How to Get Your Recruiter to Respond

It All Starts with Communication!

Communication is essential, yet it's common to face delays or no response from Recruiters during the interview process. While frustrating, there are effective strategies to improve the communication with your Recruiter.

Understanding Recruiter Delays

Most Recruiters are not responsive because of an overall lack of organizational skills and an ability to prioritize candidate experience. They often forget what it is like to be in your shoes!

Proactive Strategies for Better Communication

1. Understand Their Preferred Communication Method

Find out how the Recruiter prefers to be contacted. Do they favor emails or texts? Make sure that you ask this critical question in your first interaction to uptick the likelihood that you will hear back in a timely manner. Always default to their preference.

2. Have a Secondary Contact

It's wise to ask your Recruiter what happens if they are out of the office, specifically, do they have a backup person you can reach out to if they are sick, on vacation, or you have an urgent need. In almost all cases, your Recruiter will not provide you with a backup person. So you can always double down and say, "I 100% understand not providing me with a back up person, but if you are out of the office or plan on being out of the office for a week or longer, would this type of back up be provided?" Lastly, on occasion, why this is such a powerful question is that it may be timely. They may be out of the office the following week or in a couple of weeks and be forthcoming with that information in the moment.

3. Define Follow-Up Expectations

Ask your Recruiter how often you can expect to hear back from them. If they are unwilling to provide you with any specific timelines, you can take control by suggesting a timeline. For example, "is it okay to follow up with you if I have not heard from you in five business days?" If they push back, "okay, is it okay to follow up if I have not heard back in 10 business days." If they say no to even 10 business days, you may want to state, "okay, I just want to let you know that I am actively interviewing, so any proactive communication from you would be great, thanks!"

Managing the Wait

The waiting period after interviews can be stressful. Stay proactive, and use these three strategies to reduce anxiety, and take control of the situation. In addition, make sure that you follow ups remain positive. Focus on graciousness and kindness, this will increase the likelihood that your Recruiter gets back to you.

The Importance of Feedback

Feedback is vital, whether you get the job or you don't get the job, if the Recruiter does not exhibit strong follow up skills throughout the process, provide that feedback at the end. Some companies will send you a survey, while other times you will simply need to be proactive and share. What is most important is sharing it from your perspective, not pointing fingers. For example, "Sue, I wanted to provide some feedback, I personally felt like it was challenging to get feedback for a role at my dream company. One strategy that I use for getting back to people even when I don't have all the information is using a "no update, update." I have found this to be super helpful in acknowledging the other person, even without all the data. I always want to provide feedback that I think is helpful. Thanks!" Remember if the communication with your Recruiter has been poor this is a way to pay it forward for future candidates and potentially also help the Recruiter get better.

Conclusion

Silence from Recruiters can add additional stress to an already stressful interview process. However, by employing these steps, you can effectively manage this uncertainty and hopefully keep the momentum going. Remember, effective communication coupled with taking control is key!

Key Takeaways

Customize Communication: Identify and use the Recruiter's preferred communication channel.

Plan B: Ask for a secondary point of contact for situations when the primary Recruiter is unavailable.

Establish Follow-Up Timelines: Set a clear timeframe for follow-ups to maintain accountability.

Your Feedback Matters: Your honest feedback can help improve the recruitment process.

For more resources visit my website -  Practice Interviews and check out our AI Practice Interview App.