[kelnos]

I don't think most people object too much to a recruiter simply ignoring an inbound email from someone looking for a job. Often candidates take a "spray and pray" approach anyway, and aren't expecting responses to most of their cold emails.

But if there's any kind of back-and-forth at all after that, especially if a candidate has gone through a phone screen or interview, I think everyone is owed some sort of closure in the process. Just as if the candidate accepts another job, they should let the recruiter know, a recruiter should let the candidate know if they're being rejected. There's no legitimate excuse for not even sending a canned one-liner rejection email.