Managing Two Agencies When The Offer is Extended

Managing two agencies when the offer comes in?

Recently, an hr manager from a not for profit called me looking for advice.

He had interviewed at one firm through a recruiter and almost gone through their entire process when a firm he interviewed with at the beginning of his search re-contacted him and asked and asked him to interview for a different position that opened up that fit him like a glove.

Within a week, he was about to receive a job offer and called me in a panic.

“What do I do now? The (second) company wants to know what the first firm is offering.”

“Well, tell them.”

“But the first company will be mad at me.”

“Here’s what you do. Call up the recruiter for the first company and tell them that a company contacted you out of the blue, you met them and you expect that tghey will be extending an offer and that you are leaning toward them.”

“Oh, my! Oh, my!” He spoke in a very pained way.

“It won’t get any easier if you don’t tell them because, eventually, if you accept the second offer, you’ll have to turn down the first and tell them then.”

“But the client may raise their offer.”

“This is what I call a pleasant problem--two good offers. How can you go wrong? But the mistake is not telling the first recruiter about he second offer. It won’t get any easier if you don’t tell them and just surprise them when it is time to turn down the job.”


Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
jeffaltman@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in technology, accounting, finance, sales, marketing and other disciplines since 1971. He was a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and is a practicing psychotherapist.


To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search job openings, use his free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe. to subscribe Jeff’s free job search ezine, Head Hunt Your Next Job, or to learn more and sign up for his VIP Personal Search Agent service, go to, http://www.jeffaltman.com. To subscribe to Jeff’s free recruiting ezine, Natural Selection Ezine, subscribe at www.naturalselectionezine.com

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at jeffaltman@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

What Kind of Contact Do You Expect from a Recruiter?

What Kind of Contact Do You Expect from a Recruiter?

I received an email from someone who emailed their resume for a job a client was trying to fill, asking me about the status of their resume. Two weeks had already gone by and, I'm sure most of you know that two weeks normally means no interest on their part.

I responded to his email letting him know that they weren't interested and received a response back that I interpreted as being sarcastic. I then thought that if he thinks this way, certainly others do, too. That is the germination of this article.

A typical day has me arrive at my office between 8 and 8:30 AM to somewhere in the area of 100 emails (spam is filtered out via Postini; it does a very good job of it). As I start to read them, more keep arriving and calls start to come in. I try to respond to every email I receive with a call, an email acknowledging that I received their email and offering some services through my website that they might find helpful or with an email asking a few questions.

Often, these calls require additional action--interviewing someone, calling someone, inputting their resume into our system for later retrieval, submitting a resume to a client.

I leave messages; I read more resumes, receive more calls, schedule some interviews,

Opportunities start to present themselves that require that I check back to see if someone is still available. Sometimes I need to re-schedule an interview because one party or another needs to make a change.

Oh, yes, I eat lunch, do some networking, write an article or two for my blogs, ezine or book and answer a call or two from my wife or a friend.


So, what gives if I respond to everyone who wants to check and find out "what's going on"?

Unless someone is in my VIP program, you don't pay me for anything I do; I am paid by the institution to evaluate and assess people for their suitability for a job and I am paid quite well, thank you.

Obviously, I need to understand a person and their needs, wants, skills and such in order to bring the two sides together. But until someone starts paying me, I'll decide how I manage my time to help the most people.

Oh, yes, if you work with a recruiter who has the time to take all your calls and tell you ever piece of minutiae that they are doing to help you, there will come a time where they will not be there to help you in the future.


Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com. Job Search Universe is also available at www.jobsearchuniverse.com To add your firm’s career page to “The Universe” email the url to jobsearchuniverse@gmail.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at thebiggamehunter@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).If you have a question that you would like me to answer pertaining to job hunting or hiring, email it to me at:
thebiggamehunter@gmail.com

Phone Interviews: 5 Things NOT to Do to Avoid Shooting Yourself in the Foot?

More than two years ago, I wrote an article called "Phone Interviews: Prepare to Ace Them!".

It was an article that provided a number of things you should do when you prepare for a phone interview. After all, more and more firms are doing phone interviews as an initial screening step before meeting you.

So, this time, I want to remind you of some things NOT to do.

1. DON'T sound boring, dull, somber, flat. Energetic is the way to go.

2. DON'T use lots of negative sounding words in your conversation. Avoid frequently using no, don't know, can't, won't, don't know, not or similar words.

3. DON'T talk too much. People can't listen to answers longer than 30-45 seconds in person. Most people can't hold an attention span for that long over the phone.

4. If you are out of work, DON'T wait for them to ask you why or what happened. Volunteer it so that it doesn;t hang over the interview like a gallows blade.

5. DON'T avoid rehearsing. Practice makes perfect for interviews and athletes.

Jeff Altman
The Big Game Hunter
Concepts in Staffing
thebiggamehunter@cisny.com

© 2007 all rights reserved.

Jeff Altman, The Big Game Hunter, is Managing Director with Concepts in Staffing, a New York search firm, He has successfully assisted many corporations identify management leaders and staff in many disciplines since 1971. He is a certified leader of the ManKind Project, a not for profit organization that assists men with life issues, and a practicing psychotherapist.

To receive a daily digest of positions emailed to you, search for openings that The Big Game Hunter is working on, to use Jeff’s free job lead search engine, Job Search Universe, to subscribe to Jeff’s free job hunting ezine, “Head Hunt Your Next Job, or his staffing ezine, “Natural Selection”, or to learn about his VIP program, go to www.jeffaltman.com. Job Search Universe is also available at www.jobsearchuniverse.com To add your firm’s career page to “The Universe” email the url to jobsearchuniverse@gmail.com.

If you would like Jeff and his firm to assist you with hiring staff, or if you would like help with a strategic job change, send an email to him at thebiggamehunter@cisny.com (If you’re looking for a new position, include your resume).

If you have a question that you would like me to answer pertaining to job hunting or hiring, email it to me at:
thebiggamehunter@gmail.com