I hope it's the promotion you've been looking for

[venta]

Today at work, our nice admin lady popped out to tell me I had a phonecall. This hasn't happened before: personal calls would come in on my mobile, and I have no cause in my ordinary line of work to talk to customers. However, <Mystery Name> from <Mystery Company> was on the line and, in the absence of our usual support person, had asked for me by name.

After some flapping (who? and what were they going to ask? because I'm not meant to be customer facing, I've not yet learned the company song and might say all kinds of inappropriate things), I took the call in an empty office.

It turned out to be a headhunter, acting on a "personal referral". He wasn't hunting for anything in particular, it turned out, more representing a (to quote their own website) "pro-active recruitment service". No, I wasn't interested.

I asked who had referred me - I don't even know whether I believe such a person existed, he might well have just pulled my CV off an agency site, leftover from last summer's jobhunting. He said that people were "understandably apprehensive" and therefore referrals were in strictest confidence.

He asked if I had any friends or colleagues who might be interested in hearing from him and I said that I wasn't willing to give out other peoples' contact details without their permission, since some people do not like it. He expressed surprise, and said he'd virtually never met that attitude.

"So why are people 'understandably apprehensive'?" I didn't ask.

So now I'm curious: I take it as read that giving out people's details is liable to piss them off. Maybe I'm wrong.

[Poll #1136892]

On the plus side: most of this conversation took place when he rang me back at home this evening. I'm not looking to change jobs right now, but thought I'd hear him out in case he was going to offer me a part-time job with a telephone number salary. He rang me back. At the time he said he would. This already puts him ahead of any of the recruitment agencies I spoke to while I was actually jobhunting last June.

Comments

[uitlander]

Headhunters often ask this, and usually offer you a small bung if you put them in touch with someone who then takes a job through them. When put in this position before I've said 'I'll ask and let you have details of anyone that's interested'. I wouldn't pass on anyone's details without their prior knowledge or consent.

I would be very unhappy if a headhunter called me on a landline at my workplace. That's bad form IMHO.

[venta.livejournal.com]

Well I thought it was rather bad form. Especially since it wasn't a direct line, but had to come through the switchboard (and, as it happened, caused quite a fuss, though he wasn't to know that).

[reddragdiva]

It is bad form. But I'm suspecting the job market is in the toilet right now, so the recruiters are swarming twice as hard. Most of the calls I get are clearly coming from a call centre. Boiler-room recruiting, say anything you possibly can to get a call back, yay!