Hello,I've been contacted by a headhunter who asks me to work for him exclusively. How am I supposed to deal with this ? I am a senior quant but never seriously thought of jumping ship to an other place, hence my lack of experience regarding this issue...thanks in advance for your feedbackkarl

QuoteOriginally posted by: tacosI've been contacted by a headhunter who asks me to work for him exclusively. How am I supposed to deal with this ?Say no.

It is a little more complex than that...I assume he did not really say "work for him..." ?Being more senior you want to take care about where your CV goes, and of course you want to be sure that it does not get back to your current employer, so you won't want a big set anyway.You will require more work than a junior person, which may not be intuitive. This is because you are more specialised, and you have a more complex set of requirements.This cuts both ways. An employer will typically assume that a junior can be moulded and upgraded for the job, you are expected to be ready and to an extent be able to define what the job actually is.One would need to know more about you and your work to sell you effectively, and to find jobs that you actually want.That is a non trivial effort, and the HH will not be all that happy if he does it, and then you take a job offered by someone else.That applies across the maturity curve, but increases with seniority.Since you are not looking at the moment, the cost of an exclusive in terms of lost opportunities is going to be small.But you need to make sure that there is a sunset clause, so that you say that you will review it in (say) three months to see what progress has been made.There is always an opportunity cost, an ethical HH will not try to hide the fact that he only sees part of the market, and that in some cases one is actually working with a bank to help them decide that thereneeds to be someone like you, since being more senior you ought not to be just a slot to be filled, but a cloud of abilities that address problems and opportunities. This may be done with more than one new person, or shifting an existing person internally, and hiring someone to replace them. Lots of variables, few with constant or precisely known values.But the bottom line is that you must not let him trap you in a long term exclusive, unless he demonstrates that something real is in the pipeline.All this depends upon your evaluation of the HH.Some routinely ask for exclusives simply to make their life easier, even if it is severely against your interests. If you are locked up, then it's good for them.Others are quite sloppy about guarding your privacy on this.Having some relationship with a HH, even when you are not looking is generally optimal, provided he understands when to be loud, and when to be quiet.This is because although you are not looking, there is always a chance that trouble flies in your direction.

Tell him you'll work exclusively with him, but only if he agrees not to work with any other candidates.

QuoteOriginally posted by: DCFCOne would need to know more about you and your work to sell you effectively, and to find jobs that you actually want.That is a non trivial effort, and the HH will not be all that happy if he does it, and then you take a job offered by someone else.That applies across the maturity curve, but increases with seniority.In other words, DCFC himself is the only pimp you can rely on...

I am not saying I am the only HH you can trust, I was just enumerating the trust issues that change as you get more senior.Since I don't know who tacos is talking to, I can have no opinion of his trustworthiness. Buy yes, I do think trust is a big thing, and if rung up by a stranger it is rational not to entrust them with everything they ask for, and to set boundaries where they must demonstrate that they deserve it.There is no way I can think of to ring people up, and prove you can be trusted, else I'd use it myself.I maintain more of a public persona than other HHs because it provides a hostage, what economists call "reputational capital".If I were to screw you over, you would have the option of exposing it, which would reduce my value.I am not going to claim moral superiority, just that I am economically rational.

thx very much dominic for your kind advice