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

Qualify the recruiter.
It's up to you to qualify your interviews by qualifying the recruiter. Don't let the recruiter qualify you first. (Actually, the serious recruiter will have already qualified you — or he wouldn't be calling, would he?) Sit down today and draw up a list of questions to ask anyone who calls you about a job. Forget about convention: it's your time and your career. Why waste a minute of it?

1. How did you find out about me?
Would you accept a blind date with someone if you didn't know who arranged it? Of course not. So, vet the caller. If he doesn't cough up a plausible story, then this is a cold call and a week into the process you will ask, "Why did they call me, and now they won't return my calls? Does this job even exist?" (Hint: Does Ed McMahon send you a nice little note explaining why you didn't win the Clearinghouse Sweepstakes?)

If an opportunity is for real, you and the caller likely will have mutual friends and associates. If the caller can’t explain how he found out about you, it’s safe to guess that he’s on a fishing expedition that may not be worth your time. Make a note and go on to the next question.

If it's a headhunter who called, he may decline to name the person who recommended you because the referral was made confidentially. In that case, you should request the headhunter's references, and he shouldn't hesitate to provide names of people he has placed, and managers who have hired them. (Bonus: once you find out who referred you, you may now have a backdoor into the hiring process if you decide to play ball.)

2. What do you already know about me?
Is a classified job ad really more engaging because someone reads it to you over the phone? That’s what most recruiting calls are. The recruiter knows little about the job, and next to nothing about you. This should tell you something.

The only people who call you out of the blue are selling something you don't want. Before engaging in any self-congratulatory fantasy (“The headhunters have heard about my great reputation!”), quickly vet the call. Find out what the caller knows about you and about the job. A good headhunter learned about you from a trusted source, and he knows more than your name and phone number. If he sounds like he’s “dialing for dollars”, and starts by asking you silly questions (“Do you work in marketing?”), he’s wasting your time.

Go to Part 5
Why do you want me?

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