On the continuing theme of job hunting advice that is not for every situation…I would like to tell a story.  Actually this has happened to me on more than one occasion.

As a recruiter, I rarely share the name of my client company with a potential applicant.  There are multiple reasons for this: 

My client is conducting a confidential search and doesn’t want anyone to know they are hiring for a particular position. 

In keeping with the confidential search process, some applicants will follow up with phone calls.  Multiple phone calls.  So many phone calls that a restraining order might be a good idea.  When a client company uses a recruiter, the recruiter is the one who has to field all those follow up calls.

Once an applicant knows the name of my client, they can bypass me and submit their resume directly.  This is bad for what I think is an obvious reason, but I’m surprised at how many people don’t seem to know that most recruiters are paid on a commission-only basis.  If we do not submit the resume for the person who is ultimately hired, we do not get paid.

In the instance where a recruiter does tell you who their client company is, this information should be respected.  Not only are you expected to not bypass the recruiter to submit your resume, you are also expected not to tell everyone you know “Company Wonderful is hiring and you should send your resume right in.” 

You could, however, say “There’s a recruiter I know working on a terrific job opening and you should contact her.” 

So, back to my story…  One day, I was on the phone with an applicant.  We were discussing, in detail the requirements for a position.  I was trying to determine if he was truly the perfect fit that he appeared to be.

After we hung up, I forwarded his resume to my client company.  Within ten minutes I received a call from my client.  Four minutes before my email arrived, the candidate I was speaking with had forwarded his resume.  He was actually submitting his resume to my client while we were on the phone.

Technically, as I did not submit the candidate, I was no longer the recruiter on record and would not be paid a commission.

In reality, this is what happened.  My client called me and said it was obvious to her that the candidate was trying to bypass me and that he had to have been talking with me on the phone while he was submitting his resume.

My client asked me to call the candidate back and tell him they were not interested in hiring someone with such low ethics. 

Sadly, he was a very good fit, but at that point there was nothing I could do or say to save the situation.