Interviewing in the Recruiting Game is like Dating

If you’re the big producer and have been out there interviewing (as I’ve said before, I strongly feel it was irresponsible not to have a Plan B over the last eighteen months), you probably are getting more attention than you are used to getting. Branch Managers from competitors are wooing you with dinners, lunches, chachkas for your spouse and kids, and reams of propaganda about the products and services from their firms.
In other words, whether you are male or female, in the recruiting game, you’re the pretty girl that is being chased, and you might not be comfortable being so “wanted”. As a good producer, you are more familiar with the role of “hunter” and much less with the role of “prey”. So, with the tables turned, what is proper protocol for communication, for keeping the process going, for saying no, for giving your suitor some awkward information about your compliance record?
If you are in the middle of dialogue, make sure your suitors call you or e-mail you the way that YOU want. If that means all communication should be on your cell phone and to your home e-mail, then tell them that specifically. Your current boyfriend/girlfriend (i.e. your Branch Manager) might be prone to fits of jealousy if he/she knows you are considering a relationship with someone else.
If you want to stop the process, for any reason, tell your ardent suitors, and tell them why. Too often Advisors just go dark; treat your potential employer the way that you would want to be treated when you as the Hunter are told no by a prospect. If the process is just put on hold, then tell them why and under what circumstances you will re-engage.
Finally, make sure to deal with any compliance problems or warts on your record BEFORE they run a compliance check or criminal check on your record. You would not want to hear about your date’s herpes problem on a first date and certainly not right at the moment of intimacy. If you act as if you have something you are ashamed of, your suitor will run away; make your issues transparent. You want the problem to be the issue. Hiding the problem makes your honesty a separate issue which cannot be overcome.