Bad Recruiters

LittleMoxie

MH is looking for a job in a market where we don't live, and so is relying on recruiters (I've been told by a friend they are the best way to go in Dubai).  One of them in particular is not responsive at all.  MH is planning a trip to Dubai for other meetings and was told by this recruiter that he is "on hold" for a particular job and they want to wait for more resumes before moving forward.  I'm reading this (perhaps too optimistically) as MH is close to what they want, but not the whole package, and they are waiting and hoping to get more of those applicants before deciding on him.

Since MH will be in town for other things next week, he would like to let them know that he is in town and that if they would like to meet to learn more about his experience, etc. etc.  IMO, the company would be OK with this since they don't have to pay to have him over and get to learn more about someone without promising anything.  Seems like a win-win, good idea all around and MH has emailed the recruiter to tell him that he will be in town.

The problem is, the recruiter won't even respond to this to say, "yes, no, that's a bad idea, they won't do it, etc."  It's just silence.

Is there anything that can be done?  I assume trying to talk directly to the company is a no go, but it just sucks that he will be in town and can't even do anything to try to speed up an answer one way or the other.  In a few weeks we are moving from where we are and flying back to Dubai will cost over 1,000 dollars whereas it only costs 200 now, so that's why there is some sense of urgency over this.

jennifer0124

The recruiter may be waiting to hear back fromt he hiring managers.  What if they are out of the office on the days your husband is there?  In meetings all day?  An outside recrutier can't just schedule it and assume all is good on the companies end.

honeydew01

In my experience (worked with 3 recruiters) that's typical recruiter behavior. Unless they think the job they have is a real good match, they don't bother responding to emails, even if it's a short "yes, or no" answer. 

LittleMoxie

Jennifer - it's been a few days and there has been no "Oh, let's see what we can do" and then silence or even an out of office reply.  

Honeydew - yeah, I know they can be very hit or miss.  This guy is hoping to find someone better and just keeping MH around in case he can't (the job has been open for over a month, they should have received hundreds of resumes by now and if enough of those aren't really what they are looking for, I guess he's just stringing MH along).

I was hoping someone would have some great idea I hadn't thought of, but I guess not.  Oh well.  Thanks! 

cbkeni

Honestly I've never relied on a recruiter before, I know when I've tried them I've never gotten results but I've never NEEDED anything from them so I never cared much. I would just keep emailing/calling or whatever until he responds. Don't be rude or anything, just keep saying "I just want to be able to make the most of my trip out there" etc...to the recruiter it's the least important thing on his plate, but to you it's a big deal so I would politely harass the crap out of him until I got some sort of response. But that's just me and I'm sure every single recruited/HR person on here hates my guts...sorry guys

srgw

MH worked with two recruiting companies to get his current job. One was the way you described above. The other was very easy to contact, very interested in MH and just helpful in general. Guess which one got H his job?