Why are the recruiters so rude?

Why are these recruiters so rude??? They never respond to mails or return my calls! And it was they who reached out to me in the first place!!!

This is a complaint I hear very often from a lot of friends and acquaintances. Especially when they learn that I am a search consultant! And they don't mean just the hiring/ HR manager in organisations, but also search consultants in various firms.

Now here's something I would like to mention upfront, almost like a disclaimer :
Please remember, there are good and bad professionals in every business, and it is no different with the recruitment business. Like in most industries, for every good recruiter, there are scores of incompetent, ineffective, indifferent and sometimes indiscreet recruiters.

Here's a few tips/ facts to keep in mind when you are dealing with recruiters/ HR managers/ search consultants :

I. The recruitment manager in the company :

- The recruitment/ staffing manager in a company typically has to deal with hundreds of resumes for every position they are trying to fill across all levels. They are not interested in finding you a job or enhancing your career. They are only interested in filling the position and achieving their recruitment numbers. And some of them have pretty large number of vacancies to fill. (Many companies do work at making this process as smooth and professional as possible for the applicants, but you will hear more complaints than praises since rejected applicants, who are the majority, normally tend to feel humiliated or offended by the end of the process.)

- This might not be as bad for some of the senior level hiring since the number of candidates are far lesser in number. But the candidates at that level too feel as upset, if not more so, because they are far more sensitive to being rejected. (You have to admit, we also have larger egos at this level! :) )

- The best way to deal with this is not to have any major expectations from the hiring managers beyond the basic professional courtesies and niceties. And don't be surprised if you don't get that too. Don't be upset or lose all hope if they don't respond to your mails or return your calls. They will write to you or call you only if they have a reason to. And your reaching out to them is not reason enough for them to respond!
Don't take it personally, because they are not singling you out. They don't know you from Adam, or Eve for that matter!

- But you can still stand out and get through all the clutter by making your resume do the talking for you. (Click here for tips on how you can make your resume count.)

- And there's absolutely no point in losing your cool or being rude in turn, because it only makes things worse for you. If there was any chance of your being shortlisted, you would just blew it away!


II. The recruitment/ placement consultant :
- You would typically go through a similar experience when you are dealing with recruiters from contingent hiring firms. They get paid only after the company selects a candidate presented by them. So don't be surprised if they are not paying much attention to you as you wax eloquent about your career aspirations! They are only interested in your resume which they can push along with a dozen or more others to the next company who has asked them to send resumes.

- But for certain positions this is the best way or the only way to go! So it helps if you are able to find out the relevant recruitment agencies who handle most of the hiring for the positions you are interested in within your industry. Maintain a list of these companies and their contact details. And write in to them and send in your updated resume whenever you are on the lookout for a job or a change.

- Again, don't expect them to respond back to you when you reach out to them. They would be interested in you in the beginning for as long as you are a potential candidate for them. After that you are just another resume in their database which might be pulled out for the next assignment in another company.

- Being networked and finding some connection to these consultants always helps. Connect with them on LinkedIn or try find any friend/ colleagues/ acquaintances who will be willing to put in a personal word for you with these individuals.

- In such cases, where the company is using multiple recruitment agencies to hire people, they would also usually be looking for people directly. If you are looking for a change or a new job, you should make a list of all the companies that you would like to join, send your resume to the email id they typically provide on their website and also keep checking the jobs section for specific openings and apply again to the email ids provided.

- Here again, networking and staying connected with the relevant HR and business people in these companies through LinkedIn and through friends/ ex-colleagues is very important.

III. The search consultant in a retained executive search firm :

(This is a completely different animal and it requires a separate post which will follow shortly.)

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So what has been your worst experience when dealing with hiring managers/ recruiters?
And maybe you have some memorable experiences to share as well!

(Do comment on this post or write in to me at ckguruprasad@gmail.com. If I use your experience or respond to your queries in my post, I will not mention any names of individuals or companies, so you can be rest assured.)