Why you cannot expect recruiters to give you feedback

Recruiters are not liked. On these pages, readers frequently describe them as 'estate agents in pointy shoes.' However, this may not be entirely fair. The source of recruiters' unpopularity appears to be their failure to explain why you didn't get the job. But for reasons listed below, expecting this kind of feedback is totally unreasonable.

1) Recruiters are still drowning in candidates

The CEBR estimates that 39,000 jobs have gone across the City of London since 2007. By comparison, our analysis suggests big banks added fewer than 1,500 jobs in the third quarter, and that net, another 2,800 jobs were lost in the nine months of this year.

This is manifesting itself in a deluge of candidates applying for roles they're completely unsuited for, and persistent telephone calls from the desperate.

"Sometimes a single candidate will bombard me with 15-20 emails applying for jobs. In those circumstances I simply delete the lot," says one recruiter.

"I receive anything from 50-100 calls a day," says another. "Out of those, there's probably one person I can help."

2) Feedback is not always necessary

If you send in your CV for a job requiring a 2.1 or above and experience in selling equity derivatives to institutional clients, and you only have a 2.2 and have worked as an accountant, then do not be surprised if you get no response at all.

"You may think you're suitable for a role, but don't expect us to put you forward if you don't have the qualifications or experienced specified," says the head of one recruitment firm.

3) Recruiters aren't always in a position to give you feedback

Recruiters are messengers. Shooting them is not helpful. You should blame the MDs who interviewed you instead.

"I'm just a link in a chain," says one recruiter. "If I get feedback from a client, I will give it to my people, but quite often the client simply doesn't give very detailed feedback."

Other recruiters agree: "The client will often simply say, "He wasn't right for the role," and move on."

One recruiter describes how a candidate had an interview with a bank several months previously, and heard nothing. Months later, the client then suddenly called asking for a second interview at half an hour's notice.

"I deal with HR and the HR girls are often slightly scared of the MDs," he says. "The MDs are impatient and overworked and simply don't have time to give detailed feedback."

4) Recruiters suffer alongside you

Another recruiter relates how one candidate decided to approach the MD who interviewed him directly to find out why he didn't get the role. "He didn't get anywhere and I received an email from HR asking me to keep my candidates under control," she says.

5) They're doing the best they can

These have not been easy times for recruiters either. Many are overstressed and overworked. Sympathy will get you further than irascibility.

"I feel like I've been more of a career counsellor than recruiter over the past year," says one. "There have been hundreds of people through the door and not many jobs. It's mostly been a question of reassuring them that the market will pick up again soon."