The Reason for “Don’t Call Us,We’ll Call You”

It’s been a busy summer. Been away from the blog for a while. Feels like a good time to update the old idea of what I tell people who come to me looking for jobs. I think most people hearing this for the first time appreciate it. I know our paying clients appreciate it.

Dear Job-seeker:

I can certainly sense your frustration with the job market. It’s long been a frustration of mine that what people in my field do admittedly conditions people to have certain expectations when they come to us while looking for a new opportunity.

My frustration is that while any normal person would indeed think we’d be able to do something it’s normally the toughest time for us. 

Our clients hire us to go find their competitor’s best people…and if we are any good we usually have clients lined up wanting more of them than we can find. 

So what usually happens is I send this apology and I send along any companies I think might be a match for you that you can approach yourself. Then a couple years from now when you are happily employed a client sends a description for someone just like you. I call you and if you remember me then we see if our client can compete. 

That said, I never feel like this step is ‘wasted’ because sometimes there IS a match with a current search and we DO often go back later and do some good. 

I hope this helps with your overall effort and I encourage you to make these connections. It’s just better to have a good set of expectations at the beginning.