How do you deal with calls from recruiters?

Q: Only executives and specialized workers used to get calls from recruiters or headhunters. Nowadays, all kinds of workers get recruited on the phone. Some people get too many calls. It can help to have a personal policy about how to handle recruiters. What's your policy?

Nick's reply: Whether you call them headhunters or recruiters, people who solicit you about a job are strangers. Would you accept an invitation for a blind date from a total stranger? Would you provide your home address and other personal information? Probably not. So why would anyone accept an invitation from a recruiter he doesn't know to go on job interviews with employers he doesn't know? It's a mystery to me.

I find that most people will work with almost any recruiter who calls, so I'm impressed by readers who are cautious and won't indiscriminately share personal information. There are all kinds of recruiters out there, and you must distinguish the good ones from the rest. Let's take a look at how to tell the difference.

When a good recruiter calls, she makes a point of putting you at your ease -- whether she is recruiting you or seeking leads on other good candidates. Depending on how confidential the search is, the recruiter will tell you how she got your name, who her client is, what she knows about you and how she learned it. She'll tell you about herself, her firm and her client, and she will offer references if you want them.

A good recruiter will respect your privacy, and she will respect your personal space. She will take time to get to know you, and she will allow you the time you need to decide whether you'd like to proceed with working together.

A good recruiter will never present you with "an opportunity you must act on now" or pressure you to go on an interview until you are satisfied that you are doing the right thing.

So why do people trust recruiters they don't know? Probably because we've all become conditioned to get excited about new opportunities. This conditioning has been hastened by the behavior of people who say they're recruiters when they are really just quick-buck artists who are "dialing for dollars." There are few good recruiters out there. But, there are lots of fast-talking salespeople who haphazardly distribute resumes to companies that often don't want them. The result is that personal information can wind up in the wrong places -- and it can't be called back.

Unlike other Ask The Headhunter Challenge polls, which offer options that may be right for some people (while they're not so right for others), this poll is pretty black and white. If you selected option (1) I talk to any recruiter who calls, and I go on most interviews that are offered, you may be taking a risk with your career (and possibly your welfare). It is crucial that you scrutinize any recruiter.

Knowing where a recruiter got your name is a good way to protect yourself, but the best choice is (3) I check a recruiter's references before I provide my resume or go on interviews. Whether you work with recruiters at all is a personal choice, but if you're going to do it, make sure you maintain control of the relationship.

Good recruiters make it easy for you to establish a high level of comfort with them. They rely on solid, well-founded relationships with trustworthy professionals and they pride themselves on their integrity and on doing the right thing. In my estimate, this includes about 5 percent of all people who call themselves recruiters. The rest are questionable.

Call me a cynic, call me opinionated, or call me experienced -- but please, be careful out there.

Copyright 2008. Distributed by Universal Press Syndicate

Nick Corcodilos is author of "Ask The Headhunter: Reinventing the Interview to Win the Job" and the host of www.asktheheadhunter.com. He can be reached by e-mail at seattle@asktheheadhunter.com or at North Bridge Group, P.O. Box 600, Lebanon, NJ 08833. Sorry, no personal replies.