I remember a discussion I had with a group of recruiters at a recruiter conference. Someone brought up the issue of having too many resumes to sift through – not the resumes that come in every day, but the thousands and thousands of resumes that have accumulated.
Even though recruiters have tools to help them sort, organize and sift through the resumes, so they can search through them when they get new jobs to fill, the organizational issue of managing all of the resumes is just too big.
And, recruiters might find the perfect resume (or, candidate) from their system or database, but after contacting the candidate find that the resume is outdated, or the candidate is happily employed and not looking for other opportunities.
I was shocked (SHOCKED) when a recruiter said they got to a point where they just deleted all the resumes on file and started over.
I was double-shocked when a few other recruiters said they had done the same thing!
I thought that once I sent my resume in to a recruiter they treated it with respect, even keeping it in a special place for those really key candidates (yes, I thought I was a key candidate :)).
I had no idea that all my work would be in a deleted folder somewhere, never to be seen again.
Once you submit a resume to a recruiter your job is not done… there is more to do. However, it’s not easy, and you don’t want to be a stalker to the recruiter.
One of the best resources I’ve seen to help you figure out what to do before you submit the resume, and after the recruiter has it, is Nick Corcodilos’ “How to Work With Headhunters” ebook.
Don’t assume your resume is sitting in a special place, just waiting for that recruiter to place you!
