Implied Privacy Between Candidates & Recruiters
We have had some situations with candidates recently that have raised this issue in our office. I think there are certain privacy rights that are a given in the executive search business:
1.       You never submit a candidate for a position without their approval
2.      You never change a person’s resume without their permission
What about as #3. You never tell a person’s boss that they are in the job market?
There is a vital implied trust between a recruiter and a candidate. But what if the candidate is working for your client? What if you were the one that placed him there a few months earlier and he has been doing very poorly? What if the client has been a good friend for 15-years and is one of your best clients? Don’t you have a responsibility to him also? What if the candidate knows that you have this relationship with his boss and still repeatedly asks you to find something else for him? What if the client asks for your counsel on what he should do with this person? Are you supposed to lie or withhold this important piece of information from your friend and client?
It is not that clear cut. In my case, I told the client. I am confident that I made the right decision even though I have never done this before and I think that #3 above is an important policy. I think that there is an assumed confidentiality and that is a cornerstone of the recruiter/candidate relationship, but nothing is absolute. This was a stupid thing for this person to do – continually tell me how he hates the job and wants to leave even though he fully understands my relationship with the client. I think that as professionals and adults in this world we have to recognize that there are no absolutes. You should trust your recruiter and be able to confide in him but not to the degree that you may jeopardize his relationship with another important contact – especially if that person is a friend or a client (or both). I don’t think that it is reasonable to assume that your recruiter’s confidentiality is absolute – he is not your priest or your parent. He may be a trusted advisor or an important resource or even a friend, but the nature of his job is that there are multiple stakeholders in each situation and their interests are not always aligned. Is that new information to most people?Â
This person was so irate with what he perceived to be my lack of professionalism that we have had several unpleasant interactions and he has been badmouthing me and my firm to my client and my own staff. He is obviously very upset about this. Since it’s my blog I will get to play laptop shrink here and suggest that he is probably mad at himself for being stupid enough to think in such blank, absolute terms despite overwhelming red flags waving all over the place that it was not a good idea.Â
What is unfortunate for my team is that this person, who holds a relatively senior-level role in an extremely well-branded client is screaming from the top of every hill that we are an unprofessional, shady operation. People that hear half of this story – that I told his boss that he was actively looking – will believe it and think poorly of me. There are plenty of shady recruiting firms out there, so why wouldn’t people believe that there is one more? That is a terrible shame.Â
I would like to know if you agree. Do I get what I deserve when people hear this and assume this or is this as unjust as it seems to me? Are there absolutes like this among these types or relationships or are we responsible for using judgment ourselves in these situations? Am I a jerk or is he? I want to know.Â
for what it’s worth I think you’re correct here. The person in your example was ridiculously presumptuous. I have relationships with recruiters and would never be stupid enough to put one of them in that same position.