Confidentiality

I have been mulling this blog posting for a few weeks, maybe months now, but think it is something worth discussing. What is confidentiality?

In recruitment many of my positions are confidential, for reasons such as my client does not want competitors knowing there is a vacancy, the company is going through a restructuring or a host of other reasons. As a recruiter, it is very important that I honor this confidentiality. The wine industry is pretty small. After only a few calls people start to hear that I'm recruiting on a certain position, and often start guessing who it is. While the guesses are fun to hear, I cannot divulge the name of my client.

As a headhunter, I am also contacting potential candidates confidentially. If in my networking I begin working with someone who is currently employed, the same confidentiality is important to them. If I slip up and the employee's work finds out, it puts the employee in a bad spot now and an even worse one if they don't end up getting the job. Many employers never regain the trust in a person they have found out was considering taking another job.

When recruiting some clients have me sign a confidentiality agreement, barring me from divulging the company unless given prior authorization. On the candidate side, many job seekers are more than willing to sign a nondisclosure agreement so that I can tell them everything. I have always shied away from NDAs. Even if I get a signed form, the only thing I have is a piece of paper to show that the candidated blabbed about the position, violating the NDA. I'd rather give less information and only give up the secret when the client OKs it.

It can be tricky to navigate a confidential search. People get preconceived notions about the client based on who they think I'm recruiting for. Some candidates drop out of the search since they can't do their own investigation of the company. Sometimes people get involved in the search process only to bow out when they find out who the client is.

But these problems are insignificant when my client has trusted me with private information. While I do have to work under some generalities, my candidates tend to understand the sensitive nature of the search and work with me to learn more about the potential opportunity. If you are needing confidentiality, work with your recruiter to outline what needs to be kept quiet, and under what circumstances information can be shared. This will keep the search moving forward without any undo facts being exposed.