Recruitment etiquette

[PorkInsider]

If the 'consultant' put any of that feedback in writing I'd be tempted to share it with his employer and possibly elsewhere.

See what that does for his 'reputation', the knob.

[anxious_ant]

I personally feel that there is an increase of recruitment consultants out there.
As with everything, there are the good and bad ones.

I'm in a position where it's beneficial to mediate via RC instead of approaching directly.
Flipside is that I may not always accept the offer.
It's just tricky to find an RC you can trust.

Most recent experience:
- Contacted by RC via LinkedIn about a very suitable role but cannot divulge details due to confidentiality
- Arranged a quick call as was promised the role is highly suitable
- On the call very vague and didn't name company but said that will send job spec if I email CV over
- Emailed CV over never heard back for days

Don't really understand the thought process behind this...

Edited by anxious_ant on Wednesday 5th February 11:58

[768]

Probably someone selling CVs rather than a recruiter.

[anxious_ant]

768 said:

Probably someone selling CVs rather than a recruiter.

To be honest I did have this suspicion, perhaps I was to naive to think no one would actually go to this level of effort for selling CVs.
From this email seem to work with a very large recruitment agency too.

[anxious_ant]

How long would you normally take to respond to a job offer?

[Gargamel]

anxious_ant said:

How long would you normally take to respond to a job offer?

Up to a week is usually fine, but after that it looks like you don’t want it or are waiting for something better.

Sometimes you can show interest and ask for more time, but you may have to give a good reason (usually the truth is best)

All the offers I send have a 14 day response limit, after which its automatically withdrawn.

[miniman]

John should consider that if he has to resign in order to get what he considers to be a fair package from his current employer, then his current employer doesn’t value him very much.

[anxious_ant]

Gargamel said:

Up to a week is usually fine, but after that it looks like you don’t want it or are waiting for something better.

Sometimes you can show interest and ask for more time, but you may have to give a good reason (usually the truth is best)

All the offers I send have a 14 day response limit, after which its automatically withdrawn.

Many thanks for the reply, a week does indeed sound reasonable.
This gives some time for talks with current employer if required.
I find it strange when the recruiter is requesting acceptance the following day.

[anxious_ant]

miniman said:

John should consider that if he has to resign in order to get what he considers to be a fair package from his current employer, then his current employer doesn’t value him very much.

I suppose it's hard to quantify what's fair.
It's just an unwritten rule in most companies that salary should never be discussed openly, which doesn't help.

In my OP it's not possible for John to get an accurate figure of how much his skills are worth unless he goes for interviews.
(I suppose I should also mention in OP that John's salary hasn't increased beyond 2% CoL for last 2 years.)
Equipped with a confirmed figure John would be in a better position to discuss this with current employer.

Now I suppose there are 3 possible outcomes:
1) Employer genuinely value John however don't have the budget to increase his salary matching his expectations, however willing to negotiate
2) Employer genuinely value John and have decided to increase his salary to match his expectations
3) Employer doesn't value John and wishes his well

[anxious_ant]

Gargamel said:

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.

Interesting stat.
Personally I've yet to have the opportunity of a counter offer, however I don't switch jobs often.
I usually get the "you'll be welcomed back with open arms if you change your mind" line. Burn no bridges and all that...

I would love to hear from someone who'd had a counter offer.
Accepting a counter offer is great, however I wonder if there are any negative impact? e.g the employee might be flagged for trying to jump ship

[bad company]

anxious_ant said:

Many thanks for the reply, a week does indeed sound reasonable.
This gives some time for talks with current employer if required.
I find it strange when the recruiter is requesting acceptance the following day.

The recruiter will be trying to hit his targets.

[Gargamel]

bad company said:

The recruiter will be trying to hit his targets.

Well indeed, time kills deals too. I think if a company has aback up candidate that they are prepared to offer to, but make you an offer as the first choice, then it can be reasonable to put a short time on the offer so as not to lose plan b.

[Scabutz]

I have heard about recruiters getting candidates to sign a declaration saying they wont take a counter offer. Quite what the possible consequences of signing it then doing it are is anyones guess.

If they are being interviewed by the CTO I guess it's an IT job in which case the recruiters opinion wont matter for st as there are more recruiters than actual IT staff out there and the majority of recruiters dont have a good reputation anyway.

[bad company]

Scabutz said:

I have heard about recruiters getting candidates to sign a declaration saying they wont take a counter offer. Quite what the possible consequences of signing it then doing it are is anyones guess.

Very little chance of such a document being enforceable.

[anxious_ant]

Gargamel said:

bad company said:

The recruiter will be trying to hit his targets.

Well indeed, time kills deals too. I think if a company has aback up candidate that they are prepared to offer to, but make you an offer as the first choice, then it can be reasonable to put a short time on the offer so as not to lose plan b.

Very interesting, and a legitimate strategy. There's nothing worse than a time waster, on both sides.

However having to accept the offer in 24 or even 48 hours does, to me, sound too hasty.

[Scabutz]

bad company said:

Scabutz said:

I have heard about recruiters getting candidates to sign a declaration saying they wont take a counter offer. Quite what the possible consequences of signing it then doing it are is anyones guess.

Very little chance of such a document being enforceable.

Indeed which makes me wonder why the hell they bother with it.

[anxious_ant]

Is it common for a recruitment consultant slash headhunter to field multiple candidates for same role?

[Scabutz]

anxious_ant said:

Is it common for a recruitment consultant slash headhunter to field multiple candidates for same role?

Yeah, all of them subscribe to the "throw enough st at the wall, some of it will stick"

[bad company]

anxious_ant said:

Is it common for a recruitment consultant slash headhunter to field multiple candidates for same role?

Why not? The client will probably want to interview 5-6 candidates for the job.

[bad company]

Scabutz said:

Yeah, all of them subscribe to the "throw enough st at the wall, some of it will stick"

About as sensible as ‘all Frenchman eat garlic’,