassle.

Countdown

39,690 posts

195 months

Sunday 2nd February 2020
quotequote all
T5R+ said:
If CEO and CTO of a significant business - then you will have blotted the RCs copy book to some degree.
I would be surprised if that happened. It's not the RA's fault that the candidate has changed his mind, and it happens all the time regardless of whether they are direct applicants or via an Agency. if the RC is sending through candidates that are a "good fit" for what you requested then you would carry on using them.

ruggedscotty

5,606 posts

208 months

Sunday 2nd February 2020
quotequote all
WonkeyDonkey said:
John can also pass on bad feedback to all his work colleagues about this certain recruiter. Very naive from the recruiter.
John's circle is a lot smaller than the recruiter and the recruiter could do more damage. But the recruiter wont as its bad for them and they will lose out in the end.

John may also find that the reasons for wanting to move are still there, and he will leave soon enough, also johns employer will now know john was looking to leave and they wont like that, they will be ensuring that they have a succession plan in place.... and maybe even recruit someone better than John and look to move John on.....

sgtBerbatov

2,597 posts

80 months

Monday 3rd February 2020
quotequote all
Brads67 said:
No

They are just in the huff about loss of finders fee.
This.

Plus if the company who was interviewing wanted John that badly they'd have upped their offer.

768

13,602 posts

95 months

Tuesday 4th February 2020
quotequote all
Scummy recruiter in the wrong? Never!

There are some good recruiters out there, who've figured out that losing the odd match is worth it if the candidate has a good experience as they'll come back again and again. They're pretty few and far between, but once you've found one you probably won't use any other.

Perhaps the recruiter should've also tried to seek a better offer - and a larger cut with it - first?

Gargamel

14,958 posts

260 months

Tuesday 4th February 2020
quotequote all
sgtBerbatov said:
Brads67 said:
No

They are just in the huff about loss of finders fee.
This.

Plus if the company who was interviewing wanted John that badly they'd have upped their offer.
Very few firms want to get into a bidding war, plus if your only motivation to join is money then you are unlikely to stay or have any loyalty in the future. Firms want to hire people with a ‘fit’ to the business. Sure pay fairly, but not a bidding war.

If Johns only motivation to leave his old firm was money, then he may stay, but if he was leaving in the first place because he didn’t like the people, then the money is kind of irrelevant.

I think around 60% of people accepting counter offers to stay, leave within the next two years anyway.

wiggy001

6,542 posts

270 months

Tuesday 4th February 2020
quotequote all
Never forget that during an interview, you are interviewing the prospective new employer as much as they are interviewing you. It is absolutely fine to turn down a job offer and the scummy recruiter is just living up to the poor reputation recruiters have.

vaud

50,291 posts

154 months

Tuesday 4th February 2020
quotequote all
wiggy001 said:
Never forget that during an interview, you are interviewing the prospective new employer as much as they are interviewing you.
Indeed. I had a fairly high level interview (with a head of sales) about 10 years ago. The feedback was "I couldn't work out at the end who was interviewing who..."