Trying to Sidestep Recruiters Can Backfire on Candidates
By Sinara Stull O'Donnell

The tactics that make an executive successful in day-to-day business often have to be set aside during a job search. "Follow through" can be perceived as nagging. "Going right to the top" may become "stepping on toes." "Closing a deal" might seem hasty. Recruiters -- both inside and outside the company -- are especially sensitive to candidates who play by their own rules and don't respect the search process.

Recently, while working as a recruiter on a search for a company in New York City, I found an outstanding candidate from the consulting industry. I warned him that the company moved slowly. I told him I'd be getting back to him in a few weeks and said he could call me in the meantime if he had questions. About 10 days later, I learned that he'd sent a letter to the company's chief executive officer. The letter described his exceptional qualities and why he'd be an asset to the team. It also dropped my name.

This course of action would have been fine if he'd been pursuing a consulting job. Unfortunately for him, he wasn't. The aggressiveness that made him successful in consulting hurt his chances with this slow-moving company. Going around the recruiter wasn't the action of a team player. It also showed poor communications skills and a lack of understanding about how the hiring process works when three parties are involved.

The CEO was irritated that the candidate had bothered him. After all, the company had paid a retainer to a recruiter to eliminate such distractions.


Tactics That Backfire

It's a vexing problem for job seekers: If the candidate had been doing his own search, his letter would have been fine. It would have shown initiative and spirit. Instead, it backfired on him.

Buster Houchins, managing director of the Maryland office of executive search firm Christian & Timbers Inc., says overly aggressive candidates have seemed more pervasive in the past six months. Often, employers will notify him to "call off the dogs," he says.

Mr. Houchins gives the example of a strong candidate he met while working on a high-level search for an electronics company. The candidate lacked the right qualifications for the job, but Mr. Houchins promised to submit him as an applicant for another position when the current search was complete. Instead of sitting tight, the candidate sent letters and e-mails to the company's human-resource managers and CEO. "He created a very unfavorable impression, " says Mr. Houchins. "They thought he was aggressive. They couldn't understand why he was contacting them and ignoring the processes they'd set up."

If you want to follow up, Mr. Houchins says, "Choose your tool, but do it once. Don't send a letter, an e-mail and make a phone call."


Partnering With a Recruiter

"A lot of candidates use the recruiter to get the entry into the company. The end," says Bonnie Millstein, principal of Bonnie Millstein Associates in Santa Clarita, Calif., which recruits executives for the fashion industry. Savvy job seekers work with recruiters as job-search partners -- with good reason. The search executives usually know the company, its culture and decision-making processes better than do job seekers.

Ms. Millstein says she recently worked with a retail buyer who wanted to switch to another product area. The recruiter shepherded the candidate through the hiring process with a new company. Then, the company representative called the candidate directly to make an offer. Instead of consulting Ms. Millstein, she decided to turn down the offer and left a 20-minute message to the company representative explaining why.

A quick decision can be a sign of strength in daily business practice. In a search, it can boomerang on candidates. In Ms. Millstein's view, this did.

"It would have been a lateral move but a huge career leap in terms of her future in the industry," says Ms. Millstein. "Her ego got in the way of making a good career decision." Had the candidate called the recruiter, she would, at minimum, have had the advantage of another perspective. Further, a better offer might have been negotiated. Instead, the candidate burned her bridges with the company, and the recruiter.


A Matter of Trust

Rich Miller recalls when, as a vice president of human resources for a Kansas City manufacturing company, he received the resume of a promising candidate and, within a day, received the same resume from an executive recruiter. When he spoke with the recruiter, he discovered that the candidate hadn't even heard of the company until the recruiter had told him about it. In leapfrogging the process, the candidate was perceived as unethical.

Indeed, there are times in business when it's appropriate to jump over office gatekeepers to gain access to decision-makers, especially in sales. A recruiter is more than a gatekeeper, however. Mr. Miller knew and trusted the recruiter; he didn't know or trust the candidate.

Candidates can avoid misunderstandings by exercising patience. "[Candidates are] on a watch, and everyone else is on a calendar," says Mr. Miller, who is now the managing consultant for the Kansas City office of Drake Beam Morin, a New York-based outplacement company.

Of course, it's difficult to be patient when your career is at stake. In most business situations, professionals who can step up the process are admired. In a job search, trying to speed up the process can trip you up.
"Failure to [respect the employment process] says a lot about the candidate," says Jean F. Miller, manager of human resources for Sunnen Products, an industrial manufacturing company in St. Louis, Mo. "If [candidates] don't respect the process, then perhaps they won't respect the processes as an employee and will always look to find a way around the system." Sales professionals are the worst offenders. "They're used to going out and getting the sale," she says.


When to Step In

Occasionally, you may have to work around a recruiter. "Sometimes a candidate is driven to desperation by the executive recruiters who don't get back to them," says Andrea Eisenberg, managing principal for the New York office of Right Management Consultants, an outplacement firm based in Philadelphia. "Candidates are left trying to move the process along in a positive way if they feel they're right for the job."
Ms. Eisenberg recommends that job seekers establish firm ground rules up front with their recruiter about how contacts will be made and communication kept open.

One job seeker who was contacted by a recruiter for a senior-management role in the investment and securities industry had to take action, says Harriet Greisser, senior vice president of Right Management Consultants in New York. The recruiter "clearly wasn't handling the communication about the search in a professional way," she says. Through the process, "the candidate had to initiate all communication. He wasn't prepped for meetings by the recruiter. The recruiter was either very inexperienced or not very good."

As negotiations began, the recruiter said compensation was "not a problem," but it became one. "It was clear that the recruiter couldn't handle the negotiations. At that point, the candidate spoke directly with the hiring manager to negotiate. [Apparently] the recruiter didn't have a good advisory relationship with the client," she says.

Still, says Ms. Greisser, "you have to be very, very careful." If candidates choose to jump over or go around an executive recruiter, they have to recognize the risks.


How to Gain Control

Since so many books and articles preach self-promotion, it's difficult for candidates to know where to draw the line. Carol Murrow, a physician recruiter for St. John's Health Systems in Springfield, Mo., advises candidates to learn what to expect through the hiring process in the initial meeting with the recruiter. Ask:

-    What's your hiring process?
-    What's the next step?
-    How long does the process typically take?
-    How soon are you looking to fill the position?
-    Do you need references?

Ms. Murrow says she explains her organization's recruitment process to job applicants. Otherwise, candidates become impatient and want to see hiring managers immediately. "They think we're bogged down," says Ms. Murrow. Still, she understands their eagerness. "They're afraid they we won't move fast enough, and they want to get to the person making the decision."


-- Ms. O'Donnell is the principal of SinaraSpeaks, a professional speaking firm specializing in career issues in Springfield, Mo. A former full-time executive recruiter, she occasionally consults on search assignments.

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