Why answer recruiter calls?

The job hunting process has begun.  You might be searching for your next career move, or straight out of uni looking for your first job, or just looking for contract work.   Yes, we all know about getting our CV right, looking neat and smart when we attend interviews, how to answer questions, but something that isn’t often discussed is the basic principle of respect.

Recruiters spend hours going through CVs and interviewing.  Yes, it’s their job, but they are on your side and basically are your personal sales representative.  They are out there to sell you to prospect employers. 

During the job search stages, you are applying for many roles with a number of recruiters or direct to the companies.  During this process, you might decide that a role you applied for doesn’t interest you, or that you don’t like the company you went for an interview to, or you accept a role from one recruiter.

Your phone might be ringing with other potential job interviews, or other recruiters following up.  But now that you have a job, who cares about answering anyone else? WRONG!!!

Every call or email you receive needs to be answered.  Yes it’s common courtesy, but it also prevents you from getting dismissed as not ever interested.  What happens if the job you get doesn’t work out and you are on the job market again?  What happens if in the future, when it’s time to progress your career, jobs you are interested in are managed by the recruiter who you repeatedly ignored? 

Lastly, you never know who you will run into in the future either professionally or personally, so showing some courtesy and returning phone calls, showing up to interviews (or calling to say you aren’t going) should not be ignored and can go a long way.