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Headhunting Laws?

Posted by Cliff on from the keeping-the-career-pimps-in-line dept.

Headhunting Headhunters asks: "I was wondering if anyone knew what the laws surrounding third-party, recruiters and headhunters are? As with a lot of tech workers now looking for a job, I've submitted my resume to a bunch or headhunters with the explicit understanding that they will not represent me to a company without my approval. I also have my resume on my personal website (with a watermark denoting copyright on it and forbidding distribution). I was waiting for a written offer from a company which I had applied to directly on my own. After an interview with the techs, they were sure they wanted me, but the HR department suddenly put a stop to the process a week later, claiming that I had been previously represented by a third party firm -- call them 'X Solutions, Inc.'; I had never given 'X Solutions, Inc' my resume, to my knowledge, nor had I ever talked to them by phone or e-mail. I certainly never gave them permission to represent me at this one company, and now I was out of luck: this company's policy was that they couldn't accept my resume since it had come through a third party before."

"So now I need to get a lawyer and have them write a 'Cease-and-desist', because God only knows how many other companies 'X Solutions, Inc.' spammed with my resume. What are my rights, and what are the rights that recruiters can rely on? What are the laws, or experiences, you've all dealt with? Now that the market has declined so rapidly, I imagine there are a lot of recruiters out there who'll do anything for a nibble... but this just isn't right."

2 of 30 comments (clear)

  1. Why would HR stop it? by Hee+Hee+Hee · · Score: 2, Interesting

    I'm missing something here... Why would the HR department prevent you from getting hired just because your resume was submitted previously? What's the difference? If they're that uptight about getting resumes "properly", is that really a place that you want to work for?

    --
    - Bill
  2. Hmmmm by dasunt · · Score: 3, Interesting

    First off, lets start out with the famous IANAL.

    That being said, it seems that you have lost a potential job due to 'X Solutions, Inc' falsely and (I would assume) illegally representing you as their client. I say, find a nice bloodthirsty lawyer to sic on them. You might get some financial compensation, and maybe your lawsuit would prevent this from happening again.

    Just my $.02