How many voice mail messages is too many?

I'm about to sound like the spokesmen for the Hairclub for Men. As a recruiter, I'm not just a staffing professional but a potential candidate for other firms looking to hire in more recruiting folks. Don't worry, boss, I'm not looking : )

Anyway, I get the headhunter calls. It could take you about a nanosecond to guess the companies that might like to hire staffing folks away from Microsoft. Anyway, as I have previously mentioned, the holiday time frame is prime for headhunter networking. Their corporate clients may be out of the office but many of the candidates are at home napping and watching reruns of Roseanne (or is that just me?) or working reduced schedules. They may check their e-mail or voice mail, but more than likely things are winding down for them. Plus with the new year coming, perfect time to think about one's career. So the headhunter networking season is upon us.

While I was traveling, I got some headhunter voice mails ("I'm working on a search for so-and-so company"). From one headhunter, in about the past week, I have received no less than eight voice mails (possibly more...I started deleting stuff). Interestingly, it's about an opportunity that another headhunting firm called me about in the past. But that doesn't matter to me. I'll talk to the headhunters (did you see my last post?) when I get my inbox under control.

What do we think about a headhunter that leaves 8 voice mails (some within the same day)? That's a lot of voice mails! Would it make you feel like this company *really* wanted you or that they didn't have enough other people to call? Like I said, I am going to call them back but I'm not sure how I feel about 8 voice mails. Has anyone else received so many calls from a headhunter? Any headhunters out there know what the common practice is?