How to Get a Recruiter to Notice You & How to Deal With Ghosting

Advice for what to do if a recruiter ghosts you

• Don’t burn the bridge yet. Leave the door open and wait a few minutes longer on the meeting, and then shoot them a quick text or email. Give them the benefit of the doubt. They may have forgotten, emergencies happen.
• If you are expecting bad news, let the recruiter off the hook in order to get the closure and finality that you want and deserve. Send a quick note and ask for 30 seconds of their time to let you know what happened and not leave you in the dark. These are likely difficult conversations for them, so send a message and acknowledge the issue. 
• If things are going well, send them a message and try to connect live to get feedback. And if you want to maximize your potential, you can always escalate and go to the next person. 
• Handle the rejection well. You don’t know what the future holds, so it’s best to end this relationship on a good note.
• Avoid ghosting altogether by putting everything on the table up front. Don’t let the recruiter be caught off guard.

Additional resources

• Sample resumes
• How to write a cover letter
• How to optimize your LinkedIn profile
• How to write a follow-up email after an interview

Transcript

Pete Newsome 00:15
You’re listening to Finding Career Zen Podcast. I’m Pete Newsome. And I am joined again today by Ricky Baez, who I asked to come back for a little q&a today, Ricky, how are you?

Ricky Baez 00:25
I’m doing good Pete. How about you?

Pete Newsome 00:28
Enjoying the day and it’s a beautiful day here in Florida after a devastating hurricane we just came through. So we’re on the other side of that now with, you know, being fortunate and were a lot of others were not. And it’s been a weird week, but we’re back to business.

Ricky Baez 00:50
That’s right. We’re back to business. You know, there are some people in Southwest and West Florida that really, really suffered through the storm, others were lucky others were so we’re not so lucky.

Ricky Baez 00:59
And my hearts go out to everybody who’s still in the recovery efforts, which is not going to look, they’re not going to see any kind of normalcy for a long, long time. So this is the time to be that neighborly, neighbor and help out if you can. But my thoughts and hearts are with them today.

Pete Newsome 01:16
So we, we always ask for questions, we do get them every once in a while, or we like them whenever they come in. Because we want candidates to be able to ask open questions it will be able to give an honest answers so we have a couple of today that we wanted to address why I asked you to come back on I like to keep you keeping me honest as an HR professional, which I am not.

Pete Newsome 01:44
Although, when it comes to working with recruiters, I think that is something needless to say I’m comfortable answering. And both of these questions today were aimed at recruiters. So I thought that would be an interesting show today. So you’re ready to tackle a couple of these.

Ricky Baez 02:01
I’m ready to go I got my coffee.

Pete Newsome 02:03
Alright. The first one is about how to get a recruiter to notice you. That was it. That’s what they asked. That’s why there are a lot of different ways to interpret that. But what do you think Ricky is a candidate for? How to get a recruiter to notice you?

Ricky Baez 02:17
Oh, stand out, stand out, stand up, like a recruiter was being a bully that took your lunch money, and now you’re going to square off with them?

Pete Newsome 02:24
That would be a bad, bad relationship with the recruiter.

Ricky Baez 02:29
So look, I’m okay, so a recruiter. It would be nice to think, Pete that a recruiter, when a requisition opens up, right, they get like 2030 minutes to review each resume to make sure that’s the right one. And that’s not realistic, right? A recruiter normally has about 500 resumes, and maybe nine seconds to decide on each resume of the needs to go forward. How to get a recruiter to notice you? Right?

Ricky Baez 02:57
Here’s how you do it. The same reason you didn’t go shopping at the supermarket while you’re hungry. And the same reason you do not ever go shopping for a car when you need one, right? Because you have a different thought process. So you start building relationships with a recruiter when you don’t need a job. That’s how you how to get a recruiter to notice you. And here’s how you do it, candidates.

Ricky Baez 03:16
When you go out on LinkedIn, you see some recruiters that are really active on LinkedIn, right? Whatever they post, engage in those posts, whatever, whatever they do on there, started engaging with that author start you know, take them out to lunch, no agenda just for the full reason to get to know that recruiter, once you start building a relationship with that recruiter, what’s gonna end up happening is you’re there, you’re always going to be in the back of their mind when a position comes up.

Ricky Baez 03:42
That meets your qualifications, they’re gonna go oh, my god, I know Pete, let me go ahead and connect with Pete before going through the stack of 500 resumes. So my advice is to start building relationships with a recruiter on LinkedIn, or, anywhere else before a job isn’t needed. I mean, that to me, that’s the best thing you can do.

Pete Newsome 04:01
So to clarify, are you referring to a third-party recruiter from a staffing company or corporate recruiter from an organization who you may want to go work for as a candidate, or both?

Ricky Baez 04:14
Well, I gotta tell you, it’s both but the reason I like a staffing agency is that, for a staffing agency, they have a lot of different jobs for a lot of different companies, right? And then if they build a profile on you, they’re gonna trust me, they’re gonna want to place the right person with the right client, right?

Ricky Baez 04:30
Because that’s, that’s how we make money. So personally, I will go with a staffing agency because they have larger items on more menu items at their fingertips than a corporate recruiter that is only for one specific company. Now if you want to work for a specific company, fine, go ahead and do that.

Ricky Baez 04:47
But if you want to keep your options open and see what else is out there, a man and agency recruiter is the way to go. So there we do that too, right, because we tell our recruiters to go ahead and build relationships with candidates You’d be doing the same thing.

Pete Newsome 05:01
Yeah, our whole process revolves around that we’re not, we’re not just calling in trying to build a relationship with someone to fill an open need today, it’s to understand what that candidate’s objectives are and desires, and goals. So we can build that relationship over time and know when to call them. Because we’ve already made that connection. So I think it makes sense. I really like the way you answered it.

Pete Newsome 05:29
And I’ll say, I think doing both if you know, there’s an organization you want to work for, work for it, you know, go go go drive that relationship and reach out to recruiters and do it in a very personal way. That doesn’t happen very often. I think I saw a Ted Talk the other day, I think it was it got a lot of views. And the recommendation was to not write a cover letter.

Pete Newsome 05:56
Yeah. And then the recruiter was kind of making fun of cover letters and like, Oh, those aren’t necessarily more, you know, Boomer, blah, blah, blah, right. And I’m thinking what better way, there’s no better way on how to get a recruiter to notice you individually than to write a personal note. And if you can write a handwritten note now, how strategic you want to be is up to you.

Pete Newsome 06:17
But if it were me, and I’m answering this to the fullest, I would say, write that recruiter a handwritten note. If it’s at the corporate level, express your interest, and describe what makes you different. If you’re not comfortable doing that, send, send a cover letter, make a phone call, do all of the above, that’s really the best thing you don’t want to there’s a line you don’t want to cross in terms of being overly persistent.

Pete Newsome 06:46
But I will say that it’s so rare that people will be that proactive and personal in their approach, you will stand out to a recruiter at the corporate level for staffing companies, I agree with you as well. Reach out to the recruiters build rapport with them, let them know who you are, and make a phone call, I can tell you most can’t the vast majority of candidates I’ll this I’m making up this number.

Pete Newsome 07:13
This is not scientific, but I’ll say 99% of candidates hit apply and make no further contact when they see a job posting. And if, if I’m giving advice to someone on how to stand out, it’s well do something that will allow you to stand out and do something that others aren’t doing, which is making a phone call or writing a letter. These things are very straightforward but highly effective and really rare. And that’s why you’d stand out because very few people are doing it.

Ricky Baez 07:44
About 10 years ago, I was recruiting for this organization, and I don’t remember the full context of the conversation. But the candidate asked, Who are you looking for? Like, what kind of skill set are you looking for? The hiring authority says we’re looking for somebody with an explosive personality something to that effect, right?

Ricky Baez 08:02
Okay, no problem wrote this question, Sam. A week later, we each get a personally delivered box with a letter and chocolate inside of it. But the box was dynamite. It was like a fake dynamite fee.

Pete Newsome 08:15
And honestly, the old Acme TND.

Ricky Baez 08:19
Kinda like that, kind of like that. But obviously, it was one of those services that you know, like the flowers and in edible arrangements, whatever. And we opened them and it was a handwritten letter saying, Thank you very much for your time. And he says something to the effect. You’re looking for somebody with explosive personality where you got it and he and he personalize it. And he stood out in our heads and that’s the person who we hired and he stuck around for eight years.

Ricky Baez 08:44
Now you’ve stuck around. So love it, the use of the things you have to do. You’ve got because remember, recruiters hiring authorities, they have a lot of resumes to go through and then you know, you can’t just Yes, the skill set is important, right? We should hire for skill set. Make it easy for the recruiter and the hiring authority to look at your skill set and stand out. But you got to be careful don’t cross that line.

Ricky Baez 09:06
I’ve also received resumes that were doused, and I mean 2000s car cologne. Oh my god go away. Welcome to the 90s right yeah, so he had to car cologne everywhere and stunk up the whole office. Some of that can backfire. So yeah, don’t make sure that when you notice it’s it’s helpful for you and so.

Pete Newsome 09:25
We can clarify what the line is don’t show up at their house. Right? Don’t show up at a recruiter’s office even necessarily, without calling ahead. But make a phone call if that’s the I want to say that’s really all it takes. You can go even further and I do recommend writing a letter and sending a note to them. That’s personal in nature.

Pete Newsome 09:51
But just a phone call alone will separate you from the vast vast majority of volcanic out there. That’s right. I agree. All right. So what do you do? The next question what do you do when a recruiter ghosts you? That’s not the way it was written? It was what do I do when a recruiter ghosts me? But what is it? What does one do if they’re ghosted by a recruiter?

Pete Newsome 10:17
So we constantly are hearing about candidates who’ve? Ghost? Yeah, we know that and that gets a bad rap. But recruiters are known to do it as well. And it happens with frequency, I think so as a candidate. What do you recommend? We may have differing opinions on this one.

Ricky Baez 10:39
Okay. So here’s the thing. I am because I know we talked before about ghosting, right how a candidate goes through recruiters and how that comes from the opposite thing happening years ago, right? And you know, two wrongs don’t make a right. So here’s what advice I would give to a candidate who was ghosted by a recruiter never assumed they did it on purpose, and never assumed they did it on purpose. Right.

Ricky Baez 11:03
So let’s not burn that bridge yet. Right? I know, it sucks. I know that it feels like horrible BS, excuse me for being stood up. So I think the best thing you can do, is if you’re on a Zoom meeting, right, and you’re there for five, I would wait 10 minutes, I will wait 10 minutes and see what happens. And if I still don’t get anything, I’ll shoot them a quick text. If I have their phone number, their email, I’ll shoot him an email, saying, hey, I’m here right now and want to make sure this is still a great time for you. Please let me know if a different time is better, leave that door open.

Ricky Baez 11:35
Right? Even even if they just forgot, even if they’re gaffing you off, leave that door open. Because you don’t know if it was a legitimate issue. You don’t know if something really did happen because these recruiters are being worked, right? So sometimes like I mean, he’s back to back to back to back to back. And emergencies happen left and right. The candidates, please give them the benefit of the doubt.

Ricky Baez 11:56
Even if you haven’t gotten that before from another recruiter for this particular one, give them the benefit of doubt, and then see what happens. You know maybe it was an emergency, and now you have a different interview happening. But if you start saying Oh, forget, you forget that you just burned that bridge. So to me, I would give them the benefit of the doubt and just text them to see this another time to schedule it. What do you think?

Pete Newsome 12:18
Well, it shouldn’t happen. But we know it does. And it’s human nature. We don’t want to give bad news, we don’t want to deliver a message that someone doesn’t want to hear. And I think that’s the vast keep saying the same thing. That’s probably why recruiters end up doing it. Most of the time is that they just it’s easier to avoid just like candidates who don’t want to deliver bad news I think ghosting is it’s a complete lack of courtesy and professionalism.

Pete Newsome 12:55
But it’s because it’s easier to know how to deal with the hard stuff, right? So that’s mostly why it’s going on and as the candidate knowing that, if you assume that that’s correct, let the recruiter off the hook to some degree just to get the closure and the finality that you want and deserve. I think it looks just like a breakup, so to speak. It’s not because things are going so well.

Pete Newsome 13:23
That when that happens, it’s probably because either the recruiter doesn’t have any news to deliver or has bad news and they find it easier to avoid. Find shouldn’t happen but do send them a message to try to call try to connect live try to get feedback because that’s a very important part of the application process the interviewing process is to get feedback good or bad. Because as a candidate, you’re going to improve your chances for the future. You’re going to grow as a professional if you get feedback.

Pete Newsome 14:01
I mean, if you did something that caused you to get passed over or to not get it, you get an opportunity to continue in the process. You want and deserve to know that. But those are the hard conversations. So send a message you know via email and just acknowledge that hey, I assume that things aren’t good. I assume that I’m not going to be moving forward.

Pete Newsome 14:28
I’d like to know why I would appreciate knowing why that’s so this is this advice is it’s unfortunate that it’s necessary to give it this way because that’s but that’s what I would do now. If you think that you’re still in contention for the job or believe that you’re the most qualified and you don’t you want to I say go down swinging, right to use a baseball analogy.

Pete Newsome 14:58
If you want to maximum As your potential, you can always escalate and go to the next person. If you’re at a third party, if you’re talking about a third party recruiter, recruiting firm, there’s always someone who is in authority, either a recruiting manager, someone who runs the office, at a local or regional level, you can always go to that person and say, Hey, I just want to know, and depending on the situation, you may, you may, you may want to do that.

Pete Newsome 15:30
But I think, generally speaking if you just send a quick note and just say, hey, just take 30 seconds to let me know what happened, so I’m not left in the dark, then. Yeah, that’s probably the highest percentage way you’re gonna get the answer.

Ricky Baez 15:47
And that works both ways, too, right? Because now since this is such a candidate, market, candidates have a lot of choices, right? If you as a candidate already has an interview with company A, but you know, company B, just schedule another one for you.

Ricky Baez 16:01
But you that’s the company you want to work with. Let candidate EO candidate Candidate A and I can have a company a lead Company A know, let them know, Hey, Mr. Mrs. recruiter, thank you very much for your time, but I’m gonna, I’m gonna, I’m not going to participate in this interview, thank you for the opportunity, I’m gonna go somewhere else, just let them know.

Ricky Baez 16:22
Right? Even if the recruiter wouldn’t do that for you, that says a lot about you and your character, and they will read in the people will remember that. Because let me tell you, I remember whenever a candidate handles rejection well, because if I tell them, I’m not going to give you this job for XYZ reason, I think you have an almost free opportunity.

Ricky Baez 16:40
Like, man, they’re supposed to make me feel bad about saying no, and I feel even, you know, I feel you’re worse because they did such a good job with it, you would remember that. So it really does go both ways.

Pete Newsome 16:51
And on that point, if you are a candidate who has multiple job opportunities you’re considering, it is in your interest to share that with the recruiter for a couple of reasons. One, for what you just described, that and one of the other opportunities may come to fruition, you may end up accepting it, and you have an opportunity on the front end to not surprise that recruiter when you end up making the call that you’re backing out of their opportunity.

Pete Newsome 17:21
That’s okay, it’s a natural and normal part of the process. But it always goes so much better if you are open about it in the first place. The other benefit to you as a candidate is that it creates a sense of urgency with the recruiter and whoever they’re recruiting for, to say it and it’s an interesting thing, Ricky was so often we find out as a third party recruiter, the candidate is, is backing out because they have another they took another job, and a new recruiter will be caught off.

Pete Newsome 17:53
So we were caught off guard by that and but an experienced recruiter if they’re following our process, at least, and they’re doing it right. So really drill into that on the front end, to put everything on the table. Because what happens is if you’re my candidate, and I know that you’re interviewing elsewhere, first of all, I assume you are, right, I mean, that’s how we recruiters should go into every conversation, if you’re an attractive candidate.

Pete Newsome 18:20
If you have an in-demand skill set, if you’re someone who we’re recruiting, well, you’re probably being recruited by others, because we have a pretty high standard, a very high standard when we’re recruiting. So I assume that others are interested in you and you’re interested in other positions beyond mine. And I would recommend to every job seeker out there, don’t put all your eggs in one basket, cast a very wide net. So I want to set the stage for an open and transparent relationship with you.

Pete Newsome 18:50
Hey, Ricky, I assume you’re interviewing elsewhere. Let me know what’s going on with that. So I can pass that along to my hiring manager, and know what kind of timeframe we’re dealing with. So if you’re only going if you have a final interview on Friday, and you’re going to be off the market, potentially by then, then I want to set the stage for that in our interviewing and hiring process for two reasons.

Pete Newsome 19:16
One, because I want to create a sense of urgency, because I want you as a candidate who’s gonna get hired, right? I want to be successful in my recruiting effort if you’re the right person. And number two, I don’t want to have to apologize for being sloppy in the recruiting process on the other side of that, so I’m going to let the hiring manager know as soon as possible. Ricky’s interviewing elsewhere, we have to move quickly.

Pete Newsome 19:42
And also if Ricky ends up taking a job, the other another job because we didn’t move fast enough. Well, then, I’ve done my job by communicating that along the way, but I’m only going I’m only able to do that. If I have that transparent conversation with the candidate on the front end?

Ricky Baez 20:01
Can I throw a curveball to that? So do you think there is a fear that if a candidate says, Hey, by the way, I’m interviewing somewhere else, that the recruiter says, Oh, that then don’t even bother here? That’s one less person I have to deal with.

Pete Newsome 20:13
I’ll tell you, it’s a mystery to me. Because it’s always there is a tendency for candidates to not share that information. To has to be hesitant in sharing that information. And I’ve never understood why because I can continue to list reasons why it’s it’s in everyone’s best interest, including the candidates. Look, if you’re a candidate, you want to have as many options as possible, of course, right?

Pete Newsome 20:37
Why I mean, why wouldn’t you? But you also don’t want to burn bridges. To your point, you don’t want to surprise people when it’s avoidable. And the easiest way to avoid it is just to put it all out on the table. And like I said, if nothing else, it creates a sense of urgency. I mean, if I listen, if you know, if you’re interviewing me, and you know that no one else is interested, or you think no one else is interested in me.

Pete Newsome 21:00
Number one, you may not have to move very quickly in number two, you may not feel compelled to pay me at the top of the range that you’re able to pay. But if you know I’m in hot demand, well, the inverse is true. Now you’re going to get off your butt and you’re going to move quickly and you’re going to wine and dine me so to speak, right?

Pete Newsome 21:22
You’re going to give make me an offer that I can’t refuse if you’re doing it right. So for candidates, always don’t lie. Don’t make stuff up. But always share with your recruiter where else you’re interviewing for those reasons. It’s in your interest to do so.

Ricky Baez 21:38
You said something two minutes ago that caught my attention and I try to write it down. You say you don’t want to surprise people when avoidable. Yep. That should capsulate this entire episode. Because that’s perfect. You’re right. If you know this is something that’s going to catch somebody off guard, let them know from the get-go. So like I liked that advice. You don’t want to surprise people if it’s avoidable.

Pete Newsome 22:00
Well, this is interesting. It’s off it? We’re beyond just asking and answering the question. But it has been I’ve been in staffing a long time. And I’ve never been able to fully understand or even in service, understand why candidates are hesitant to share where else they’re interviewing.

Ricky Baez 22:20
I think that’s it. I think it’s fear. I think I think it’s the same fear why they don’t want to ask for a raise. I think it’s the same fear where they don’t want to negotiate their pay, right? Because some people are afraid to negotiate pay because they’re afraid they might overstep the bounds and say, You know what, forget it. If you didn’t want this office off the table, right? There’s a way how to do it.

Ricky Baez 22:39
So I think is that fear? I think the more people practice it, and you know what, and here’s the thing, here’s the thing, if that fear comes true, let’s say you’re interviewing with somebody, you let them know, Hey, I’m interviewing somewhere else. I’m like, You know what, forget it, then folks, guess what, they save you a lot of grief, that’s not a company, you want to work for them? Right?

Ricky Baez 22:57
Because if that’s how they’re going to do it, then I mean, isn’t that an example of how they deal with things in the organization? So why would you be upset at that? Because they kind of saves you from joining that organization with the possibility to do any sort of basket case.

Pete Newsome 23:11
But I can’t even draw a line as to when that would be a reaction. Yeah, it just doesn’t even make sense. So if you’re buying a car and you go to dealer A, and you say, Hey, I’m only looking at this car, well, they’re not gonna make you a very good deal. Right? If you’re like, I’m gonna buy a car today, I’m gonna buy this one no matter what, okay, well, they’re licking their chops.

Pete Newsome 23:33
If you say, Well, I’m looking at five other brands and dealerships and yours is just one and I’m going to take the best offer. Well, now they’re motivated on an entirely different level. And well, it’s not exactly the same thing. Of course, it’s similar in that mindset is the same, but there’s no downside to it. That’s, that’s where I come from, but just be open. Again, don’t make stuff up that it’s not real.

Pete Newsome 23:58
The in, I always encourage candidates to put all their cards on the table, I always encourage the recruiters to put all their cards on the table, because that’s ultimately going to, you know, there’s no benefit to fooling someone temporarily in this in this job search process. You can do it. Yeah, you can, but what’s the point, right, there’s no, the only ending that’s the happy one is where the recruited individual ends up walking in for the job.

Pete Newsome 24:34
And there are, you know, the job represents what they thought it would. They’re, you know, it’s the opportunity that they wanted, and it’s one that they’re happy to turn down other jobs to take. I mean, you want the stars to all to be aligned now. That’s recruiting when it’s done right. And too often there are corners that are cut on both sides, but it’s never about good. During the short term when it shouldn’t be, it should always be about getting along in the longer term when because that’s really the only one that comes in there in the job search and recruiting process.

Ricky Baez 25:10
Man, I gotta had to come to my class and just be a guest speaker. Big No, because a lot of the students, a lot of the recruiters that are out there, they need to hear that piece a lot of the candidates as well, too. Because that fear cannot be there.

Ricky Baez 25:22
You’re right, it just makes no sense to put everything on a table to let the recruiter know what’s going on. And again, if the organization said that, then I’m going to pass and that’s what’s going to happen regardless.

Pete Newsome 25:34
Of course and it’s happened to me a lot as a third party, where I’ve said, I have this candidate, Ricky, buddies have multiple things going on. So you have to be prepared by Friday to make him an offer. And at times, my client in the past would say, well, we can’t move that quickly. Okay, well, you can decide whether to proceed with the interview process.

Pete Newsome 25:54
But understand that I now don’t have to apologize if Ricky and Renautas Ricky have to apologize to me if he ends up being unavailable on that day. So it’s just again, it’s all about putting it all out there and being transparent. And then and then that’s just how things should go. I don’t, it’s so weird that it’s important, or it’s unnecessary to even say these things.

Pete Newsome 26:24
Because I think, of course, we should behave that way. Of course, this is what we should do. But it’s I guess it’s easier said than done. I just don’t necessarily know why.

Ricky Baez 26:35
I think I think we would help our listeners if a future episode we will roleplay how that will look like how one scenario will look versus another one and how to respond to it if somebody responds negatively. So I think that’d be an awesome episode. For the next few months. What do you think?

Pete Newsome 26:49
I’m up for the challenge. If you can come up with a negative response to that. I want you to bring it to me and I will deal we’ll deal with it.

Ricky Baez 26:57
Negative responses are my middle name. I can easily come up with that.

Pete Newsome 27:01
All right, good. Well, I know you like putting me on the spot. So we’ll, we’ll do it. We’ll do that then. Yes, sir. No, I do that. Excellent. All right. Well, here are our questions for today. Keep them coming. Anything’s on the table. If you are interested in wondering how recruiters think and act behind the scenes.

Pete Newsome 27:21
If you’re looking to have more clarity on what companies go through in their hiring process. If you want to know how to stand out or get ahead as a candidate or job seeker, please email us [email protected]. We’ll get to us we will address it. We love the q&a. We don’t get enough of it. But it’s the harder questions are better and we will tell you what you need to hear may not always be what you want to hear but will tell you what you need to hear.

Pete Newsome 27:50
That’s right. That’s right. Excellent. All right, everyone. Thanks for listening today. Drive safe out there rate and review. Finding Career Zen we would love that. And again, let us know what’s on your mind because we want to hear from you. Ricky thanks so much.

Ricky Baez 28:04
Thank you, sir. Have a good one. Folks. Stay safe. Bye.