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Headhunters are also a big problem. I can't tell you how many times I received a call from a headhunter and they started with the line, "I have your resume in front of me and I have a job you might be interested in, tell me, what is it exactly, that you do?"

The worst part was that when I carefully considered what the headhunter had to offer and gave them permission to submit my resume for the position, I made it painfully clear that no matter what the response was, I wanted to hear back from him/her so I can digest any critique that may have been offered by the hiring manager. I can say that to a person, each headhunter assured me that they would call me back no matter what the response was. And to a person, not one headhunter ever took the time to call me back. It was up to me to track them down, leave messages, etc. before I could get them to tell me that the company "filled the position".

Also, I worked for a smaller company for a few years and was privy to the hiring process. They were looking for programmers last fall and put a listing on Monster.com. That was around 9am. By the end of the day they had over 300 resumes. After two days they had about 450. Obviously, one or two people can not read every resume so they took the top 50 resumes to review and tossed the rest.

Headhunters are also a big problem.

Depends on the headhunter. Top-notch search firms, working with high-level positions, will typically never present someone who won't be interviewed. That's why they're retained: to do all the screening and to only advance fully-qualified candidates.

You should ask a headhunter if they're on retainer or if they're working on a contingency basis.

Retained firms are more reputable and have exclusive positions.

Contingency firms are simply trying to corral as many resumes they can, and shove them in front of the hiring manager.

And to a person, not one headhunter ever took the time to call me back. It was up to me to track them down, leave messages, etc.

You expect an employment agent instead to spend all day to "track them down, leave messages, etc." for every one of the hundreds of applcants each week to tell each one they didn't get the job?

And you expect the agent to tell you WHY you didn't get the job?

LOL. Only if the agent is a masochist ("As soon as I hang up, I'm gonna call that company and give them a piece of my mind because you said that they said I'm too wimpy or too slow or not smart enough or whatever other insult. I'll show them!").

My experience is that too many agents don't even call applicants before sending their resume to job openings, let along call the applicants who afterward don't get the job.

I'm not saying it's right, but that's the real world.

Also, if you do your job hunting well and wisely, you'd have the agent eating out of your hand, such that you would be the exception who does get the call back and some kind of explanation from the agent. (Dale Carnegie would agree with me, I'm sure--though I'm afraid I haven't followed his advice in this posting. LOL.)

My favorite headhunter call came to me in 1999 when I was working at a major NYC law firm. The call came out of the blue and it was the head of the company. He started by saying he had heard of me and I was very highly regarded...

I actually laughed out loud and said 'Whoa! Nobody in this business has ever said that about me, are you sure you got the right guy?'

He was really surprised at my reaction - no matter what, I wouldn't bite on any of his shallow flattery. I asked who his source was. He wouldn't say. I asked then how he knew he could trust them? It was a pretty funny conversation from a very amatuer outfit.