That’s the truth! I’m going to tell this story again, so If you’ve already read it, feel free to skip it. Here goes:
I was in the market and a recruiter for a hiring agency sends me an e-mail with a job description. It’s 100% what I want, I’m completely qualified. I respond with my resume, and a note that I’m the perfect candidate, and that I want this job. NO RESPONSE. When I get no response I call her, voicemail box is full. I spam her daily for about a week, and get nothing. I call the main company phone number and ask for her. I get transferred to the full VMB. I start googling unique sets of words from the job description and I find the job. It was with Continental in Guadalajara Mexico (Not remote work out of Seattle as she had said), and the job in Mexico had been closed for months.
As all this is going on I get another e-mail from a different recruiter with the same company about a remote job based out of Mesa, AZ. I send him my resume, and he responds that it looks great, and he’ll submit me. 2 weeks later, no response. He stops answering e-mails, and never answers his phone (but at least his VMB wasn’t full). I’ve been as patient and honest with him as I can. So I google words from the description and find the company. They DO have an opening, and it’s the one that he’s sent me. I apply on the company’s website and get a call back in just a couple of hours that they’re interested in me. I do the phone interviews and get the job. The first week I have to go on site for training, and while I’m there I reach out to this guy. He says he still hasn’t heard anything from the company. I ask who he’s been talking to. He gives me a name of a guy 2 desks away from. I ask him “Hey, do you know this recruiter named X from Cybercoders?” Nope, never heard of him. Have you dealt with them at ALL? Nope! And if I WAS I wouldn’t have been hiring for YOUR job, I’m the hardware manager. I confront this guy with this info. He says he has no idea what I’m talking about. I step to the lobby of the building and take a picture of me standing in front of their sign. I tell him I applied DIRECTLY for the job you sent me, and got hired. YOU did NOTHING. YOU weren’t approved/retained to hire for this position. Why don’t you tell me what’s REALLY going on?
His response? Congrats! I don’t understand why you’re mad though. REALLY dude? REALLY?
Close to 50 years professional work, I’ve found most positions through networking, and talking directly to the hiring manager, who tells HR “We’re hiring THIS guy, do the paperwork”.
Never pass up opportunities to network with people in your industry. When you actually need a job, it’s a bit late.