This week I’m sharing Candidate Pet Peeves for the last of my series. I have addressed Recruiter Pet Peeves and Client Pet Peeves in previous posts. Many candidates pointed out that recruiters have some issues they could improve on as well, so today I will be sharing comments I received from job seekers and a few of my own experiences. Looking for a job is hard enough, so recruiters let’s take some of these to heart and see if we can’t assist in improving the relationship between recruiters and job seekers. Lack of communication It seems there is a common thread of frustration in the recruiting process between all the players, candidates, clients and recruiters. That is lack of communication and follow-up. Multiple candidates mentioned that after they interviewed with the employer, they did not receive any follow-up from the recruiter. “Come on recruiters, I took the time to interview for you, take the time to call me back.” A quick phone call with some feedback would go a long way for hopeful candidates, even if the job seeker is not moving forward in the process. 
Being contacted for jobs that aren’t in the right field I have actually had this happen to me. A recruiter emailed me to let me know about a programming job and he thought I would be a good fit for the position. He didn’t look very long at my profile. I probably came up in his search because I have recruited .NET developers, but I am certainly not one. Come on recruiters; take a few extra minutes to review profiles or resumes to see what we really do, not just because you found the right “key words”. 
Generic LinkedIn Messages Recruiters who send out generic copy & paste style messages on LinkedIn for job openings. I heard from a number of candidates, “I can’t tell you how many of these I get in a week.” Too many recruiters do this too often. It is usually obvious to the candidate, especially when you forget to change the name on the email, oops… Write something to personalize your InMails to really get the attention of people you are trying to reach. Pushy recruiters Pushy recruiters who call you at work and at home about an opening, but then don’t leave a message. Take the chance and leave a message. “If I’m interested, I will call you back.” Another comment I received was: When I told the recruiter I wasn’t interested after the first interview, they wanted me to keep going in the process. If I’m not interested, why waste everyone’s time. Let it go, it wasn’t the right job for me. 
Submitting a resume to a company website Please apply to our company website and we will be in touch; maybe, or will you fall into the “black hole” of our applicant tracking system? A number of candidates mentioned how frustrating it is to go through all the hoops of applying on a company website, completing an online profile, adding their resume and a cover letter and then never hearing anything from the company.
Please share your story: What are some of the difficulties you have gone through as a job seeker?