Date: 11/5/99

Nick,

You have a lot of nerve being so accurate about recruiters calls in your article The Sirens' Song. I recall an incident years ago where I received a call from a recruiter who was referred by a business acqaintance. While I did not ask all of the Qs' you suggested, I did attempt to qualify the recruiter and the company's job.

The recruiter was a fast talker and balked at me wanting to talk to the hiring manager before a personal meeting. When I finally convinced this recruiter that a discussion with the hiring manager(s) would save grief and aggravation later, I started to become suspicious.

The recruiter said he'd get back to me. When he did, he stated that the hiring manager wanted to see me in person. My reply was, "Okay, it's time for you to move on to door #2." I politely thanked him and ended the conversation.

Lo and behold the hiring manager called me 15 minutes later and explained that he was impressed by the way I handled his recruiter and would I be willing to have a phone interview then and there. My reply was no, that I had no idea of what he was looking for and why. He then faxed me a six-page job description.(for a mid-level sales management position) which was appalling.

I called him and asked if his other same-level managers do this every day and get any of the real work done. I asked him to put in his own words what the job was all about. I then asked him, since his description was more salient than the written version, why they needed such a long-winded job definition. His reply was that the personnel department had to have it that way. My reply was, "WHY?"

Answer: company policy. Anyway, we finally got to the crux of the nut and I agreed to see him personally. These people did a good job of lying -- er, excuse me, selling me. I eventually accepted an offer from this company which nearly turned out to be a career disaster. I later learned that this company had a high turnover rate in this job for one reason or another.

The sad moral of the story is that I have to look in the mirror and ask THE question: "Who's fault was this?" Survey says, "Moi". Had I looked more carefully at the clues along the interview path and operated more on "gut" feeling I would have saved a lot of aggravation. Your advice to anyone out there looking for a position after hearing The Siren's Song is more timely than ever.

I have suggested your book to anyone who is pursuing job opportunities because the advice is so valuable. Thank You, Masked Man! Don't leave home without it!

- G.B.