Interesting headunter job interview behavior
 

I have a job interview for a position in this area, not a big deal in and of itself, but this headhunting firm has a bizarre policy: they insist on sending one of their minions to sit in on the interview. The minion doesn't actively participate, but they sit there, listen, and take notes.

They say that is for my protection. From what?

I have never seen this before. I interviewed - through them - for a position last year, and there were candidates from other companies. None of the other candidates had chaperones.

Have any of you ever dealt with this before?

I suspect it's more of a way to gather intel on the target company's process, and get a better feel for how the candidate was received, performed on the interview, etc.

Odd and a little creepy.

No way in hell I'd agree to that...

Maybe they figure anyone that obsessed with VW's needs a minder... ;-)

/humor off
That's odd. I've never, ever, heard of that. I'm surprised the potential employer agrees.

My friends father was a headhunter for years. He had a very successful career. He never sat in on an interview.

Very weird.

yup

If that's the case, then it's the company who should have an issue with that, not you.
More likely, they want to vet YOU, and not send you to more interviews if you're a bust.
What's more important than making a single placement is not burning the golden goose client.

Pics?

As a kid, one of our neighbors was a headhunter, he had some awesome Ferrari's.

It must pay well.

It sounds like a good idea. They could say after the interview; do this, don't do that.

When I was a computer tech I was really good at the job, just not good a getting the job. I'd have loved to have someone positively critique my failed interview style.

If I understand this correctly, the head hunter firm got you the interview and sent you out there? If so I would ask they why they did that and if they were not involved I would ask the interview person/team who the "observer" was and why they were there. If the answer is blank stares or wishy-washy then I thank them and get up and leave.

I did that on several interviews over the years when I was asked questions that were illegal or bad for other reasons. Dammmmm it is good to be retired!

i think they are doing this to protect their interests, not yours. Head hunters get a percentage of your salary for up to a year (paid by the employer). I think they are making sure that they are covered if you get an offer for a different position than the one you are interviewing for (and they are contracted to help fill).

I was head hunted for my current job and was offered the job at the first interview. The head hunter didn't have a contract in place for this position and was quite taken aback when I told her that I was given an offer.

My employer did pay her for her services and everything went well.

Who cares if there is a guy there.. at least you they're watching instead of secretly recording the interview..

you're there for the job.. just get it and get the paycheck.

I "retired" from a career as a communications systems programmer/networkng guy some years back. When I was a young pup, a HH landed me a position in FL for a large bank (now part of BoA) after I was in R&D at IBM. Very useful at the time, and yes, the bank paid his fees...a chunk :). After getting a few more years experience, my OTJ credentials, reputation, and personal contacts, landed me two more (my careee spanned four large corps over 25 years). Along the way, another HH that placed a co-worker at another large bank here in NC became "mine", though I never used him and he never made a cent off of me, he stayed in contact with me for at least a dozen years...occasionally calling to see if I was interested in a position he was trying to fill. I never was, he was a consumate professional however, and I had skilz. I am NOT a people person, nor a polished interviewee imo...but that wasn't what I was selling, and I did OK. As an AVP at another bank, a HH contacting us with a candidate would autimatically get you eliminated from consideration, the fees aren't cheap, and are porportional to the salaries for a position, and we had no shortage of folks to hire, almost always through professional contacts....rarely via HR. So, use a HH with caution...if they aren't "good" and broadcast your resume, they might be doing you a great disservice, and you won't even realize it :(.

This scenario you describe is totally whacked....from both sides of the desk imo...RUN away.

But I'm a dinosaur now and things have changed a bit, :). Funny story...when I joined a Pelican's LinkedIn as a lark (just growing legs back then) probably a dozen years ago, my original HH from two decades prior made contact and asked if I was the same KC :). I'm not saying HHs are a bad thing, for some fields , but as an IT techie, I just don't see that they offer squat these days....just my .02.

I finally got tired of the LinkedIn messages of folks fishing for me, contacts not related to my career, etc. so I changed my profile...

If you want to hire someone looking for the job of Hoss, on a huge ranch, then I'm still avsilable...but I don't come cheap :)

This sounds wrong on several levels.

Ever see Groundhog Day?
Everyday, Bill Murray finds out more and more things that will gain him an advantage in his pursuits the next day.

The headhunter will note your responses, then later ask the employer what type of answer he was looking for, than pass that info back to the next candidate and so on, and so on.

You are at a distinct disadvantage, as the next candidate will be better prepared than you.

As the employer, a lot of his impressions are going to be based on how the candidate handles questions spontaneously. Not so much as to his knowledge, but how he handles himself in given situations.

Bill K

Left coast? Sounds like KGB? My opinion, forget about it, move on, and try to find another job.:D

http://forums.pelicanparts.com/uploa...1489160571.jpg

Nah, probably the Isetta. "That guy is going to get into that little scooter thing, really?"

Widebody,

Simply put, the HH pyramid doesn't get paid unless the deal goes through. Someone actually has their **** together at that HH outfit. That is a rarity. As far as you are concerned, consider it an asset if you encounter this type of situation.

Though certainly not presented as such, the purpose of their presence is partly to collect info as you mentioned, but more importantly they are there to change the dynamic of the interview. Interview 'teams' generally ease up when a third party is there versus dog-piling if you are there all by your lonesome. Then upon conclusion of the interview the best part, someone coordinating the HH hounding of the hiring manager to close the deal. You don't get that option when you interview coming in the front door.

That said, the '3-way' is not rare, but I also don't want to say it's SOP either. I've encountered it many times when I was on the contracting circuit and it always seemed to be with a HH that had their **** together. So if you do encounter such, consider it as a sign that the heavens are shining upon you.

Happened to me once, the guy was at the meeting and I was surprised when he didnt just shake my hand in the lobby. Typical deal where they position me as a partner or similar when everyone knows we emailed a few times and met that day. It seemed they were only using the time to gather intel on the position and interviewer, no benefit to me.

With all due respect, I know IT, and what folks like Thom do :). Do y'all seriously think an emoloyer is gonna pay 30-50K to a HH when they have a bunch of qualified candidates to select from :(? Get real...

A quick follow-up, as I know you were all waiting with baitlike breath.

I got to the interview site, and the headhunter wasn't there yet. I had to check in with security at the front desk, and it just so happened that the hiring manager was informing the security guard that he was expecting someone for an interview. I introduced myself, and we just went straight to the interview from there and I didn't bother to wait for the pimp.

I was offered the position, which looks like it will be a lot more challenging than what I'm doing now, but also a little higher up the value chain, for about $15k more per year. For those in the biz, and who care, I'm currently a sysadmin; I'm moving to a DevOps engineer lead. Tomorrow I get to have the breakup speech with my boss.

That's awesome Thom! I love to be wrong sometimes. So....you gonna prop yer feet up on his desk and tell "your boss" that he's fired :)?

Congrats!

Well done, good luck in the new gig.

beers on Thom!

Happened to me several times, a little boy in a suit and a little girl in a dress came along to my interview with the state for an Analyst position-I'm not sure either was old enough to even order drinks legally.

They had no ****ing idea what we were discussing, I think they went to get some education in the field they were pimping others out to, you know, 'learn what to expect' etc. etc.

I hate headhunters in general. They don't know anything, These days if I hear shiny little millennial or Indian on the phone, I generally don't cooperate. I prefer adults and direct suppliers only.

Awesome! Congrats!

I've had dealings with two headhunters in my life.
They were the sleaziest, most dishonest excuses for human beings I have ever met.

I now have a policy never to talk to headhunters again.

Well, this is interesting.

Late this morning, one of our vendor's repair techs contacted me "Looks like John's* out today, and I need to replace a drive in server xzxzcvv; is there someone else I can contact?" I hook him up with the relevant info and didn't think anything else of it. Me, my boss, and a couple of the other guys went out to lunch. Halfway through the mean I asked "So where is John today?" (we normally all go out to lunch together once a week) It suddenly got real quiet and everyone just looked at each other, and then at the boss. It had to have been a good 5 or 10 seconds before anyone said anything. Finally my boss said "John is no longer with the company." It turns out they had a significant layoff today, company-wide, and John was the unfortunate recipient on our team.

*Not his real name

They whacked John even after you just gave notice?

Means there were two on the list for your group or someone did not like John and seized an opportunity.

I've never been let go, but I've fired a couple of mega-corporations. I've seen an 8000 employee corp (by far the smallest I ever worked for) literally walk 4000 out the door in a single day....when the big axe falls, it rarely follows any logic whatsoever :(. Best to you Thom...enjoy the new gig!

Yes. Weird.

I had the exact same thing happen at my previous employer about 3 years ago. I was on a two-person team, but I found a different job within the same company, and on the exact day I told my boss that I was accepting a position with another group, a round of layoffs was announced and they whacked the other guy. The other guy had been "selected" way before I told my boss, and my boss had just told the other guy about 30 minutes before I told my boss; I had not yet heard the news. Even more strangely, they didn't keep the other guy! So they had nobody in the position until I referred another friend of mine; he's still there to this day.

From what I found online, they're getting rid of a total of 6000 in this round of layoffs - ouch! #MAGA (sorry, couldn't resist)

Ohh I know it. Been through enough of them.

Actually laid the same guy off three times over a 10 year period. They'd lay him off and as soon as I could i'd hire him back, rinse / repeat.

One layoff in particular went very poorly.

We got a new VP of HR from Pepsi and he decided Dept Heads should have no input probably because a lot of them were on "the list".

Everyone knew it was coming, was no surprise. I've got stressed out guys and girls crying at their desks.

So comes the day and they hand me "the good list". I'm supposed to take everyone from my groups on the good list to one area of the building and the rest went to the cafeteria.

Did not take long for either group to figure out which room they were in. So I'm chilling and one of the HR managers comes over and asks me where 3 of my people were, they have packages for them and they are not in the bad room.

Said, they're here, they are on the good list which I show her.

She says that's a mistake and shows me the bad list and sure enough they are on both lists. Then she tells me I need to get them and bring them to the bad room.

I just looked at her and said "they've been crying everyday for a week now. They know they are in the good room and think they are safe but now you want me to tell them April Fools? **** you, this is your mistake, YOU go get them because I sure as hell am not about to"

She blinked, thought about it for a second and said OK, we'll leave it like this and deal with it another time.

One of the girls left on her own a year later and the other two were with me another 5 years.

It's actually spelled "bated breath' (Shakespeare's "The Merchant of Venice") but no biggie....everyone makes that mistake.

Important thing is you got the promotion.....and a little more cheddar to go towards the air-cooled machines' upkeep.

Congrats, Thom!

..."waiting with bait-like breath"....laughing out loud!!!!! Believe me...this OP knew EXACTLY what the saying is supposed to be, LOL!!!!!

Funniest poster on PP, in my limited, tenure. ;)

JA

First, congrats on the job.

I used top national recruiting firms for two decades, including Korn Ferry and Spencer Stuart. The first decade for science positions, second decade for senior sales and business development executives. They do a LOT of pre-interviewing, but never had a member of the search firm staff sit in on an interview with the hiring company.

I'd be surprised if the hiring company would even allow it.

Yep. Spoken like a true cat owner. :) :)

Congrats on the new job WB. I'm coming up on 20 years at my company--19 years with the same boss. Not sure what I'd do if the stuff hit the fan.

Actually, one bit of info - which wasn't germane to the original story - was that on October 31 of last year I was laid off from the company for which I'd worked for almost 18 years! Luckily, they gave us 6 months heads-up that were going to be laid off. I was able to find another job, and went on "vacation" for 6 weeks while I started the other job; by running out the clock in this manner I was still able to collect severance, so once the dust had settled, I had a new job and a 356.

Well played! :D