I have been recruiting for about 11 years and one of the biggest frustrations that has always been around, is job seekers frustrated with the lack of feedback from recruiters.

Within the past 6 months, I have been hearing that frustration a lot lately from job seekers.  Just last week a candidate was telling me how frustrated they are because none of the recruiters he has reached out to on LinkedIn have responded.   The lack of response really has nothing to do with you and it doesn’t mean there’s something wrong with your resume.  It’s not necessarily the recruiter being rude although maybe in some cases that is the case 🙂  it’s just not “always” the case.

The way recruiting works is that we work for the client, the hiring manager, the organization that is hiring, because they are the ones paying for our services.  As a job seeker, we are expecting that by us contacting a recruiter, they will follow up with us all the time and work on getting me a job.  That’s not really how it works though, we work for the client, not the job seeker.  So when it comes to lack of response, it’s not anything personal to you, it just means we don’t have any job openings that match your background at this time.

I do think that it should be acknowledged that your resume was received.   I also feel that any feedback that can be provided to the job seeker during the process should be.  Not getting back to a candidate because you moved on to something else better for you, doesn’t mean you should forget about everyone else.   So I do understand the frustrations of a job seeker, I too have been a job seeker and experienced the same things.  Getting contacted for an opportunity and then never hearing back on it.  As a recruiter though, I know that it means the position could be filled or the hiring manager isn’t interested in talking with me.

Recruiters go through frustrations with job seekers, but that’s a whole separate article 🙂

Things are hard these days and looking for a job is more stressful and competitive now than it has been in a very long time.   Since the recruiters are working for the client, I think it’s beneficial to get your resume to several recruiters so you are in their database when they are sourcing for job openings.   I would also suggest trying to put more energy into following up with recruiters and constantly networking with them, instead of getting frustrated from the lack of response.

I personally encourage others to always follow up with me and I’m very honest about them not hearing from me unless something is a match for their skills and experience.   I work for the client I’m recruiting for so my job is to find the candidates that match their needs.  If that’s not you, then there isn’t any reason for me to contact you, no offense though at all !!!  🙂 🙂 🙂

Links for job seekers: JobSearchingStrategies.com, Pittsburgh’s Ultimate Career Connection, Job Search in the US, Job Search in Pittsburgh, Free Tips Newsletter, Need Job Search Help?