No response!!

We feel bad when recruiters don’t respond to us…..right?

Especially when it’s no more a cold call. It’s a situation where you’ve already had the first interaction or a meeting or an email exchange or an introduction through a common contact and suddenly everything goes quiet!! There’s no response to your follow-ups and at times there’s no response even after committing that they will respond.

We feel bad!!

Come to think of it, aren’t we all culprits of a similar behaviour?? Knowingly or unknowingly, we all behave in the same way with others as we claim, recruiters behave with us.

We don’t respond…. We just don’t respond!!

Lack of time, lack of attention, lack of purpose or it could be as simple as lack of respect!! Reason can be anything or it’s just that we don’t know ‘how to say NO’.

We opt for not responding.

Is it good? Just some food for your thought!!

I understand, no one is perfect and that includes me. I sometimes end up missing or delaying my responses. I have jumbled up my meetings with candidates few times and I once double booked them. Doesn’t happen very often but yes, mistakes do happen. However, I make sure I apologise and follow-up to right the wrong. ‘Not responding’ is NOT an option especially when your interaction has crossed the line of so called ‘cold’ stage.

Besides this ‘not responding’ epidemic that engulfs most of us, here are some more classic behaviours job seekers end up showing but they become pretty furious if recruiters behave in the same way!!!

No sense of time – For some, it’s ok to show up 15-20 minutes late without any information. And then there are the other types, they will call you in time to say they are 10 minutes away and they won’t show up for the next 40-45 minutes or won’t show up at all.

“The recruiter told me that he will call me during the day, I’ve been waiting for him for the last three hours and I still don’t see any trace of him. My whole day has been wasted”

No sense of accountability – After agreeing to email you certain documents or task reports, they will decide not to do so and they don’t see any reason to let you know why they’ve decided so.

“The recruiter is yet to send me the job description; it’s been three days”

Lack of discipline – Missing appointments, falling sick (because of indiscipline), sleeping till 11:00 am, excessive partying including drinking and smoking, heavy debts (credit card is always on or nearing limits)

“WTF… My recruiter has gone on a holiday, I just received an automated reply from her”  

Lack of commitment – As soon as the visa gets approved, they will start finding a new job. No, don’t get me wrong, I’m not against your growth and progress but most of the time the plan to change is executed so pathetically that it burns all their bridges and leaves all the parties involved with a bad taste in their mouths.

“The recruiter should at least give me a feedback to why I have been rejected. I’m a customer to him. He should give me a proper customer service”

These are some of my real-time experiences and statements that I’ve heard from job seekers. How easy it is to complain and find faults in others but I am sure you would agree, how equally important it is to introspect, identify the areas that need improvement and try to become a better person who not only cares for themselves but also values others and their time.

For a start, let’s all learn to respond AND on time.