The call you're supposed to ignore, and why the smartest women always take it
Just after 11:40 on the morning following your strongest quarter to date, a call from a number you don't recognize appears on your display in Indianapolis. You let it ring out. The voicemail is from a recruiter whose name you recognize, and she won't say which role she has in mind. You're 50, running operations as chief operating officer in everything but title, in the middle of the year you spent a decade working toward. The board values you. The CEO relies on you. The plan is paying off. Common sense tells you to swipe it away, and by now you've already swiped away the previous three.
You have a fair idea of what that call is really about. The job market wants to know how much you're worth. What matters is whether you can justify skipping the answer.
Option one. Let it go
You let it go to voicemail and get back to your to-do list. Over time, that quiet avoidance adds up to a real price. Recruiters keep lists, and after three polite non-responses your name slides onto a different one, the list they stop ringing. The people who can actually see your work are the ones setting your market value. Silence from recruiters usually means nobody is paying attention to your work. This is the year your worth is highest, and you've just chosen not to learn the figure.
Option two. Listen, for information only
You return the call and say the line that costs you nothing: "I'm happy where I am, but I always take these calls. Walk me through the role, and if it's not right for me, I'll point you toward who it might suit." The cost is thirty minutes and the slight risk that you enjoy what you hear. The benefit is a number, a title, and a sense of how the market sees you, often a level above where your own company places you.
Option three. Pursue it fully
You move through the interviews in the middle of your best year, in an office where someone will eventually notice the Tuesday afternoons. The cost is attention you can't spare, a loyalty question if word gets out, and a real chance of an offer you'd have to weigh. The benefit is leverage, along with a clear answer to a question you've never said aloud: what would it actually take to get me to leave?
Counsel from seasoned leaders
Leaders who have run large organizations tend to answer without pausing: always take the call. You don't have to be ready to switch jobs; the call simply offers useful information at no cost to you. According to Deloitte's 2025 survey of 7,500 women, just 5% plan to remain with their current employer beyond five years. The ones who move on amicably weren't simply itching for change. They knew their number before they had to.
Recruiters also share something your manager rarely will, namely the role the market thinks you're best suited for. If the call concerns a chief operating officer seat and your company still titles you senior vice president, that isn't an job offer. Think of it as a recalibration you can apply right where you are, Central Indiana or anywhere else, without ever leaving your desk.
Last verdict
Option two, straight away. It isn't really a decision. It's a thirty-minute check on the market, and the women who take it are never caught off guard by their own value, or by anyone else's estimate of it. Pick Option C only if the figure is so surprising that you need to take a seat.
Your vote
Which option would you pick? Let it go, take the call, or pursue it fully. Cast your vote below. Next week we'll share the findings, including the one number that had many of you reaching for a chair.