First off, I am really sorry you encountered someone so stupid here. I hate to tell you this but they probably destroyed your chance to demonstrate what you could bring to this employer. The notion that this recruiter says you are qualified for three different positions is a red flag if they are not all extremely similar openings (like three recruiter openings in different departments). I am not saying you are unqualified for these positions but a smart and experienced recruiter is going to identify which one is the best fit and promote your candidacy for that one alone. I’m sure you as a an HR professional wouldn’t advise job applicants to use the “spray and pray” technique when applying to jobs at companies you’ve worked at. I’d imagine you probably disqualified those folks for at least six months, if not longer, when they came your way. So would you as an HR and recruitment professional ever do business with a recruitment agency if they attempted a similar “spray and pray” technique with their applicant submissions? Experienced recruitment agencies know moves like that can be the kiss of death to a given relationship with an employer.
My guess is you were dealing with an external recruiter here. Keep in mind that if you’re dealing with an external recruiter (one from an agency and not from a company itself), they might not be much better than you are on your own when applying directly for a job. In fact, they might end up screwing you because they simply don’t know how to submit you or anyone else for a given job. Most of them don’t have an exclusive or retained relationship with employers and therefore are more trouble than they’re worth. A lot of these places are staffed by people who have no recruitment qualifications so the scenario you describe doesn’t surprise me. If anything, don’t expect this person to contact you again unless they happen to hear back from the employer. Their goal is not to service you; their goal is to fill a given role with someone and get their commission. The major song and dance one day leading to a black hole of silence was so common from external recruiters for me when I was laid off and unemployed last year I simply presumed after they called or emailed that I’d never hear from them again. That mindset led me to stop getting upset with them because I simply accepted they’re useless. To tell you the truth, I have no idea what purpose external recruiters without exclusive retained employer relationships serve in this world. Even if you are a good applicant for a given job or assignment, employers prefer not to deal with these people anyway because it means that have to trust some random unknown agency likely run by incompetent morons. It makes absolutely no sense for a reasonable hiring manager to depend on these shady people to procure a contractor who they end up paying far above and beyond what they would pay if they hired the person. I would advise you going forward to keep your distance from external recruiters like this and expect they’re going to be pretty useless when they reach out to you no matter how fantastic an applicant they say you are. I would also advise should you choose to work with any others going forward that you put forth some very specific questions like asking how many people they have placed said client for the job or assignment they push you to commit to, where those people are located, how long those people lasted in those assignments, and how long the recruiter and their company have worked with said client. The willingness of external recruiters to provide this information will tell you all you need to know about whether or not it’s worthwhile to work with them.
The other thing I would also advise is to keep pushing forward until you have actual written job offer(s) in hand and continually seek out other job opportunities until that is the case. Don’t be surprised if you encounter a multitude of rather rude and stupid recruiters and hiring managers. You as an HR professional might not handle hiring in such a careless manor but sadly it’s very common amongst both external and direct recruiters (I would actually advise you to expect it to be the rule, and not the exception, with external recruiters).
I went through close to an entire year of unemployment until I landed my current job in June. I say this as someone who applied for well over a hundred jobs (maybe 200) at this time, signed on for about three dozen external recruiter outreach assignments that fell into black holes, got invited to interview for about a dozen of those jobs and assignments combined, ended up going to the final rounds of three jobs, and only having gotten one single offer after all was said and done with. I encountered endless external recruiters who called one day and had me commit to their assignments only to never hear from them again. I also encountered some rather moronic direct recruiters and hiring managers from some of the biggest global companies out there. One from a major financial unicorn company emailed me for a phone screening on a Friday, scheduled it for a Tuesday, and emailed me a half hour before the screening telling me the position was filled and a candidate had been selected. Another from one of the largest entertainment companies in the world held a phone screening with me, told me she would get back and schedule an interview with the hiring managers within the next week, and never got back to me until two weeks later when she sent me an email intended for someone else. Then I went through a final round of interviews with one of the world’s largest tech companies only to have continuously awkward moments with team members who proceeded to ask me what project I was working on in my current job when my resume explicitly denoted an end date to my last job and no “current job” to speak of and never bothered to apologize when I corrected them.
It’s easier said than done but don’t allow yourself to be at the mercy of any recruiter or hiring manager. Don’t expect them to apply the same principles as you would in their position.
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