| Thanks for responding! What you're saying is correct. Obviously you should stand out. Of course recruiters shouldn't move on with or make initial contact with folks that aren't good candidate. That's not really what I'm working against though. If someone applies to a role via a portal or something and the company doesn't respond, that's not ghosting (or, rather, that's not the ghosting I'm talking about). Maybe I should make that clear in the original post - I'll do that. This is more tackling the case where there's been some communication between you and the recruiter, and then they just drop it. That's the rude case I'm focusing on. In both the recruiter case and the dating case, the recruiter is perfectly in the right to want to move on at any point. But a quick 5 work message or email vs ghosting makes a big difference for the recipient, I'd think. Even outside of being less rude, it makes things easier because you know which doors are actually still open or not. For the record, I already do what you're saying, and it is good advice in general. I have dozens of calls with people inside companies I'm looking to work at and look for internal roles. How well that works though depends on a number of things even outside of how qualified you are. |
If a potential employer or recruiter (who could qualify as an agent for the employer, because they have a contract) says anything to a candidate they open themselves up to lawsuits (at least in the USA). Suppose a recruiter does call or send an email: Sorry, we don't think you qualify for the job. Or, Sorry, the employer chose someone else. Many candidates will pursue that with more questions -- What did I do wrong? What skills don't I have? How was the other person better than me? That kind of thing. And any answer the recruiter gives can open a can of worms, from negative social media posts to lawsuits.
A person who doesn't want to date you might make up a white lie -- I have to wash my hair that evening, I can't get a sitter for my dog, etc. because they don't want to say "I don't find you attractive." Employers and recruiters can get sued if they tell the truth, and sued if they lie, so they often just say nothing, or send out some generic email like "We'll keep you in our files." Candidates should understand that and not take it personally.
A good recruiter can coach candidates and help them fine-tune a resume and cover letter, but as I mentioned before recruiters will only put that kind of effort into candidates they strongly believe they can place. Everyone else gets ignored.