Why Don’t Recruiters Call Me Back?

When we launched Simpson Dean Recruitment, one of our core business principals was to get back to every Candidate, as we believe this is what makes us different to many agencies out there. 

Whether you have just sent your CV in, called the office seeking some advice or been successful in landing that perfect role…..or not!

After all, without Candidates we can’t fill roles and we feel it’s only common courtesy to respond to Candidates when they’ve taken the time and effort to contact us!

But why does the recruitment industry in general not follow this principle? 

To explain why this could be the case, we need to look at what has taken place over the past decade…..including the recession.  Not the recession again I hear you cry, but please bear with us whilst we explain!

As we mentioned in our ‘WHY CAN’T WE FIND THE RIGHT TALENT FOR OUR BUSINESS?’ blog in May, the recession hit the UK job market hard and between March 2008 and September 2011……

890,000 more people became unemployed
The number of job vacancies reduced by 225,000
Cost savings exercises by businesses cost the UK employment market 460,000 jobs

Or to put it in basic terms, by September 2011, there were 2.5 million people unemployed and only 453,000 vacancies to fill. 

That meant Recruiters and Employers suddenly became swamped with applications from Candidates desperate to find a job and it was common practice for certain bodies to encourage Candidates to apply for every job, whether they had the skills or not.

Remember, Recruiters don’t get paid to look for a job for you, they get paid by their client to find  a Candidate to fill a role and this huge influx of applications meant that Recruiters had many more CVs to review on a daily basis. 

As many Recruiters were, and still are, heavily targeted with KPIs (Key Performance Indicators), more of their time was spent aiming to achieve these targets rather than feeding back to Candidates!  Sadly, that mindset is still very much in practice today and, in our opinion, the personal touch has been lost, leaving many Candidates feeling let down by Recruiters and Agencies in general!

So, what can you do to ensure that your Recruitment Consultant stays in touch throughout your job search?

You can change the way your Recruiter works with you by changing the way you work with them and here are our Top Ten Tips for success:

  1. When applying for positions, make sure that you can do the job.  It may sound obvious, but putting yourself forward for roles that you are clearly not qualified for will get the Recruiter’s attention, but for all the wrong reasons.
  2. Consider the skills the job requires and restructure your CV accordingly in order that your skills stand out.
  3. Think about how your skills could be transferable and ensure they are highlighted to make it easy for the Recruiter and a potential employer to see.  You will be judged on how well your CV reads and, if your skills don’t exactly or closely match what a potential employer is looking for, chances are you won’t be considered for the role and it’s possible you won’t hear from that Recruiter again until they have another suitable role for you. 
  4. After sending your CV to an Agency / Recruiter or applying for a role, always follow up with a phone call to ensure your CV has been safely received and ask the name of the Recruiter that you have been allocated to. 
  5. If you haven’t heard back from a Recruiter after 2-3 days, try calling again.  Making personal contact with a Recruiter can help to keep your name fresh in their mind, especially when you consider they may be working with a large number of Candidates and roles. 
  6. Be honest with your Recruiter.  Believe us when we tell you that there is very little a Recruiter won’t have come across before so, even if you think it’s a good idea to tell a little white lie on your CV or keep something important/relevant to yourself…..don’t!  A good Recruiter should be able to provide guidance and advice to their Candidates and it’s always easier to deal with things up front than having to face collateral damage afterwards! 
  7. Employers are becoming much more ‘tech-savvy’ these days when it comes to the recruitment process, so consider your social media postings……are you happy with how you may come across to a potential employer?
  8. Be pro-active with your Recruiter.  If you want to stay on top of their pile of applicants,  then you need to make an effort.  Call them to discuss new jobs they may have taken on and don’t forget to update them with any new contact details or if you learn a new skill.
  9. Take control of your job search!   Be choosy about who you work with and build relationships with Recruiters who truly value their Candidates.  That’s something those of us here at Simpson Dean are proud to say we do……we’re one of those recruitment agencies where both our candidates and clients are equally important to us.
  10. Finally, be polite to your Recruiter.  This is a partnership and we’re quite nice people really when you get to know us!!

We appreciate that the above tips may not suit everyone, but this is only our opinion, so please feel free to ‘cherry-pick’ what feels right for you and hopefully you can look forward to a ‘fruitful’ working relationship with a Recruiter who really cares!  See you soon we hope!!

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