how do you respond to recruiter cold calling your office to recruit you?

It would bother me if I got a cold call from a head hunter at my place of employment, just as it would if I received an unsolicited telemarketer call at home while I am eating dinner or relaxing.

Received phone calls may be monitored (e.g. Caller ID) and it could be seen that I am out looking for another job and jeopardize my current position.

 

It wouldn't bother me at all.

edit: I take that back. I have people call my cell phone and that doesn't bother me. I would probably not like it if you called my desk.

 

what bobrek said.

 

I'd probably be pissed as you could be jeopardizing my current job.

 

I would greatly suspect, especially if it is an incoming call, that companies are well aware that their top talent may be getting recruited from outside and would take no action against anyone receiving a call from a head-hunter.

I will say, that while it may be a little annoying, my wife was head hunted out of her job a few years ago, and pretty much has the best job ever now, so it can pay off to take calls from head hunters.

 

I don't envy you, man. I did that **** for 6 months and finally quit.

Cold calling people at work blows chunks. I used to PRAY for voicemail when I was forced to do it. I used dread going in to work in the morning and having to listen to the 8 messages on my voicemail from people b****ing me out for calling them at work the previous day.

 

It sounds like it depends on what the position is. I'm self employed and can be contacted directly. But in a technical position you are likely to feel more closely monitored. Senior managers get a lot more privacy and are recruited frequently so a call from a recruiter isn't an automatic alarm.
I would suggest contacting friends in the business and former people you've placed for references to people so they can give you cell phone numbers. Another option is Linked In where people give better contact info. Perhaps if you already have the person and company you could then check Linked-In for their cell number and avoid having to go through the switch board.

 

I agree, when recruiters are calling you rather than the other way around it's a good sign that you've moved up the ladder in your career. I wouldn't be upset with a head hunter for it.

 

This. I wouldn't necessarily get angry, but it would annoy me greatly. Please leave LonghornFan alone.

 

I like it. When I receive a call like that, I say I'm interested in talking later, so I can switch the conversation to my cell phone in a private place.

But, I usually get contacted by recruiters by email (personal address, a work email would be poorly received) or LinkedIn. It's better that way than by phone.

But, if you're calling people that have not taken the initiative to post a resume or create a LinkedIn profile or anything to indicate they are looking for work, I wouldn't expect you to have a very high success rate.

 

I don't consider it a big deal. I just say "No Thanks" and move on.

I don't think my company is going to get pissed that I answered the phone. They know that head-hunters are trying to recruit talent...thats what they do. I guess if I was receiving the same calls over and over again, after I had stated I wasn't interested, I would get annoyed.

 

Had them call me at my desk and it put me in a bad spot considering my bosses sat 3 and about 10 feet from me with cubicle or divider between us. Even then I just pretended like it was a call about something personal and told them I would call them when I got off and took their phone number.

 

Ironically enough, these are the people who are usually considered the best candidates in the headhunter world. We were always taught not to bother with the people who had their resumes posted on the internet.

 

Why's that?

 

I tell them that I am working and it’s permanent. If they have something permanent, send it to my personal email. They usually say okay and ask me how I'm doing (if they know me) and that's it.

 

I don't mind, although I've got a private office to where it's not obvious to others who I'm talking to. Email is best for me, but I'll take the time to listen to a recruiter if they call me. I like to hear what else is out there.

 

I could never get a straight answer on that. Something about the best candidates being found by convincing a happy employee that there's something better out there, not combing through resumes on Monster.

 

Also, if you have a devious boss, maybe they are setting you up to see if you are loyal etc.

DD

 

I think if you can't get a better answer then this is advice you should disregard. I would agree that Monster isn't a great idea. It's passe and no one ever removes their profiles there. LinkedIn is rather different where people aren't necessarily looking for a new position but want to be listed for networking reasons. In a lot of fields having a profile there is just good business sense.
I also think that todays worker profile has changed a lot since a lot of HR people were in school yet they continue to pass on advice that was applicable to our parents' generation. Babyboomers grew up looking for a job they could hold for life or at least planned to stay with the same company. Good employees were retained and a lot of people who were always looking were also the ones employers wanted to lose. Today very few people under 40 plan to stay with a company more tha five years unless it offers real growth potential and even then the idea of sticking with a company for life is a bit much. Meanwhile a lot of employers have forgotten how to make employees reasonably happy. Particularly in a bad economy they can make matters worse by dangling the possiblity of layoffs over everyone's heads, the good employees and the bad.