The Story

Anyway, for a little background, we were recruiting for a Software Development Engineer and trying to get a few people lined up for an interview scheduled later that week. The day came and the candidates showed up and waited. And waited...and waited. Basically, the hiring manager stood us up and called last minute to reschedule. He had a good reason and generally this company works very well with us, but it was still frustrating for both the recruiters and the candidates. We had to then spill the bad news and try to reschedule people. Lots of fun.

One of the interviewees (lets call him Sam) was then set up for a 1-on-1 interview the following week with the hiring manager. He met the manager and did very well in the interview, but they really wanted him in an even better position (Project Management) that they expected to be opening a couple of weeks down the line. Sam was very excited, taking the manager’s business card and expressing his interest in working with him in the future.

Up until now we were doing really well! Sam was mid-conversation with an interested hiring manager who wanted him to interview for a position that was even more attractive than the one he had been looking at originally. However, he then made the mistake that I alluded to earlier and began aggressively acting as his own recruiter, trying to take over the process. Honestly, I could care less how much control a candidate wants just so long as it doesn't cause problems. This individual, however, did not understand even basic job-search etiquette and quickly was in over his head.

Things Turn Sour

Sam began calling the manager on his cell phone (about every other day), asking about the position and whether it was open yet. Not so bad, I suppose—he was demonstrating interest and taking the self-interested attitude that I sometimes write about and even encourage. However, Volt has a contractual obligation to protect its clients from being unnecessarily pestered; it is generally considered bad form to go around the agency and contact the hiring manager directly unless it is absolutely necessary. The problems really started after he had made several calls within the same week asking about salary details for the position (which still wasn’t open yet). Clearly, the manager didn’t have the information and requested that he work with us to get it figured out. Trying to protect the manager’s time and keep tabs on the project, we also requested this from him. Ignoring the request, the candidate then began pushing very hard for an interview (for the position that still wasn’t open). He sent this email to the manager:

"From: “Sam”
To: Hiring Manager
Subject: Wednesday at 10am

Hi [hiring manager name withheld],

Is Wednesday at 10am good for you to have me for PM position? Please let me know. So, I'll inform the recruiter on that.

On a side note, I think you might want to change the person you're dealing with at Volt.

Thanks,
“Sam”"

The biggest thing that gets me about this email is the tone that the writing takes. The candidate is striking a forceful tone and seems to be trying to set up his own interview, before the manager is ready or even has the job open. The suggestion of dumping the recruiter that the manager has a good working relationship with probably isn’t helping his case either. Even more rediculous, the recruiter he is referring to was the person who contacted him and set up the interview in the first place! In any case, sometimes a recruiter just has to put up with behavior like this to make a deal happen. We sucked it up and ignored the slight. Amazingly, the manager also responded with tolerance, simply repeating what has been said since Sam first began calling him a week ago:

"On 7/10/06, [manager] wrote:

“Sam”,

This all needs to be done through the Volt rep. This is not something I set up outside.

[Manager Name Withheld]"

Well, I’m glad we have that figured out. The manager has by now made it crystal clear that nothing will be accomplished by trying to bypass procedure and that it is inappropriate to contact him directly in the future. We actually got in touch with Sam that same day and scheduled him for the interview. For some reason, I guess he didn’t trust that we would actually inform the hiring manager:

"On 7/10/06, "Sam" wrote:

Hi [manager name withheld],

I spoke to the Volt rep, and she's setting up for Wednesday at 11am if you're OK with it. I'm very excited about the position and I want to perform very well.

Thanks,
“Sam”"

Now this really annoyed the hiring manager, especially after just sending out the “no contact” email earlier the same day. He called Volt and requested that we cancel the interview and inform the candidate that his aggressive, haughty behavior was probably not going to be a fit in his team. We made the call and finally we feel like the guy might understand. It is unfortunate that he managed to put the manager in an uncomfortable position, annoyed all of the recruiters, and blew a shot at a great job but at least now he was going through proper channels and working with us.

Success!

Even after all this, over the next few weeks Sam actually had several interviews for other related jobs set up for him. Unfortunately, he seemed to still think that it was helpful to call that manager on his cell phone every other day. I think I can fairly say that at this point an aggressive approach is completely unwarranted and inappropriate. The poor hiring manager was feeling so badgered by now that he sternly told Sam that he was not to call any more. The ongoing interviews within the company still had the green light, but Sam felt put out by this manager.

We came into the office on Monday, July 24th to discover that Sam was to be extended an offer! We were figuring out the details and getting ready to share the good news with him when we received a forwarded email from the first hiring manager (the offer was through another manager). Apparently this shocking reply was sent in response to yet another unsolicited phone call that he had placed into the manager asking about salary details (the position was still not open). Read His Next E-Mail at VoltInsider.com >>>