we have chatted a lot on yahoo instant message for almost 2 years. I know him a lot except for his identity.
Which is to say, not at all? At least his biography as related to you sounds a little fishy (or maybe you are relaying it wrong).
he is not fishy. he is a real guy. i did not ask his identity, and i did not disclose mine. i told him some time ago that one of my classmates quit from morgan and is now managing a big firm in NJ. his headhunter happened to recommend him to the firm, so he quickly suspected the ceo is my classmate, and he seeks confirmation from me and i said yes.
Playing the devil's advocate here... but how you do you know he's not making up the whole headhunter bit and trying to work you to give up your contact, your classmate?
I think you are a bit on the naive side... working a contact is a reason to make up a story; Anyway, you know him better than any of us - but from what you are saying... fishy.
I don't understand how this can even be discussed? At the end of the day it's your intuition and judgment. Personally the bar for my recommending people is pretty high. I want to have the reputation that when I do recommend people, they will be quality. Those people reflect on my judgement skills. So ask yourself this: how will your classmate (who is in some postion of power) think about you when he meets this guy or when this guy uses your name to get into the door? And if you don't know then how much are you willing to risk of your own "credibility capital?"
that is a good question. in the past, i recommended a guy into our group, it turned out he was incompetent. in the end, i took over his job, equivalent i was doing 1.5 jobs for 1 salary.