The client wants your candidate’s name first.

You send a strong profile to a client. Within the hour, they call back: “Interesting. Who is it?” You say you’ll call your candidate first. “Come on, just give me the name and I’ll have a quick look on LinkedIn.”

Let’s not be naive about it: a client who wants the name isn’t necessarily a client who wants to go around you. They want to know who they’re inviting, and sometimes they think they already know the candidate. But once you’ve given a name, you can’t take it back. Whoever has the name can pick up the phone themselves, and your candidate has more at stake than you do: their boss doesn’t know they’re looking.

Why you present anonymously

Your candidate decides. Their name only goes to a company if they say yes to it. That way, they stay in control, and they trust you with their search.

You don’t burn any bridges. Most sectors are small. A profile that ends up with the wrong person can cost your candidate their job.

Your client chooses on substance. They see experience, motivation, region and salary expectations, and decide whether they want to meet the candidate. Not on a name or a photo on LinkedIn.

Your process stays yours. With a name, your client can call the candidate directly. That’s why you don’t give a name until your terms are signed. How it goes wrong when it happens anyway is covered in The client hires your candidate behind your back.

A 2020 decision by the Data Protection Authority shows that things can go wrong even without a name. A recruitment agency forwarded a CV with no name on it to the candidate’s employer, without their consent. Experience, salary, region, age, education and hobbies were all in it. According to the candidate, it cost them their job. The agency was given a warning: without consent, there was no legal basis for forwarding their CV.

How to make a profile truly anonymous

• No name, mobile number, email address or exact place of residence: just the region.
• No current or previous employers, and no job title that would let you find them on LinkedIn.
• Describe projects, studies, dissertation and hobbies in general terms: “a 400-bed hospital”, not the name of the hospital.
• No gender, and nothing negative about their motivation or experience.
• At the top, a title that sells: role, experience, region and their strongest point, for example “Building project manager, 7 years at a main contractor, Ghent area”.
• Their salary expectations, and what they’re looking for in a new job.

The method: from anonymous profile to name

Six steps, from your first conversation to the first interview with your client.

01Ask where they don’t want to be put forward

In your first conversation: “Which companies are a definite no for you? And does your employer have any sister companies or subsidiaries?” You note that list in your CRM, and you stick to it.

02Make the profile anonymous

An anonymous CV and a short introduction with their strongest points. Then read them as if you were their boss, or one of their colleagues. If you recognise them, take something else out.

03Present with a short email, and follow up with a call

A title that says it all, a few sentences with their strongest points and a clear question: “Would you like to meet them?” Don’t wait for a reply by email; call them yourself. On the phone, you hear what your client really thinks.

04If they’re interested: your terms first

If your client wants to meet the candidate, they sign your terms first. That way it’s on record when a candidate counts as introduced and what happens if your client hires them later.

05Get your candidate’s go-⁠ahead, for this company

Call your candidate, tell them which company wants to meet them and ask whether you can give their name. Each company separately: a yes for one isn’t a yes for another.

06Give the name by email, and book the interview yourself

Their name and full CV go by email, with the date and the role, and you keep that email in your CRM. You schedule the interview yourself, with your client and your candidate. That way, you know when it’s happening, and you hear both sides afterwards.

What to say when the client pushes

An example

Say Jens is a site manager at a contractor in Limburg and wants bigger projects. In your first conversation, he asks you not to approach his employer or its sister company under any circumstances.

You build his profile: “Site manager, non-⁠residential construction, 8 years’ experience, Hasselt area”, with his strongest projects in general terms. You read it as if you were his boss, and take out one more project that was too recognisable.

A client calls straight away: “Who is it?” You explain how you work. That afternoon, they sign your terms. Jens says yes to this company, and you send his name and CV by email, with the date and the role. On Thursday, they’re sitting round the table.

Checklist

• You know which companies your candidate doesn’t want, including sister companies and subsidiaries.
• Your profile has no name, no employer and no recognisable details.
• You read it as if you were their boss.
• You present with a short email, and you follow up with a call.
• Your terms are signed before you give a name.
• Your candidate gave their go-⁠ahead for this company.
• The name went by email, with date and role, and it’s in your CRM.

Frequently asked questions

Can you forward a CV without your candidate’s consent?

No. In 2020, a recruitment agency received a warning from the Data Protection Authority for forwarding a CV without consent to the candidate’s employer. The fact that the CV didn’t contain a name made no difference.

When do you give your candidate’s name?

When your client wants to meet them, your terms are signed and your candidate has given the go-⁠ahead for that company. Not before, and not over the phone.

What if the client already knows the candidate?

Ask straight out who they have in mind and when they were in touch. A name in an old file is not the same as an ongoing process. How to clear that up is covered in “We already knew this candidate”: who’s entitled to the fee?

Can you send an anonymous profile to any company?

Better not. Only send it to companies your candidate knows you’re putting them forward to, and never to their own employer or the companies they ruled out.

Sources

• Data Protection Authority, Litigation Chamber, decision 43/2020 (in Dutch), July 2020: a recruitment agency forwarded a CV without consent to the candidate’s employer.