What Not to Tell a Recruiter or Headhunter

With a recruiter paid by an employer, it is unwise to volunteer your current pay, your minimum, the names of your other offers, or the full reason you are leaving. A recruiter should not ask about protected characteristics, and salary history is off limits in some places. Anything you put on record must be accurate. A reverse recruiter you hire should have the full picture.

First, whose recruiter is it?

The advice changes with the answer. A headhunter, an executive search firm or a recruiting agency is engaged and paid by an employer, so its duty runs to the client. The Federal Trade Commission, 2023 says the hiring company pays placement firms, and the Association of Executive Search and Leadership Consultants says its members work under an exclusive agreement with the client company. The page on whether it is worth paying a headhunter sets out the sources.

That does not make such a recruiter an opponent. But Dice, 2018, in an article on what not to say to tech recruiters, states the practical consequence: because recruiters are paid by employers, what you disclose in a casual conversation could affect where they present your résumé. It quotes Binh Wilson, founder of Everyday Interview Tips, calling a recruiter "the gatekeeper for the employer". A reverse recruiter is different. You hire and pay one, and it acts in your name, which changes what you should tell it. That is covered near the end.

What it is unwise to volunteer

"Unwise to volunteer" is not "lie". You can decline to volunteer a figure, change the subject or give a range without stating anything false. The table covers what one 2018 Dice article on tech recruiters warns against, and why.

A fair disagreement about pay. Not every practitioner agrees on current pay. Nick Corcodilos, 2017, who writes for candidates, advises never giving salary to employers or in-house recruiters. With an independent headhunter, he says to disclose it only if the headhunter agrees not to pass it to the employer, and he argues a good headhunter can use the figure to help you, partly because the headhunter wants referrals from you after you are placed. Dice's advice and his are not strictly incompatible, since both depend on whom the recruiter works for and whether you trust them. You are the one who has to decide.

Where history questions are not lawful. In some places the question should not be asked at all.

• New York. The state's salary history ban, in force from 6 January 2020, bars employers from asking about an applicant's salary history, including benefits, and from relying on it. It covers positions based primarily in New York. Employers may ask about salary expectations instead.
• California. Labor Code section 432.3, as amended effective 1 January 2026, bars an employer from seeking salary history, personally or through an agent, and from relying on it to decide whether to make an offer.

Both laws allow you to volunteer. The California statute says nothing prevents an applicant from disclosing salary history voluntarily and without prompting, and the New York guidance says an employer may consider what an applicant shares unprompted. So the protection only works if you do not hand the number over. Other states and cities have similar rules that differ in scope, so check where the role is based or ask an employment lawyer.

What a recruiter should not ask

The US Equal Employment Opportunity Commission says pre-employment questions should be limited to what is essential to decide whether a person is qualified. It says employers may not make pre-offer inquiries about disability, and that questions about race, sex, national origin, age, religion, colour or ancestry should generally be avoided when the answers would reveal those characteristics. Title VII also makes it unlawful for an employment agency to refuse to refer, or to classify or refer, anyone on the basis of race, colour, religion, sex or national origin.

In practice, a recruiter who asks about your age, health, family plans or religion is a warning sign about the recruiter or the client, whether or not that question is itself unlawful. You do not have to answer. Rules differ by country and state, and this page is not legal advice: if you think a question has affected your chances, take it to an employment lawyer where the role is based.

What must be accurate

Declining to volunteer something is different from misstating it. Anything that goes on record must be true: the résumé, the online profile, the application form, the answers to reference and background checks, and the dates, titles, degrees and results you present to a recruiter who will pass them on.

The consequences can be severe. In the United Kingdom, R v Andrewes, 2022 concerned a man who claimed university degrees and relevant experience he did not have to become chief executive of a hospice. He pleaded guilty to fraud offences and was sentenced to two years in prison, and the Supreme Court later ruled on how much of his earnings could be confiscated. In the United States, Workforce, 2019 describes employer cases in which a lie on an application was treated as the reason for a withdrawn offer, and notes employers arguing that later-discovered falsification is a defence to a discrimination claim.

The same applies if a form or a direct question asks why you left a job or whether you were dismissed: answer truthfully, because volunteering detail is a choice and a false answer is a misstatement. Stating a pay figure higher than your real one is a misstatement. The same applies to titles, scope and reasons for leaving: choose what you emphasise, and keep it true. Whether leaving a particular question unanswered is acceptable depends on the form, the question and the place, so ask an employment lawyer where the role is based.

With a reverse recruiter

A reverse recruiter you hire works for you, so the logic reverses. It can do the job better with the full picture: your real pay history and target, your reasons for leaving, the constraints on timing and location, what you have already tried, who you have already spoken to, and whether your employer knows. Holding back from a provider you pay makes the work worse and can cause a collision, such as an approach to an employer you wanted to avoid.

In return, ask for control: your name goes to companies only when you agree, messages go out after you approve them, and your confidential information stays inside the engagement. The pages on confidential searches while employed and how to choose a reverse recruiter cover how to check this, and the NRRA Standard sets out what the association expects of members, including, in its Code of Ethics, that a client's search is confidential by default. The handbook is published by the National Reverse Recruiter Association (NRRA), whose members sell this service.

If you work with both, tell your reverse recruiter which search firms you already know. See reverse recruiter vs headhunter for how the two fit together.

Frequently Asked Questions

What should you not tell a recruiter?

With a recruiter paid by an employer, avoid volunteering your current pay, your minimum, the names of other firms you are talking to, and the full reason you are leaving. Dice advises that because recruiters are paid by employers, what you say can affect where they present you. Declining to volunteer is different from misstating anything on record, which is never acceptable.

What should you not tell a headhunter?

The same cautions apply, because a headhunter works for the employer who pays. Nick Corcodilos, who writes for candidates, adds that you should disclose pay to a headhunter only if the headhunter agrees not to pass it to the employer. Whichever view you take, never misstate your record, because a recruiter will repeat what you say to the client.

Do I have to tell a recruiter my current salary?

Not in some places. New York has barred employers from asking about salary history since 6 January 2020, and California's Labor Code section 432.3 bars employers from seeking it, personally or through an agent. Both let you volunteer it, so the protection works only if you do not. Check the rules where the role is based, or ask an employment lawyer.

Can a recruiter ask about my age, health or family?

The EEOC says pre-employment questions should be limited to what is essential for judging qualifications, bars pre-offer inquiries about disability by employers, and says questions that would reveal race, sex, national origin, age or religion should generally be avoided. Title VII bars employment agencies from referring people on those grounds. You do not have to answer, and you can ask an employment lawyer.

Should I tell a reverse recruiter everything?

Yes, within the engagement. A reverse recruiter you hire acts for you, and the search works better when it knows your real pay, your reasons for leaving and any limits on who may be approached. Ask in advance how your information is stored and shared, and agree that your name goes to employers only with your approval.

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Edited by Arno Markus

Editor. Former executive recruiter, Founding President of the National Reverse Recruiter Association, creator of the Reverse Recruitment Method™, Founder & CEO of iCareerSolutions. About the editor · Editorial policy