Top Reasons Recruiters Ghost You After Reaching Out

Have you ever had a recruiter reach out, spark your interest, and then disappear without a trace?

You’re not alone.

Just ask JF. (7 times within 3 weeks. Ouch.)

In just 4 minutes and 19 seconds, I break down why this happens and what it really means.

Here’s the thing:

Recruiters aren’t bad people.

They’re not trying to mess with you.

But the system?

It’s messy.

Understanding the real reasons behind the ghosting can save you from unnecessary frustration and help you better navigate your job search.

Give today’s show a listen to reclaim your peace of mind!

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--Andy

Episode Transcript

(00:00):
jf what's up buddy boot camper focus in
the right place yes what about a
recruiter reaching out engaging you
getting your hopes up then nothing
happens that happened to me seven times
in the last three weeks okay so let me
let me let me offer you some straight
talk here when a recruiter reaches out
to you that's not in your control when a

(00:21):
recruiter doesn't get back to you that's
not in your control what was in your
control you got your hopes up why did
you get your hopes up expectations just
because somebody reached out to you
doesn't mean they're going to reach back
to you again a second time just because
you respond to them this is an
expectations so when I say the reason we
get stressed out is because our
expectations are faulty you need to

(00:42):
respond expecting they're not going to
get back to you right you turned control
of your emotions over to them so they
didn't get you excited you got excited
so what I would say is they reach out to
you you respond if they get back to you
great if not you're in no worse off

(01:04):
place than you were before they ever
reached out to you you spent 2 minutes
and responded to them so I don't know
why it happened seven times in the last
3 weeks it could happen for any one of a
number of reasons and everybody should
understand that when a recruiter reaches
out to you it depends how they reached
out to you so as an example I'm only

(01:25):
going to give you one because there's so
many of these things that happen behind
the scenes that you have absolutely no
idea are happening so let's say a
recruiter reached out to you on LinkedIn
which is how a lot of them do and they
say "Hey JF uh I saw your background i
have this opportunity i'd love to talk
to you about it will will you would you
be interested in talking with me?" and

(01:48):
they might has gone so far as to
actually send you a job description
which is a really dumb way to do it but
that's what a lot of them do then you
respond then the recruiter has to a
determine now at this point I don't know
how long it took you to respond but you
are a boot camper and you have access to

(02:09):
the recruiter sessions that uh Janie
Howell and Greg Post did for us and what
did they say right we reach out to
people depending you know Greg said
within an hour an hour or two I have my
calendar is full for two weeks for that
one position because it looks like I I'm
sending individual messages but I'm

(02:30):
really sending it to 200 people and then
the first 10 that get back to me I just
put them on my calendar and then that's
that and then I know I'm going to be
able to pick one right okay that could
that could be the case second thing is
um the recruiter might be a sourcer not
a recruiter or the recruiter might be
working on behalf of somebody else or

(02:52):
the sorcerer might have used the
recruiter's e uh LinkedIn account to
send you a message when you got back
thinking you were getting back to the
recruiter you're getting back to the
sourcer the sourcer turns to the
recruiter or the hiring official and
says JF got back to me and then the
hiring official or recruiter looks at

(03:13):
your background and says "Well I don't I
don't like that person's background i
don't want to talk to that person." And
then the sorcerer never gets back to you
because they saw something in your
background that they liked or didn't
like the sorcerer didn't know the
sorcerer was spraying a whole bunch of
people and then the sorcerer filters who
gets back to them i need you guys to

(03:34):
understand this is how it works so when
you think somebody's ghosting you they
sprayed the
world some people got back they
cherrypicked from the people who got
back to them you might not have matched
exactly what they were looking for or
you might have been late i don't know so
any of these things could be happening

(03:54):
and I'm just telling you the common ones
there's a whole bunch of things that
could be going on behind the scenes it
could they could be on vacation it could
be a uh they could have put the project
on hold they could have put the position
on
hold so so that's what I would say to
you there from a right emotional
standpoint is I wouldn't get my hopes up

(04:14):
at all if a recruiter got in touch with
me so what you respond you see what
happens