Jason Monastra

My life and thoughts out on the web

It never fails to amaze me about the short sightedness of people in the world.  In recruiting, it shows it’s ugly face continually from people that do not take calls from recruiters, only to rush back and contact us when things go south.  My recommendation for all people - take the call.  I am not saying to take every call so as to develop a relationship, but if there is a first call from someone you do not know - take it and find out.  There are a good deal of recruiters out there, all with different clients and different perspectives on what they do and how they do it…..find ones that work well with you and your ideals.

There is nothing more frustrating than the client managers that never call you back and then hound your voicemail with calls when they need a new job.  What a load of garbage.  Develop relationships with professional recruiters, people that take this as a career and not a job or transition phase in their life.  These people will be there during the course of your career, helping in instrumental times to bring you opportunities you might otherwise know about.  These people, the true professionals, are calls you need to take. 

I speak about burning bridges all the time…and there is nothing worse than a well connected recruiter that has a bad impression of you.  Over the years and with clients that use us continually, I have been asked what someone thinks of a certain candidate or what the market thinks of a certain employer.  Why make that a black spot on your profile.  Take calls, treat people with professionalism and decide who to work with.  I know certain people that work only with certain recruiters, people they trust and have good experiences with.  That is awesome.   Those candidates are people that have invested the time in developing a relationship with a trusted source and there will be mutual benefit when the time comes.

Be smart and take the call.   What is the worst that can happen, you take a call…it does not work and you let them know in the future not to call again due to the way they handled it.  That is fine.  But to just cut the call due to the person being a recruiter, not good business.  You never know who someone is connected with.  Keep the door open unless there is a specific reason to shut it.