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...

Hi Danny,

Hey Danny - what do you do when your candidate after my follow up who just passed the guarantee period with a Fortune 500 company tells you:

"Just between us…I am not really happy here. It's starting to feel a bit like prison… :( So if you have other similar positions I may consider moving in a few months. But not before you receive your bonus for this transaction. :) If you'd like, please give me a call tonight after 7pm, I will discuss with you in more detail."

My response was: "Thanks for your feedback. Sorry to hear that you have had a bad experience. Unfortunately, there is not much I can do for you - but to recommend for you to talk with your hiring manager about this after you give it a bit more time to see if things get better."

Anything else I should have done to cover it better?

Danny's Response,

While you handled this like a virtuoso from an ethical point of view, from a consultative, empathetic point of view, you were tone deaf.

He/she is not...

Hi Danny,

Here's the scenario:
Over a 10 year period or so I have made about 8-10 placements with Company A. Recent history is 1 in 2009 and 2 in 2008. The last one was in December 2010, and prior to that was January 2010. Nothing since then. I still keep in touch with my contact periodically who says no needs. I do believe that if they had a search to give out I would get it.

In your opinion, am I at a point where I'm clear to recruit from them?

Danny's response,

We could go all macro and mystical with this answer. We could talk about how technology has had a corrosive effect on the already scintilla short attention span of Americans. How we don’t so much forgive the transgressions of our politicians (Spitzer lecturing on ethics on TV) and celebrities (Limbaugh assailing anyone’s morals), Tiger Woods no longer being catcalled on the tee (it’s been 2 years after all), Charlie Sheen back on primetime, as much as we just flat out don’t remember. According to...