My old manager said "always take the call from an unknown number between 9 and 10 AM" and after 3 years I still don't know if that was genius or crazy

He claimed recruiters and big clients only call in that window, but last Tuesday I answered a spam call selling roofing and lost 20 minutes of my morning, so which side are you on?

3 comments

3 Comments

avery_jackson1mo ago

Gotta disagree with you here. That advice is a relic from like 15 years ago when recruiters actually worked normal hours and spam calls weren't flooding every phone on the planet. These days scammers know people expect important calls in the morning so that's exactly when they hit. Lost 20 minutes? That's rough but I've had weeks where I answered three or four calls in that window and every single one was a scam or a telemarketer. The one real job offer I got last year came through at 2 PM on a Thursday. I'd bet your old manager meant well but the whole "between 9 and 10" thing is just asking for trouble now.

ruby_henderson361mo ago

@avery_jackson you make a good point about scammers timing their calls lol. But honestly, do you think recruiters have actually changed their habits that much, or is it more about us being paranoid now?

the_simon1mo agoTop Commenter

Actually hold on, I think the timeline might be a little off. Most of that shift to afternoon calls started way earlier, maybe around 2018 or 2019, when remote work blew up and people started blocking morning time for deep work. Recruiters I've talked to pretty openly say they avoid 9-10 now because they assume candidates are in meetings or getting started. So it's less about paranoia and more that the whole schedule just slid later naturally.