2. There’s a difference between a lack of understanding of grammar and the inability for one to edit their comments after posting.

Let’s assume that the hiring manager(s) at Company A and the recruiter have stayed in touch over the years.

The reader doesn’t have to go in through the headhunter five years after the fact, but imagine this:

The reader contacts Company A and is told that there’s nothing for him there.

Company A then calls the headhunter to inform him that “That candidate that turned us down five years ago contacted us directly but we don’t have anything for him right now.”

The reader then contacts the headhunter to see if the headhunter can help him.

I’m a headhunter. I had this happen over a two year time horizon (not five). The candidate had serious reservations about the company and criticized the hiring manager’s intelligence and had issues with the work environment, so I had no inkling that he would even consider going back to this company.

That individual burned a bridge with me and I will no longer work represent him.

Sometimes I get emails and/or calls from several headhunters about the same position, usually within a few days of each other, so it pays to keep good notes.

- Once a headhunter referred me to a company, only to find out at the interview that another headhunter had submitted my resume (without my approval). I told the headhunter that submitted without my approval to tell me if there were any other submissions and remove my resume from my system.

- I now have a notice on my homepage and in any resumes sent to recruiters “Note to agencies: All submittals of name or resume by agencies must be registered and cleared with me prior to submission to client companies in order to avoid submissions by multiple agencies to the same company. Agencies that fail to do this are not authorized to represent me.” I have had a few agencies tell me that they can not release the client name. I tell them that without the client’s name I will not authorize release of information. I also mention that I would be willing to sign an NDA (non-disclosure agreement) if necessary. I also tell them that I will not provide the information to any other headhunter, except to say that I have already been submitted to a potential client.

Any comments on my policies?

A headhunter is always paid by the employer to find a worker, not by a worker to find a job. In this case, if the employer were trying to hire through a headhunter, the headhunter would be the one to notify our reader about the open job. Clearly, that’s not the case. She owes the headhunter nothing unless he has been in touch with her regularly.

Next, consider the employer. If she were to “do a courtesy” by contacting her old headhunter so he could schedule an interview for a job she would otherwise pursue on her own, she’s doing the employer a disservice. If the employer accepted the referral through the headhunter, it would owe him a fee. For what? He didn’t bring the applicant to the company; she brought him into the picture.

Finally, there is a good point made about maintaining good long-term relationships with good headhunters. Sometimes these relationships take years to pay off. If she had stayed in regular contact with that headhunter, she might have been referred by him to several other jobs during those 5 years.

The one plausible reason for going to the headhunter is because he once had a good relationship with the company, and that might facilitate our reader getting back in the door. What I don’t understand is why, if the reader earned an offer from Company A the first time around, the headhunter didn’t stay in close contact with her… to capitalize on her future interest in A. She was a good bet that the headhunter missed.

It’s true that the headhunter might have an “inside track” on a new position at the company. But it’s also true that IF the headhunter is working on this position, he might have another #1 candidate lined up, and working through him on this could actually diminish the reader’s chances at the job.

It’s a huge stretch to go back 5 years and call on a headhunter who has nothing to do with a job opportunity for this reader.

My advice: If she thinks the headhunter might actually help her with this, she might ask him whether he’s working on the position. But if she feels she has some obligation, I don’t think that’s true.

My two bits!

One point to consider, did you make a good decision going with Company B five years ago? This question underscores an area of personal concern. I am currently presented with several opportunities and need to make a decision.