I don’t poach. I fish. I LOVE fishing! But in my world, poaching is a no-no. Let me explain.
Several years ago, I had a client who was looking for an architect to hire in his firm. Architects were VERY hard to find during that time, and he couldn’t afford to lose any current staff. One day, his top performer approached my client and told him that a recruiter was calling him everyday asking him if he “was ready to make a change”. The employee was offered really obscene amounts of money and other perks. My client started checking in with other employees and found that several of his staff were being targeted by this recruiting firm.
My client called the recruiting firm and politely asked them to quit calling his people and was told in no uncertain terms that this was a free country, and they could call anyone that they wanted. He then asked them who the client was that they were working for and he was completely shocked when he discovered that his competition was behind the search. The worst part? He thought that the owner of his competition was a friend.
My client called the competition and said basically, “What the hell. Dude?” The competitive firm quit targeting my client’s firm and employees, but the damage was done. This is called poaching.
While poaching employees isn’t against the law, and yes, the sleazy recruiting firm has the right to call whoever they want, it is at the very least unethical and in my opinion, immoral.
I am all about getting the right people on your staff, so that you are kicking ass and taking names. And, I don’t poach. I fish. I put bait out in the water, by placing an ad on an online job board, and reaching out to people who have posted their resumes online. But I draw the line at reaching out to employees unsolicited. Frankly, it reeks of old fish.
Fishing? Absolutely.
Poaching? Absolutely not.
POWER THOUGHT: Poaching is just fishy.