Blog

To say you have never been the victim of gossip or rumors is a proud feeling.  To say you have never participated in gossiping and spreading rumors is even better.  Unfortunately, most IT headhunters are not perfect and have helped in some way spread non-truths about a fellow  acquaintance.  As rumors begin to circulate about an IT recruiter or yourself, how do you handle the situation?

Address It

When word gets out there will be internal changes in IT recruiting companies or personal matters regarding a technical recruiter, you might seem excited you have been chosen to share the news.  Before you further spread the information, follow up with the facts.  For changes within the IT staffing companies, confirm the changes with hiring managers or the corporate executives. If you are close enough to the victim of the personal rumors, take them aside and tell them what has been said.  The point is not to hurt the victim further or pry for details, but to let him be aware of what is being circulated and allow him to address the problem before it escalates.

Do Not Participate

You can always choose to ignore the rumors or tell other technical recruiters that you are not interested in hearing peers’ business.  If the messenger takes defense, ask why they are telling you this information.  Typically people who participate in gossip do so to feel better about themselves while hurting others.  When they realize they are doing this, they may back down from future IT recruiting office bullying.

Be Positive

As the saying goes if you do not have anything nice to say do not saying anything at all.  When someone has nothing pleasant to say at technical recruiting firms about someone take the initiative and follow up with a positive comment.  The office gossiper will realize you support the victim and will not come to you in the future to get his rumor fix.  Also, it may make the rumor supplier feel guilty about his actions and see the victim from a different perspective.

Office rumors and gossip are more common than one would think, especially with sites such as Facebook and Twitter.  With the support of anti-bullying movement, hopefully the hurtful slander will eventually be put to an end.