....But He Called Me

Hi Danny,

We are one of your clients and your material is the best I've ever seen. I have been in the IT recruiting business for 6 years and last year I generated 1MM in GM. Usually I am the one who answers the "rookie" questions in my office, but this time I'm stumped. I want to know what to do when a client (one of the IT managers who hires software developers from us) tells me that he wants to leave and he wants me to help him find a new job. This particular manager works for one of my biggest clients...we have several dozen managers at this client that hire people from us, so I don't want to ruin my relationship with my client, but at the same time, this manager is going to leave anyway. Also, I don't want to tell the manager that I can't help him, especially since he hates his job and I have another client that is 5 minutes from this guy's house who would probably love to hire him!

I'm stumped - what would you do?

Danny's response:

Man, is this ever delicate? I've been in the situation many times, as late as two months ago. I can only walk you through my thought process and what I did.

First, we have to deal with ethics. Do we have an ethical concern here? I'm always mindful that it takes years to build an ethical reputation and two minutes and one poor judgment to tear it down. If you go to the NAPS code of ethics, it clearly states that if any candidate, even one you placed, calls you of their own volition, you are doing nothing wrong should you choose to work with them. So ethically, you're covered.

Now we have the practical matter of our relationship with our client, who has paid us fees, and probably would not find us parsing up the "letter of the law" of our ethical code much consolation. To them it would be ethical but wrong. There is clearly some risk here of losing the client. If this is a client you get so much business from that a squeaky clean, unimpeachable rep is paramount, the safe option is to tell the candidate you cannot deal with him, and refer him to a competitor you respect.

But safe seldom sits well with me, as the traffic police in my state, who now hand me my speeding tickets with my name already on them and a "yes" box I just check off to save time, can attest, and my problem with the safe option is one of confidentiality. If I'm doing nothing wrong by working with the candidate, doesn't that candidate then get what I give all candidates? Total and complete trust that I will keep their identity and any efforts I make on their behalf strictly between us? Isn't he or she still going to do their job as well as they can before I place them elsewhere? What am I taking from my client that they are not going to lose anyway?

I'm not double dipping if I didn’t solicit him or her. I'm merely being proactive and effective, especially if, as in your case, I have some place to send them.