Could he be interested or simply seeking more business?

[catfeeder]

You won't know until you try. It seems like a win-win to me, no matter what. It's good to keep people in your network business-wise, but if this guy wants more, and you are also on board, then meeting for coffee would be a good first step.

 

Yep, it's a win/win no matter how you slice it. If it turns out to be business-only, then you'll have an answer and some coffee. You may not 'like' that, but crystal ball readings aren't exactly our forte', and sometimes you need to venture something in order to gain something. Good life lesson regardless of the outcome.

 

Fingers crossed for you.

[RuedeRivoli]

An update:

 

Today was my first day at the new company. He knew it was my first day.

 

He tried to call me at 3pm (which is a bit odd, knowing it was my first day). Then he texted me to say he tried to reach me, but was unable to. It's true that in my former companies, you'd usually leave the office at 2/3 pm on your first day.

 

He contacted me via his personal mobile number (he popped up on my Whatsapp and a personal picture was shown). I asked him to try and call me back tomorrow around lunch break.

 

We'll see what happens.

[abitbroken]

An update:

 

Today was my first day at the new company. He knew it was my first day.

 

He tried to call me at 3pm (which is a bit odd, knowing it was my first day). Then he texted me to say he tried to reach me, but was unable to. It's true that in my former companies, you'd usually leave the office at 2/3 pm on your first day.

 

He contacted me via his personal mobile number (he popped up on my Whatsapp and a personal picture was shown). I asked him to try and call me back tomorrow around lunch break.

 

We'll see what happens.

 

I think if he was still employed at the recruiter, its not weird to call you. when i used to temp and do contract work or was directly placed, the person who originally placed me or set up the interview would always call me either to congratulate me or touch base to see what my thoughts were - if I was happy with it. After all, if he is now a headhunter somewhere else or is now in charge of hiring at a different company, he is going to want to stay in touch - down the line you may decide to make a change and he can facilitate that.

 

If you go to coffee, i would keep it absolutely professional - thank him for setting up the interview , talk about the company culture and say that you will let him know in 3 months what you think after you have been there a bit.

[RuedeRivoli]

I think if he was still employed at the recruiter, its not weird to call you. when i used to temp and do contract work or was directly placed, the person who originally placed me or set up the interview would always call me either to congratulate me or touch base to see what my thoughts were - if I was happy with it. After all, if he is now a headhunter somewhere else or is now in charge of hiring at a different company, he is going to want to stay in touch - down the line you may decide to make a change and he can facilitate that.

 

If you go to coffee, i would keep it absolutely professional - thank him for setting up the interview , talk about the company culture and say that you will let him know in 3 months what you think after you have been there a bit.

 

He's not working at the company anymore. He hasn't been employed there for almost three months.

 

I understand his need to follow up during the day if he still were employed there/ It makes sense. He's however not. The guy that assisted me during the recruitment process until the offer acceptance, hasn't reached out. Yet, this guy who left the company moons ago reached out today when realistically speaking, he only assisted in the early recruitment process by submitting my CV to my new employer. He left right after.

 

Besides, if you're following up, you call the person with your work landline/mobile as do all recruiters. It wasn't a professional number that rang me. He called me from his personal mobile. I just find it odd he won't disclose his current company, nor has he advised me he works at a new company. Thus, pardon me if I think it's odd.

 

I went for coffee with other recruiters in the past, so I'm not entirely ignorant to the situation.

 

The reason why I find it odd that he called is because he did it during my first day in the middle of the day. I appreciate the follow up, but in the middle of your first day?

 

Anyway, I'm not going into this thinking this is a date. Of course not. As I said, we'll see what happens. I don't even know what company he works for now anyway.

[catfeeder]

He's not working at the company anymore. He hasn't been employed there for almost three months.

 

I understand his need to follow up during the day if he still were employed there/ It makes sense. He's however not. The guy that assisted me during the recruitment process until the offer acceptance, hasn't reached out. Yet, this guy who left the company moons ago reached out today when realistically speaking, he only assisted in the early recruitment process by submitting my CV to my new employer. He left right after.

 

Besides, if you're following up, you call the person with your work landline/mobile as do all recruiters. It wasn't a professional number that rang me. He called me from his personal mobile. I just find it odd he won't disclose his current company, nor has he advised me he works at a new company. Thus, pardon me if I think it's odd.

 

I went for coffee with other recruiters in the past, so I'm not entirely ignorant to the situation.

 

The reason why I find it odd that he called is because he did it during my first day in the middle of the day. I appreciate the follow up, but in the middle of your first day?

 

Anyway, I'm not going into this thinking this is a date. Of course not. As I said, we'll see what happens. I don't even know what company he works for now anyway.

 

I was a consultant for about 20 years. That's a lot of placements. Every 'good' recruiter who ever placed me has called for a followup on my first day--regardless of whether they were still with the same firm. There's a lot of movement in recruiting. This practice teaches them about both sides of their client relationships. If the guy intends to keep recruiting, he's being smart.

[purplepaisley]

Why not contact you on your first day? And it wasn't the middle of the day in a traditional 8-5, you had 2 hours to go, and while I'm sure he didn't expect you to pick up, you presumably had a good six hours under your belt at this point, and you could touch base with him when you got off of work. Even if your shift starts later, I still think it's reasonable to leave a VM. Now, if he's interested in you romantically, this could be a good window to meet up last minute, after work, and talk about it for a couple hours, before heading home to be well-rested for day #2...or plan a day for later on in the week...maybe even Friday. If you're interested in him romantically, you could certainly call him back when you are off, and let him know how the day went. I know it's a little late for that now, but return the call or the text, and use this as an opener to get that coffee/drink meet planned.

 

Thanks for the update!

 

You're posting here at ENO, so I'm assuming you have an attraction and are interested...is this accurate, or do you wish to keep this strictly professional?

[RuedeRivoli]

Hi all,

 

So, as I had indicated, he tried to reach out yesterday and we scheduled a call for today.

 

We managed to chat a bit after work today. He asked me how my first couple of days went and whether the company/job were living up to my expectations.

 

He disclosed he had decided to set up his own recruitment agency and he's therefore looking for possible candidates. He said if there are any candidates in my former company who are looking for a job, he'd be grateful if I could give them his details.

 

Then, he offered to catch up over coffee, so I suggested said we'd do this next week. I told him I'd text him or he could text me for the actual practical details. I'll probably be in a better mood next week as I'm utterly tor into pieces this week as I'm now reeling from the heartbreak of leaving my former employer behind. I honestly don't want to come home and cry at night.

 

As far as recommending people, I'll hold off on that because I'm still waiting to see the actual outcome of my new job. Until I'm sure this is indeed something I'm comfortable in and a fit for, I won't recommend anybody. This job is so far off from any job I've had before, so the first few days don't really indicate whether he was a good judge of character to set me up with this position.

 

I'll go for coffee with him, of course as it's good to have another recruiter in your network. I'll keep it professional, but at this stage, I'm not sure if anything romantic is possible since it seems to only be work related. My mind is elsewhere anyway, but I'll keep an open mind anyway. We'll see how it goes.

[Batya33]

Sounds good. I was a recruiter and was placed by recruiters, including one I worked for. I didn't see my job as being a "good judge of character" -to me that went far beyond what I was tasked with -if I could do that- bonus of course! I was tasked with finding my client -the employer - a good fit for the job -and that included a person with the right personality and temperament as well as the right skills - on a purely professional level - and certainly character as far as the person's honesty and integrity - so that could mean calling references, looking for any red flags, etc.

 

I wasn't a psychologist or a therapist or social worker as far as being able to judge whether my particular quirks, personality, moods would be a good fit -it just didn't go that deep and most recruiters would not be able to make $ if they also had to be involved in hiring outside professionals to administer personality tests -and I'm not sure most applicants would require a recruiter to be a good judge of character before recommending him to colleagues. I would recommend a recruiter if he was reliable, responsive, prepped me sufficiently for the interview and gave an accurate assessment of what the position required and whether I had the skills pertinent to the position.

 

Certainly don't refer him if you don't care to - that's your choice! -just surprised at your expectations.

 

 

(I've also been placed by recruiters- never occurred to me to judge them as to whether he was a good judge of "character" as you put it.)

[RuedeRivoli]

Final update on this thread many moons later:

 

So, I never reached out to him regarding the coffee request and he didn't reach out any further either.

 

Fast forward, as I was leaving the office around 8pm last week, I bumped into him walking into the reception area (the building oftens holds events, so he was probably showing up to one of those). He starred at me as I think he recognized me, but didn't talk to me. I look a him for a brief second, but I didn't feel comfortable saying Hi to him, so I just proceeded to exit the building.

 

He was still attractive, but for some reason, I didn't feel any attraction towards him when I saw him.

 

No really interesting, but funny how the Universe aligns things.