Dealing with Flaky Headhunters

I’d say 1 out of 10 headhunters is worth even dealing with in my experience. A good litmus test is to see if they even acknowledge receipt of your resume. I was placed at my current position by an excellent recruiter who was a pleasure to deal with, but by in large my experience with them has been negative. No responsiveness, no follow-up, cancelling interviews at the last minute, etc. Had one guy tell me that it was a done-deal that I’d be placed and that the interview would just be a formality, after which he established radio silence and I never heard from him again.

Much like field sales, I see this industry shriveling up in the next 5-10 years; still players in the game but far fewer. The quality ones will be the ones that survive.

[quote]LankyMofo wrote:
I don’t think many headhunters out there are making $800k. Maybe long time partners in large recruiting agencies. Maybe. But even then, the market is unbelievably saturated with headhunters and 800k is a lot of money. [/quote]

On my second year now and pacing for a quarter. The managing partners of my firm were 400-750k guys when they ran a desk. It depends a lot on what your niche is and how good you are. Most are not good and don’t last so it is pretty easy to stand out. This guy’s story sounds pretty common place.

OP, if you want the job take the call. Shouldn’t peanalize yourself because your recruiter is a flake. It is most likely not intentional.