Why Do Recruiters “Fall Off the Earth”? An Insider’s Guide to the Disappearing Recruiter
As a Recruiter, I am often asked, “Why do recruiters incessantly contact me about a job, only to disappear once I’ve been submitted?”
Let me assure you, you are not alone. The lack of proper follow through by recruiters is not only an epidemic, it’s also pretty lame. I’m going to expand upon some of the reasons this typically occurs, so you can be proactive when – not if – it happens to you.
The “Soft” Recruiter
This type of recruiter is afraid to tell you when the answer from a client is “no”. To be fair, there are times when the feedback from a client is so bad, I don’t like to deliver the news either. However, you still deserve to know when you’ve been rejected. If your recruiter doesn’t follow up to deliver a yes or no to you within 3 weeks, chances are they aren’t going to. If your calls and emails go unreturned, you’ve probably encountered a soft recruiter.
The “Busy” Recruiter
Also known as The “Overwhelmed” Recruiter; if your conversations with this recruiter are generally rushed and it takes days for them to return your call or email, you are probably working with one of these. The main reason for the disappearance if this recruiter is that you’ve fallen off of the “money radar”. Translation: The client rejected your resume and there is no way they will make commission off of you now. They suddenly have amnesia, will forget to call you, and quickly move on to their next conquest. The difference between this recruiter and the “soft” recruiter is that they have no problem telling you about the rejection; if only they could remember.
The “Lazy” Recruiter
This one is nearly self explanatory, although it is sometimes easy to confuse a lazy recruiter with a busy one. The lazy recruiter prefers to work only when necessary, so they gauge you by effort. If they think you can make them money, they will work quickly and diligently. They are easily annoyed and often get snippy if you ask too many questions. If you are rejected by their client, they immediately lose interest in you and spend the rest of the day surfing the internet looking at LOLZ cats.
Traits of a GOOD Recruiter:
- A good recruiter will be as proactive for you as possible, regardless if you are on the current money radar.
- A good recruiter has the ability to remember you when the right opportunity does come along.
- A good recruiter spends time with you; it’s important to know what your objectives and desires are, in order to properly match you to opportunities.
- A good recruiter returns your calls or emails in a timely fashion.
- A good recruiter will tell you the truth. (Your resume sucks, your salary expectations are unrealistic, etc.)
- A good recruiter will help you how they can, even if they have nothing to gain from it.
If you find yourself working with a “soft”, “busy” or “lazy” recruiter, then drop that zero and get yourself a TRUE recruiting hero! Don’t settle for working with bad recruiters
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3 Responses to “Why Do Recruiters “Fall Off the Earth”? An Insider’s Guide to the Disappearing Recruiter”
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Comment made by Jan's Brag Rag on Dec 18th 2008 at 1:43 pm:
This is very good information, but how do you know a good recruiter from a lazy, busy, etc. recruiter? I’ve been job hunting for 6 months and haven’t found a recruiter yet that keeps in touch.
Comment made by Robh on Dec 25th 2008 at 12:09 am:
Slightly off this particular topic, but on the topic of a bad recruiter. What about the recruiter that is overly eager to get you into a position and begins a chain-calling assault as an effort to just wear a candidate into talking with a client? I once had a recruiter try to convince me to go with his client, then chain call me worse than any telemarketer. At one point, somehow I actually was convinced to talk with this individual and one of his clients. The result was exactly what I initially expected. It was a waste of time and his client was a complete jerk. In the end the client actually extended me an offer. Needless to say, I regreted even talking to them and was not interested.
I got the impression that this guy was out to make a sale regardless of the consequences. I found that he was trying to figure out how to say what he believed I wanted to hear, truth or not. When I did ask him to stop calling and that I was not interested in his position, both he and his client became beligerent with me through email.
Is there anything that can be done about this kind of behavior? It’s led me to believe that you should always go with your first instincts. And you should never entertain a recruiter when you are not actively looking for a new position.
Comment made by Robin on Jan 7th 2009 at 6:25 pm:
Rob, Next time find out who his boss is and then call his boss’s boss. Seriously, there is no need for guerrilla tactics and it makes him seem like just that – a telemarketer. He probably lied to his client about your interest and was desperate to get you to talk to them. When you didn’t, they were both put on the spot.