The call you're supposed to ignore, and why the smartest women always take it

Shortly before noon on the day after your best quarter ever, an unknown number flashes across your screen. You let it ring out. Leaving the voicemail, a recruiter whose name sounds familiar says she has a position but won't reveal anything about it over the phone. At 50, you already run the operation as chief operating officer, even if your title says otherwise, and you're right in the thick of the season you've been building toward for ten years. The board values you. The CEO relies on you. The plan is on track. Common sense urges you to erase it, and in fact you've wiped out the previous three without a second thought.

You recognize what the call is truly about. The market is quietly checking what you're worth. What actually matters is whether you can keep ignoring that information and still be in control of your future.

Top pick Ignore it

You let the voicemail go and get back to what you had planned. The harm builds up gradually and without much noise. Recruiters keep running lists, and after three polite non-answers your name drifts onto a different list, the one nobody bothers to call. Your value in the market is determined by the people who are genuinely paying attention to your work. When no recruiter is calling, it usually means nobody is searching for you. This is the year you're winning, which means it's the year your price is highest, and you've just chosen not to find out what that price is.

Runner-up Take the call, information only

Call back and say the line that costs you nothing: "I'm happy where I am, and I always take these calls. Tell me about the role, and if it isn't right for me, I'll tell you who it might be right for." The cost is thirty minutes and the small chance that you like what you hear. The return is a figure, a title, and a read on how the market sees you, which is often a level above where your own company currently places you.

Final option Run the process

You work through the interviews in the middle of your best year, at a company where someone will eventually notice your Tuesday afternoons. You pay for it in focus you can't afford to lose, in questions about your loyalty if the news travels, and in a genuine offer you'll eventually have to weigh. The return is leverage, plus a clear answer to a question you've never asked aloud: what would it actually take to get me to leave?

Seasoned executives recommend

Executives who have led large companies tend to be direct on this point: answer the call every time. Not because you're leaving, but because the call is information, and it costs you nothing to receive. A 2025 Deloitte study that polled 7,500 women revealed that just 5% expect to remain with their present employer beyond five years. Women who transition successfully were not simply restless. They had their figure ready long before anyone asked for it.

Those same women also note that a recruiter will share something your boss rarely volunteers, namely the level at which the market sees you. If a recruiter is discussing a chief operating officer position while your employer still lists you as senior vice president, the call is not really an offer. It's a signal you can act on right inside your current company, with no need to walk out the door.

Final ruling

Choose the second option, without question. It isn't really a decision. Think of it as a half-hour reality check on the market, and women who accept it are rarely blindsided by their own value or by someone else's read on it. Pick Option C only if the figure is what makes you take a seat.

Your vote form

What would your move be? You can disregard it, answer the call, or go through the full process. Cast your vote below. Next week we'll share what we found, including the figure that left most of our readers stunned.