MOST SHARED
- The 'Real' Jobless Rate: 17.5% Of Workers Are Unemployed
- Ritz-Carlton ?Struggling? in the US: President
- Garlic Price Rises Surpass Gold, Stocks in China
- Obama Reiterates Commitment to Boost US-India Ties
- Oil Price to Average $75.40 in 2010: Poll
- Half of Banks' Losses May Still Be Hidden: IMF Head
- Americans Ditch Planes for Trains this Thanksgiving
- New-Home Sales Jump 6.2% To Highest Level in Over Year
- Jobless Claims Below 500,000, Durable Orders Slip
- Topless Business Is Taking Off
- 3 Software Stock Picks from Lazard's Senior Analyst
- Schork Oil Outlook: Gas Bulls Pinning Hopes on Mother Nature
- Toyota Makes Recall Fix And So Long Saab
- Investors Bet on a New Year's Rally For eBay
- Why You Should Play the Reflation Trade: Stock Picker
- Citi Mortgage Reveals What Treasury Won't
- S&P to Hit 1,200 by Year-End: Chief Investor
- Amended Berkshire Hathaway Filing Indicates No Secret Stock Stakes at End of Q3
- Consumer Mood Improves, But Anxiety Over Finances
- Jobless Claims Below 500,000, Durable Orders Slip
- Garlic Price Rises Surpass Gold, Stocks in China
- Judge Erases Couple's $525,000 Mortgage Payment
- Obama Going to Copenhagen Climate Summit
- Half of Banks' Losses May Still Be Hidden: IMF Head
- Seeking Deals, Holiday Fliers Get Early Start
- Americans Ditch Planes for Trains this Thanksgiving
- FDIC's Bair Cautions on Risks in Bank Break-Up Plan
Text Size 
You’ve been making boatloads of money trading derivatives for a bulge bracket investment bank in New York. You’re happy with your job, and your employer is happy with you (because you’ve making them boatloads of money).
One day, you reach for the phone on your desk, expecting it to be the bond analyst you called 20 minutes earlier, but instead it’s Ms. So and So from X, Y, Z & Co., a firm you’ve never heard of because, you soon learn, it’s a executive recruiting firm. In the next 45 seconds you also learn that X, Y, Z has been enlisted by another bulge bracket investment bank (which happens to be one of your firm’s major competitors) to hire someone that does exactly what you do.
This recently happened to a VP of sales and trading, who had to make a quick decision: Do I take the call or not?
Some execs are naturally leery of taking calls from recruiters. Maybe you’re afraid you’ll be overheard. Maybe you’re happy as a clam in your current gig. Or maybe you’re just too brutally busy to bother.
But keep a few things in mind. One, headhunters are paid by the firm looking to hire you, so nothing comes out of your pocket if you end up taking the position. Two, headhunters aren’t cold callers; they’ve received your name after a detailed search for qualified candidates, likely asking other firms in the industry that work with yours, and perhaps even speaking to some of your clients. Three, even though you might know right away the job’s not a good fit for you and you might lose several minutes of valuable work time by speaking to the headhunter about the opportunity, in taking the call and being respectful, you’ll have developed a relationship with the headhunter who might call you again with another opportunity, which just might be that perfect fit.
Overall, you have little to lose by listening to the headhunter’s offer. When taking the call, be respectful, listen carefully, ask questions and seriously consider the offer. You never know, it could just be the job you’ve been looking for (without having to look for it). And if not, you just might hear back in the near future with an offer you can’t refuse.
As for the VP, she listened to the headhunter, decided to interview for the job and, after several rounds of interviews, was offered the position— which promised more compensation and, more important, a new working environment, new coworkers, a new trading floor and new management. “I’d been working for the same firm for seven years,” she says, “and even though I was happy where I was, I figured a change would be good.”
Two months into her new job, her hunch has been right on. Working with different people in a different office for a different firm has indeed reenergized her and put her on an even faster career track – and as a bonus, she enjoyed her first month-long vacation in a long time.
Marcy Lerner is the VP of Content and Editorial Research at Vault.com. She graduated from the University of Virginia and has a MA in history from Yale University.
Data is a real-time snapshot *Data is delayed at least 15 minutes