This Pen For Hire - an experience with an executive search firm - Brief Article

Kiplinger's Personal Finance Magazine, March, 2000 by William Giese

The HEADHUNTERS came, and then left. I'm still here.

THE E-MAIL, signed Marc, began like this: Dear Bill, I have been a big fan of your work for years. I'd love to have you write for me ...

What with the economy being so strong and the job market so tight, I've been head-hunted a lot the past year. It's flattering to be offered jobs even if these unsolicited valentines never lead to anything. I write magazine pieces and as-yet-unpublished novels, and up until now I've said thanks-but-no-thanks to executive recruiters because I've got no complaints.

I'm ready. Then one day a woman named Therese called out of the blue to say that she is familiar with my by-line and am I interested in an Internet job?

Suddenly, the answer is yes. I mean, why not? Sure, what I do now is fine, but I am also tempted by the idea of a new challenge for high pay and (dare I dream?) some equity thrown in. So instead of thanks-but-no-thanks I say, "Sure, let's talk." We do, and on her instructions I fax a resume to her Manhattan executive-search firm. Then I wait. And I wait. Forever goes by. Why won't she call? Now I'm sounding whiny, like someone who hasn't been asked to the prom.

Therese finally calls back, but things stall out because the duties and the pay aren't right. I counter with an offer of a temporary assignment, to solve the problem in a month, for a lot of quick money. My prospective Internet employer declines, through Therese.

Am I the first person ever to dream of turning the tables on a headhunter? I'd felt anxious and uncomfortable being the interviewee. So I even the playing field by calling and interviewing her. Therese the executive recruiter is 36, married and the mother of a 2-year-old son. Part of her workweek is spent in a Manhattan office and part at home on Long Island. She makes 50 to 60 calls a day to fill positions paying $75,000 to $200,000 a year. Her firm specializes in media jobs, so she constantly reads publications and browses Web pages, noting bylines. A client suggested she look through this magazine, and that's where she saw my name. I ask her what media people want in a new job. "Money is helpful," she coolly replies, adding that challenging work is even more important. Someday, she might head-hunt herself into her own media job.

I tell her my executive-search experience was like dying to be asked to the prom and not getting asked, or at least not finding the right date. And that feeling is the pits. She laughs and says sometimes that happens. By the way, the tempting Internet job went to another personal-finance writer, full time.

I try again. Back to the original e-mail: The work is steady, pay is fast and everyone in the business says I'm a pleasure to work for. Probably because I do everything possible to make writers' lives easy. Let me know if you're game. At the very least, it was great finally telling you how much I've enjoyed reading you. Cheers, Marc

Again nothing comes of it, because the work is routine and the pay 40% of what I want. I'm probably not prime head-hunting material because I'm not unhappy or impoverished doing what I do. But now I know I can be courted, and now I know I can be convinced. Now that you know that, wanna dance?

William Giese is a freelance writer whose experiences are shared by many other people, but whose opinions are his own. Reach him at lamb@kiplinger.com.