Ask HN: Should I respond to unsolicited recruiting emails?

[vadskye]

As I assume many of you do, I get a number of recruiting emails from companies I've never heard of asking if I'm interested in new opportunities and so on. Some of these recruiters appear to be rather persistent - responding to the same thread up to five times without a response from me. If I'm not interested, is it customary to ignore the emails entirely or to send a short "I'm not interested right now" reply? I don't want to be rude, but writing a reply to each email would take some effort...

[dmuth]

Having been in this situation before, you need to take care of yourself first. These emails are unsoliticed, and you should not feel obligated to respond to each and every one if it creates a burden.

If a recruiter is being persistent and emailing you repeatedly, that's their problem, not yours.

[vadskye]

Makes sense to me - thanks!