Why Do Recruiters Call You at Work?

If you’ve ever gotten a call at work from a recruiter, you’re probably wondering why they called you. And how they got your phone number?

Well, as someone who has placed my fair share of cold calls to people—many of whom were at work—I’m here to explain it to you.

It’s not unusual really for a recruiter to make a call to someone at work. In fact, it happens pretty regularly, especially for higher end positions.

Now, if the recruiter doesn’t understand etiquette, it can be a bit problematic. But it’s not cause for concern. It’s not necessarily a sign that the recruiter doesn’t know what they are doing.

So, what I’m going to do here is breakdown exactly why a recruiter would call you at work. How they should go about contacting you when you’re working. How you should respond to them if you’re working and can’t talk. And the basic etiquette of dealing with a recruiter while you’re at work.

Why Am I Bothering You At Work?

Alright, the first question I’m going to answer is why exactly I’m bothering you at work.

Well, first off, I hope that I’m not bothering you. That’s never the intention when a recruiter calls you at work.

Instead, what I’m trying to do is make contact and see if you would be interested in a position that I am working as a recruiter on.

Believe me, no recruiter wants to cold call someone who they don’t think has the possibility to fill an open position on their schedule.

That would be a waste of time and time is money.

The reason I’m calling you at work is that you’re not someone who is unemployed and not working, and most recruiters won’t call people on the weekends.

What I am trying to do is get you on the phone and see if you would like to discuss in more detail, at a later time, the position.

Odds are that I’ve tried connecting with you on LinkedIn or if I have your email, I might have sent you an email. But if you haven’t responded, then I’m going to call you and directly reach out.

Most recruiters prefer to use LinkedIn to message people, but sometimes they can’t reach the person because the person doesn’t use LinkedIn. As a rule, I prefer dealing with people who message me on LinkedIn because it means they are more proactive and on it.

How Do Recruiters Get Your Phone Number?

So, how’d I even get your phone number? Well, most recruiters work with large ATS systems. These are application tracking systems and they house thousands, perhaps hundreds of thousands of contact info on current and potential candidates.

Perhaps you worked with a recruiter at my firm in the past. In that case, all of your info is already in the system. But even if it’s not, there is a whole host of ways that recruiters can find your details.

Well, what if you’ve never worked with a recruiter from my agency before? In that case there are a ton of other ways your number will have been collected.

If your resume was ever posted online at a job site like Indeed or sent through a large corporate database, then odds are that it’s been scraped and copied into a dozen for sale networks.

Large recruiting firms purchase these databases to fill their pools.

Once your number is in a recruiting firms database, or once it’s listed on a resume you submit online to a job board, then it’s going to be scrapped and filed into large systems. Then it passes from agency to agency.

There are entire companies devoted to finding out peoples contact info. Most sales teams work this way to develop prospecting leads. The process is similar.

Calling Your Work Number or Calling You At Work?

There’s a difference between calling you at work and calling your work number. The latter is a big no no and any recruiter who does that isn’t worth dealing with.

It all comes down to a question of etiquette. It’s fine to call someone at their personal number, but its not fine to call their work number.

Some recruiters will do that, but it leaves a bad impression for a few reasons.

First, it’s not a work call. If you receive a personal call (which a recruiter would be considered) at your work line, it’s a bit of a shock. You’re not expecting to deal with that sort of call.

Second, it means that the recruiter is not able to find your personal number. Most of the time, if your personal number is available it is because you have submitted your resume somewhere, which is a sign that you are seeking work.

Finally, it’s a bit more desperate to cold call someone at their work number. It shows that you have no way of finding their personal number and the odds that they think that you’re a competent or legitimate recruiter plummet.

Headhunting Talent: It Means Your Special

Here’s the thing, if you get a call at work from a recruiter it means that you’re special. It means that there is a job that the recruiter wants to fill and they think that you’re the person that can fill it.

Recruiters don’t waste their time looking for people who they can’t put into a job. It’s not part of the job.

There are countless people out there who are seeking work. They send resumes in and call agencies every day. If one of them could fill the role, the recruiter would not be contacting you.

The only reason why you are being contacted is that the recruiter has a job that they can’t fill with the people who reach out to them.

This means that the recruiter needs to headhunt. Trust me, I would fill a role with someone who was chasing me if I could instead of chasing someone else. I have no interest in wasting time calling people out of the blue to describe a job that they may or may not like.

Is It Unethical To Call You At Work?

That’s a gray area, but most recruiters would say that it’s not unethical. There is nothing that the recruiter is doing that is not ethical.

On the other hand, some people might consider it wrong to discuss other job opportunities while working for their employer during the business day. But that is up to debate. You can always use it as your personal time and take a call.

Most people will often times have a very brief call and express either interest or disinterest. If the person is interested in having a conversation about the role that the recruiter mentions, then what happens is that they decide to connect at a later time.

There’s nothing unethical about making a call at work. When recruiters are headhunting for roles, oftentimes they need to contact people during work hours since it is considered inappropriate to call later after work.

Why Don’t We Just Email You Directly?

Believe me, we do. If a recruiter has your contact information in the form of an email they will send you an email.

The problem with sending emails is that so many of them get filtered and caught by spam filters. Or people simply don’t read their emails.

Normally the process is to send out an email along with a text or a phone call. If you are headhunting, LinkedIn is also a major source of communication.

For high level roles, most people will try and connect first through LinkedIn. It’s the main reason why the platform exists, though many people end up using LinkedIn now as a social media platform for posting non-business related items. In essence it’s become something similar to Facebook.

How Should You Respond To A Recruiter Who Calls You Out of The Blue?

If you’re interested in hearing about a job, then let them know that. But you can also feel free to let them know that the conversation will have to happen at a later time.

Recruiters won’t be upset about calling you back. They will be enthusiastic about the fact that you are in fact interested in hearing about the job and want to connect later.

It’s better to tell them honest if you are or are not interested. If you tell them you would like to hear more just to blow them off, then that can backfire and get you blacklisted by agencies. This will be an issue in the event that you ever do want to work with a recruiter.

Instead, be truthful and upfront when speaking with the recruiter. You could:

Ask them to email you more information and give them your email

• Mention that you’re free to speak after work
• Say that you can’t speak at work but are free at another time

The goal of the recruiter is to maximize their time and spend it working with people who they can place in a job. If you are interested, then yeah, let them know.

It makes sense to schedule a second call where you can ask them about salary, and more important details about the job.

The only time I’ve become upset with someone I’ve called at work was when they told me to call them back and then later they told me that they had no interest in discussing a role. They wasted both of our time.