Dealing with Pushy Recruiters
An employee of mine, prior to working at KAS Placement said she was contact by a wide variety of headhunters some being very professional while other recruiters were pushy and difficult to deal with.
This begs the question, how does one deal with a headhunter who is pushy or even an overly aggressive recruiter? Know that you’re not alone in your need to deal with this recruitment professional and, because of that here are some tips how to do so.
1. Shy away from confrontation.
Yelling will get you nowhere. As a matter of fact, it may give the headhunter more incentive to continue the actions that you want stopped. If they only contact you one time, avoid speaking to them or email contact.
This is even if they called you at work and your boss found out. Let them do it again, they’ll look like they have no credibility. What happens if the recruiter keeps being pushy? See #2.
2. You’ll contact them.
Even if the recruiter pisses you off to high heavens, don’t take it personally and quickly rid the problem without breaking a tie with the recruitment company by simply saying that you are not looking right now, but may be in the future and will contact them.
Thank them for reaching out and, unless somewhat imbalanced, they should not be reaching out anytime soon. The last thing that you want to do is throw fuel on the fire with an irrational person that has all of your contact information.
3. Keep your composure.
I’ve come to learn that the only thing worse than losing your composure is the feeling afterwards. Professionals remain calm and collected. The more of a professional, the higher their ability to do so is.
Try not to personalize things. You’re not the first person that this headhunter has been pushy with and you won’t be the last. Remember that you can only control your actions.
4. Try to put yourself in the other person’s shoes.
Another lesson that took me nearly 31 years to learn is that people who treat others poorly do so because they are consistently treated poorly. Much of it, in my belief spawns from a lack of intelligence and an ability to surround yourself with the right people.
Some people are simply victims of circumstance and knowing this can help you achieve #1 to #3.
In the End
Just like in any industry, some recruiters are effective while some are, to put it politely ineffective. The only problem with the ineffective ones is that many spend too much time and effort on them instead of simply dealing with pushy recruiters the right way.
Ken Sundheim is the CEO of KAS Placement Executive Search.
