What we’ve discovered that is top performers always consider the long term career opportunity in balance with the short term issues when deciding whether to accept an offer or not. However, these same people, only consider the short term issues when first talking with a recruiter for the first time. This is usually due to lack of time, etc. When recruiters delay this “instant judgment” in the first call, they tend to have much more in-depth meaningful career decisions. Some unprofessional recruiters come across as crass when they try this delaying tactic, the better ones come across as professional. But the key point, is for both the recruiter and candidate engage in an open dialogue, rather than making long term decisions using short-term information.

Regardless, what I tell managers is to always talk with a recruiter to find out the generic types of positions the recruiter handles, and if they’re in your career zone, you should spend time describing your background at a pretty high level. This way you’ll at least learn about new career opportunities. You never know, one might turn out to be a great move.