To find out why some recruiters act this way, we reached out to Christine Mitterbauer, a licensed and ICF-approved career coach based in the UK. "My impression is that many recruiters have set targets for how many people they have to contact for a specific role, how many they have to meet and interview," she told Bored Panda.
According to Christine, these targets are set by the management so there’s a lot of pressure on the recruiter. Because of that, "they often resort to a scattergun type approach, where quantity is put before quality. With this approach, there’s no time to do any thorough research on the person they’re contacting," she explained.
The career coach believes that while people meet many incompetent recruiters out there, there are plenty of good ones too. "You could argue that the competence of the recruiter is at least in part a reflection of the training they receive by management, as well as how the targets they have to achieve are structured," Christine added. "If there’s hardly any training or the targets are very much about quantity over quality, then the recruiters filling these positions will not be of a high standard or integrity."
If you’re often approached by recruiters with ridiculous job offers, Christine suggested not wasting your time or insulting them. "You could try making your profile clearer, but as many recruiters won’t even take the time to read your profile anyway, you will probably still be contacted by them with irrelevant offers."
"So don’t get angry or annoyed, put your mind into theirs, and remember that they work under a lot of pressure and have silly targets to hit. Simply ignore their requests, or have a standard reply ready to send where you say you’re not interested in any roles other than XYZ."
Christine offered some advice for management of the recruitment companies: "Focus on investing in your people with quality training and trust in the recruiters' abilities. This is likely going to attract much better candidates for roles than setting artificial targets and providing limited training."
We also managed to get in touch with coach Mark Anderson, who offers career counseling programs for people in the UK and internationally. We were curious about why some recruiters don’t even bother to do research before contacting a person for a role. Although he wouldn't want to tar all recruiters with the same brush, Mark guessed it comes down to laziness. "At the end of the day, if a recruiter can get you into a job, that's their aim, regardless of whether the job is right for you or not."
"They may rely on people's desperation too. The longer someone goes without finding a suitable role, the more likely they are to compromise on what is best for them," he told Bored Panda.
Mark’s clients tell him that many recruiters are more interested in "closing the deal" rather than finding what is best for their candidates, and that could be one reason why applicants often encounter such incompetence. "I think it may be down to a mismatch of priorities between client and candidate needs," the career coach added.
If you’re job-hunting right now, it’s easy to feel overwhelmed by the whole process. It's even easier to become frustrated by sloppy and negligent recruiters. Mark mentioned that the main thing is to be crystal clear about what type of work you seek. "The best recruiters are the ones who take the time to really find out what you are looking for and take a genuine interest in your career development." If they are not meeting your needs, "be prepared to walk away."
He advised you to be firm about your wants and needs from the outset. "Ideally, speak to a real person rather than simply completing your details on a form and waiting for an email response," Mark said. "If you are not sure what career path you want to follow, seek help from a career coach. It can also be useful to take a psychometric assessment to help identify strengths and aptitudes. This can help to boost confidence at a time when many people are struggling with this."
