Avoid The Sirens' Song: How to qualify a recruiting call By Nick Corcodilos

Never relinquish the wheel.
The clever marketer (of jobs or timeshares) starts by making you feel you're in the driver's seat. As soon as you turn in his direction, he's got both hands on your wheel and you're trusting him to steer.

It may seem a small thing to agree to send in a resume, to do a brief telephone interview, or to come in for a meeting. But, that's the way we all start down the path to making ever-larger commitments: we take a trial subscription for free for a month, we provide our credit card number, or we take fourteen CDs for the price of one. And before we know it, we're rationalizing that first step by touting an expensive CD program to our friends, paying for a magazine we don't really want, or interviewing for the wrong job.

In psychology the underlying phenomenon is referred to as cognitive dissonance: once you agree to behave the way they ask you to (no matter how small of a step you're taking), you will rationalize agreeing to do more later simply because you're already going along with it now. Anything else creates dissonance in your own mind, and people don't like dissonance: we want to know that we're being consistent in our judgments and actions, whether it really makes sense or not.

So, all of a sudden you're filling out a five-page application before you even find out the name of the manager who might want to hire you -- and some personnel jockey is making you explain your career history. You've been sucked into an employment process we have all come to accept, whether we asked for it or not. You're careening into those craggy rocks on your way to a career disaster.

Or, you can pry the recruiter's hands off your wheel immediately. "I'd be glad to talk with you, with certain conditions. Want to hear what they are?" If the caller is completely legit, you'll soon hear the eager and cooperative sounds of an employer who really knows why he called you.

Go to Part 4
Qualify the recruiter and qualify the opportunity

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