Three Reasons Your Recruiter Won’t Call You Back

Everyone who works with recruiters ends up having the same few questions. But one of the most nagging ones is why won’t recruiters call back!

It can be infuriating, and one of the main reasons that staffing agencies get negative reviews online.

But there is often a valid reason that your recruiter won’t call you back. And if you were to be on the flip side of the equation you would understand why they aren’t being communicative.

So, what this article means to do is illuminate some of the more common reasons why your recruiter is ghosting you, or at least won’t call you back.

Some of the reasons are harmless, and they amount to basically a miscommunication, while others are indicative of you being a problem candidate (something no one wants to hear).

Let’s break this down and examine three of the most common reasons your recruiter won’t call you back.

There Are No Jobs Open in Your Field

The most common reason your recruiter won’t call you back is that there are no jobs for you. If a recruiter is not working on a job that you are a good fit for, they won’t waste their time speaking to you.

Everyone who is on the job hunt wants to be heard, but unfortunately staffing agencies are not in the business of being counselors. If they can’t make money with you, they will not waste time on you.

Now, many people might say: “I can do a job if they just give it to me!”.

A few things are wrong about this way of thinking. First, it’s not true. A marketing director isn’t licensed to administer medication or supervise surgery, and a sanitation worker isn’t a social media account manager. Specific jobs have very specific job requirements. It’s the recruiters job to find the perfect match. And just because you think that you can do a particular job it doesn’t mean that you can.

Second, it’s not a case of a recruiter “giving” you anything. Recruiters don’t just who is hired. They select the best candidates and connect them with the hiring managers.

Unless you’re working as a recruiter for a temp staffing agency that handles day labor or unskilled work or low level medical roles, it’s not up to the agency who works. Most roles, and certainly all higher end office and corporate roles require interviews where the hiring manager can compare your resume, skill set, and other variables and determine if you’re a good fit.

The simple fact is that many recruiters are stuck working on a very niche set of roles. And unless your skill set and resume happen to align exactly with what they are looking for, you’re not going to get a call back.

You Are a Problem Candidate

Here’s where we come to a very touchy subject for many people. The fact is, quite a large percentage of people are simply not skilled enough to work in a professional setting, or any setting for that matter.

There are a lot of issues that can make someone a problem candidate. They range from minor personality quirks that become exacerbated when dealing with recruiters, to major personality flaws that are red flags that you are an unstable person not fit to work with.

It would be too much for this small article to cover all of the vast personality issues that are seen as red flags to recruiters. Instead, what we will do is list some of the major things that people do or don’t do that create the label of Problem Candidate.

You No-Show to Interviews

This one’s a non-starter. If you’re a non-show to interviews, you’ll never be contacted by the agency again. They might not tell you that you’re listed as a DNC (do not contact , do not call) but you are. No responsible recruiter will deal with you again. They are likely going to ignore all calls and emails and texts from you.

Sadly, too many people think that they can blow off interviews and get away with it. Well, in some professions (looking at you nurses) this flys. But in any sort of professional setting, it’s the kiss of death.

If you’re blown off an interview and have not provided the recruiter with advance noticed, then you’re toast. Don’t bother trying to work with that recruiter again. No self respecting recruiter would risk their reputation or waste their time on someone who is irresponsible.

And yes, you can make up any number of excuses after the fact, but recruiters have heard them all over and over and grown tired of them and are jaded to the point where it’s a given that people lie.

You Take Too Long To Respond

Maye you’re just a slow responder. If a recruiter sends you an email about a job, that recruiter expects to hear back at the latest that day. In most cases they want to hear back sooner. If you are someone who doesn’t check your emails daily, then you’re considered a bad candidate.

There are too many people who are always on-top of their email to waste time with someone who checks their emails periodically throughout the week.

What’s even more problematic is if you are scheduled for an interview or a job and take your sweet time to follow up. Remember, most recruiters just assume that people are going to flake on them, so if you cause them anxiety over not responding asap when working with them, they’ll eventually write you off as a lazy, disinterested candidate.
The good thing is that this won’t necessarily make you a Do Not Contact, and won’t tarnish your reputation with other agencies. So, if a particular recruiter tires of you, someone else down the line might revisit your profile. However, if you behave in the same way, you will get the same result.

You Over Share Personal Details

No one cares what’s happening in your personal life. And if you’re someone who feels it’s appropriate to let your recruiter and employer know every single thing that’s going on in your personal life, then odds are you’re going to get the cold shoulder.

It’s not professional to discuss your love life with your recruiter, so if you do this, or anything else that’s too personal, you will be considered unprofessional.

While many people might consider it perfectly acceptable to go into great detail about their family drams, the interpersonal dynamics at the workplace, and even health issues, believe me it’s not. No recruiter will tell you to your face that you’re “over sharing”, but they will mark your file and make sure that you are not submitted to any clients.

Why? Because if a recruiter sends over an unstable person to a client, they risk ruining the client relationship. More so, they risk their own job. If a recruiter sends over a candidate that isn’t professional, then the recruiter won’t make money (the client will likely fire the person—or have the staffing agency fire them) and the recruiter’s boss won’t be happy.

You Won’t Stop Talking

This one ties into the previous issue. If you’re someone who simply won’t stop talking, then you’re a bad candidate.

Have you never heard of the phrase: a good listener?

Well, that’s not a cliché. People like people who listen. If you’re always talking, it becomes apparent to preceptive people (recruiters are preceptive) that you’re not a sophisticated candidate. You’re not someone who is going to be a valuable addition to a company.

The important point to remember here is that it’s important to listen to your recruiter. Ask questions and listen when they speak, it will serve you well.

You Have A Huge Ego

This one can’t be fixed, unfortunately. If you are someone who has a huge ego, then you’re probably going to gloss over this one and not give it another thought.

But the fact is that people who have huge egos, and don’t hide them well, are going to be problematic to recruiters.

The problem isn’t the huge ego, it’s the huge ego that tells a recruiter that they want something that they’re not qualified for.

It’s the delusional person with a huge ego, more precisely. If you are someone who has just graduated from college and you think that you deserve to have a mid-level position at a company with people beneath you and a executive salary, then yes, you’re ego is going to shut you out of a recruiter’s good graces.

You’re A Liar

This one’s a given. If you’ve lied about your prior work experience to a large extent (such as listing companies that you haven’t worked out) or lied about your degrees, then a recruiter will tag you as someone to be avoided.

Why? Simple, you are a liability to your staffing agency. This is especially true when it comes to larger lies.

If you only are covering a small few month long career gap, then don’t worry. Only  government agencies really care about those specific dates.

But if you listing a company where you never worked? Yes, that’s a huge red flag and one reason why you’re not going to get hired.

It becomes even more problematic when you list having a degree that you’ve not obtained. In the old days, people could fabricate college degrees and get by with it. The only way to verify that a person went to a particular school was to contact the school itself. And that is a long and arduous  process (ask anyone who has ever worked as a credentialer).

Nowadays, though, most colleges and universities are all enrolled in databases such as DegreeVerify and other background and educational verification organizations. In fact, the contracts that these companies enact with colleges oftentimes prohibit the employees of the college from proving information for free to credentialing departments.

So, if you’re a liar (a serious one) then a recruiter is likely to ignore you.

You’re Unprofessional

Do you speak to your recruiter while your television or radio is blasting in the background? Do you conduct conversations that were scheduled beforehand in the middle of a supermarket, restaurant, or other public setting?

Well, if that sounds like something you would do, then yes you are unprofessional and your recruiter likely thinks that you’re not worthy to place in a respectable company.

Think of it this way: if you called a lawyer, or doctor, or some other professional and they spoke to you while Judge Judy blared in the background, what would you think?

You’re Resume Sucks

Finally, it could be that your resume is trash. This doesn’t mean that you have limited work experience (many new grads have this) or are someone with a career gap (that can be managed). What it does mean is if you have a really sketchy work history, it could be indicative of someone who likes to quit jobs at will.

There are people who legitimately have reasons for switching jobs very frequently (such as executive assistants who are constantly being hire on as temp e.a.’s).

But if you have a string of short term, low skilled admin work where you only worked a few months, with long gaps in between, most recruiters will recognize that as being a a sign that the person goes on and off of unemployment and could be a long term unemployment scammer.

These people are extremely common to staffing agencies and all recruiters who deal with short term, low level work will have dealt with them. There is always various excuses as to why none of their jobs ever worked out—but the fact is in most cases these people simply aren’t reliable and won’t stay on the job. After you’ve placed a few people who stop showing up to work after a few days, then you (as a recruiter) will learn to know the tell tale signs from reading resumes.

Honestly, if you’re this person then you already know that you’re gaming the system and using a recruiter to get you a quick job that you don’t intend on staying at.

However, if you’re someone who for some reason really has had bad luck, my advice is simple: find a job with any recruiter—be open to take short term work (even a one day assignment) and be super fast to respond to them. This builds trust. And after a while they will vouch with you.

The Recruiter Has Not Received Feedback

It could be as simple as your recruiting not having anything to tell you. And if your recruiter hasn’t gotten any feedback, then they might not want to talk to you. Why? Because you’re likely going to ask them questions and they won’t have anything to tell you.

So, they avoid the conversation all together. And it’s nothing to do with you as a candidate, it is more to do with the client not being forthcoming with them.

When you are dealing with a companies corporate HR team, sometimes they simply don’t give information. And that’s not the fault of the recruiter. The recruiters only job is to set you up with the interview and then coordinate dialog between the company and yourself, negotiate salary, and handle all the particulars.

Unfortunately, sometimes the company is slow to handle things and simply won’t be transparent after an interview. In these cases, the recruiter might simply want to not communicate with you because they have noting to tell you.

But rest assured, as soon as they do hear something, they will contact you.