#097 Inappropriate Professional Networking

Searching for a new job can be somewhat difficult depending on the field of work. For example, engineering: when I started college over a decade ago, they were pushing really hard to get people into engineering school. "We don't have enough engineers! The industry NEEDS more engineers!" they told us. So, I'd say about 75% of us stuck it out and ended up with engineering degrees. Fast forward about 8 years and then there was the whole economic downturn and subsequent loss of engineering jobs, and therefore the industry ended up with more engineers than there were jobs for them.

Now, in the present time, it seems to have shifted the other way (at least for engineering). Companies have more money because the economy is doing better, and I'm seeing a lot more postings for job opportunities than I've seen in a long time. However, I do NOT feel it is appropriate for a headhunter / recruiter to call your current place of employment to ask if you're interested in any new job opportunities.

I was getting ready to leave work the other day, and the phone at my desk rang literally as I was packing up my things to leave. I already had my laptop put away, and when I looked at the call display (which does not contain a true "caller ID", just whether it is an internal or external call), it showed that the call had been directed through the main line instead of a direct call to my phone number (different last 4 digits). So that means whoever was calling me did NOT have the direct line to my desk, but instead had to search for my number through the digital phone directory... which also indicates that I probably didn't want to talk to that person. I didn't answer the phone.

When I came in the next morning, I had a voicemail. Upon retrieving my voicemail, I discovered that it was an engineering recruiter who stated she "saw my profile on (a professional networking site) and wanted to speak to me about available job opportunities". That's great! I love hearing what other job opportunities are out there, either for myself or other friends and/or colleagues in the industry, but NOT at my current place of employment! Even when I receive calls on my mobile phone during the day, I usually let it go to voicemail and then call back on my lunch or, more typically, after work.

I checked the professional networking site (for short, I will refer to this site as LI), and sure enough: she had viewed my profile. However, on my LI profile, there is a link to contact me through the site and also my personal mobile number, but NOWHERE on there is a phone number to my place of business. This woman went completely out of her way to look up the phone number to my business, dial that number, then find my name through the phone directory to call me. I will give her this: she had some balls doing that, but this was completely inappropriate.

She's also not the first headhunter / recruiter to call me at work. I've had a couple people in the past year or so try to contact me, and then when I declined further interaction with that person they actually called the main line again and looked up the guy sitting next to me that has a similar role in the company! Ballsy, but inappropriate.