Do Recruiters Blacklist Candidates in Ireland?

LeVaterIzVet

Hey guys, something has been troubling me a lot lately. I have been applying for jobs non-stop for the last 3 months but I'm getting absolutely nowhere. I would give more details about myself, but my paranoia has convinced me to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

Everything was going fine initially, recruiters were constantly reaching out to me on LinkedIn and I met with several of them. Upon meeting with these recruiters, I became suspicious of their intentions. I'm very good at reading people and figuring out their ulterior motives, or so I thought? The roles in which I expressed interest in during the interviews seemed to be used as bait to reel me in, only for me to then be offered alternative jobs later. Maybe I wasn't qualified enough for the roles I wanted and they were too polite to say? If so, why would I have been interviewed in the first place?

Ultimately, I was due to attend an interview with a large firm that I had expressed interest in, however for a role that didn't really suit where I wanted to go. Disaster struck the morning of the interview, I woke up to a flat tyre and missed the interview. I contacted the recruiter immediately, however bear in mind that this was at 6am and the interview was scheduled for 9:30am. (I was commuting that morning from home)

The recruiter didn't seem to mind once I spoke to her, she contacted the firm and everything seemed to be fine. Maybe it's naive of me to think this? Afterwards, the tone of our conversations changed and she ceased contacting me. This is obviously understandable and she's well within her right to do so, I feel terrible about what happened and to have potentially negatively impacted her career/reputation.

To cut a long story short, do recruiters place candidates like me on a blacklist? And if so, would this be something that could spread to other recruiting firms? I think it would be naive to think that recruiters don't talk to other recruiters in the industry, but would this not be a form of defamation? Not that I ever intend on taking legal action, but what is to stop a recruiter from blackening the name of a candidate? Any input here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Lux23

I had to leave an interview once because I was feeling unwell, and that recruiter certainly never called me again. I have had contact from other people working there since though. So although I believe some recruiters might give up on candidates, I doubt they all get together to create an official blacklist.

LeVaterIzVet

Lux23 wrote: »

I had to leave an interview once because I was feeling unwell, and that recruiter certainly never called me again. I have had contact from other people working there since though. So although I believe some recruiters might give up on candidates, I doubt they all get together to create an official blacklist.

Thanks very much for your input! Hopefully I'm just being paranoid.

touts

They don't have a blacklist. That would be the sort of GDPR violation that would close most recruitment companies.

However if an individual recruiter thinks you are wasting their time they are unlikely to contact you again. Remember they only want to send quality candidates to companies because if the HR team in the company think a recruiter only sends them rubbish then the recruiter will lose the business.

Chances are the issue is more with your CV, cover letter etc. Every job application you send out should have a CV that is customised to make sure it hits the points the company is looking for. If you are sending the same CV to lots of different companies then I'd say that is the problem.

xi5yvm0owc1s2b

I doubt there's any official blacklist, but I'm not surprised this recruiter doesn't want to work with you anymore. In her eyes, you're unreliable and you embarrassed her in front of what was probably a major client.

Calling at 6 am to say you couldn't attend an interview three and a half hours later because you had a flat tyre also shows lack of initiative. Could you not have got a lift? Got a bus or train? Taken a taxi? Combination of the above?

Grayson

Lux23 wrote: »

I had to leave an interview once because I was feeling unwell, and that recruiter certainly never called me again. I have had contact from other people working there since though. So although I believe some recruiters might give up on candidates, I doubt they all get together to create an official blacklist.

Creating a "blacklist" like that would be illegal.

Thing is that recruiters are useless. they are the real estate agents of the job market. There's plenty of sites that will put up fake jobs just to harvest CV's. That way they can say they have X amount of candidates on file.

The recruiters themselves rarely know what the job they are selling is. Especially in tech.

I took redundancy, went back to college for a year and then went looking for a job. I spend nearly a year looking. In that time period I heard back from about 10% of the jobs I applied for. However I was also reached out to by recruiters for jobs I'd never applied for and had no interest in because i wasn't qualified for them.

Kimbot

MOD Moved to Work & Jobs, please note the local charter.

Dial Hard

Grayson wrote: »

The recruiters themselves rarely know what the job they are selling is. Especially in tech.

Years ago when I was still working in admin a recruiter rang me to ask would I be interested in a role. I was like "Well, tell me a bit more about it" and they went "So it's a C++ Administrator..."

LeVaterIzVet

touts wrote: »

They don't have a blacklist. That would be the sort of GDPR violation that would close most recruitment companies.

However if an individual recruiter thinks you are wasting their time they are unlikely to contact you again. Remember they only want to send quality candidates to companies because if the HR team in the company think a recruiter only sends them rubbish then the recruiter will lose the business.

Chances are the issue is more with your CV, cover letter etc. Every job application you send out should have a CV that is customised to make sure it hits the points the company is looking for. If you are sending the same CV to lots of different companies then I'd say that is the problem.

This comment has literally made my day. I had been getting quite down recently at the thoughts of potentially ruining my career before it even started. Thank you so much!

Mrs OBumble

Grayson wrote: »

Creating a "blacklist" like that would be illegal.

Provided it's based on facts not prejudices, it's not illegal.

Anyone who calls me at 6am about work goes on my personal black list!

LeVaterIzVet

Sawyer Sticky Tongue wrote: »

I doubt there's any official blacklist, but I'm not surprised this recruiter doesn't want to work with you anymore. In her eyes, you're unreliable and you embarrassed her in front of what was probably a major client.

Calling at 6 am to say you couldn't attend an interview three and a half hours later because you had a flat tyre also shows lack of initiative. Could you not have got a lift? Got a bus or train? Taken a taxi? Combination of the above?

That's completely understandable! Unfortunately the commute would have taken over 2 hours and there weren't any other options. That's rural Ireland for you! lol

LeVaterIzVet

Mrs OBumble wrote: »

Provided it's based on facts not prejudices, it's not illegal.

Anyone who calls me at 6am about work goes on my personal black list!

I emailed her work email at 6am, I never said that I called her.

LeVaterIzVet

Grayson wrote: »

Creating a "blacklist" like that would be illegal.

Thing is that recruiters are useless. they are the real estate agents of the job market. There's plenty of sites that will put up fake jobs just to harvest CV's. That way they can say they have X amount of candidates on file.

The recruiters themselves rarely know what the job they are selling is. Especially in tech.

I took redundancy, went back to college for a year and then went looking for a job. I spend nearly a year looking. In that time period I heard back from about 10% of the jobs I applied for. However I was also reached out to by recruiters for jobs I'd never applied for and had no interest in because i wasn't qualified for them.

To be fair to her, she's a great recruiter! It was completely my own fault for missing the interview. I'm just concerned that maybe, as was pointed out above, that she found me unreliable and placed me on the company blacklist.

Fr_Dougal

In my experience, you’re better off applying for roles directly with a company. Avoid recruiters where possible.

joe199

Scroungers is what they really are let's be honest hear.

frosty123

OP I was about to start the same type of thread..I've been looking since sept,
and i've got next to nothing in replies from recruiters and companies, granted im pushing 40 long term unemployed but I thought id get at least some response ..but all I got were 2 interviews and about 6 email replies :-(

AndrewJRenko

Age can be an effective blacklist for some people

frosty123

^^^^^^

I was thinking that...can anyone in the recruitment/HR game confirm this??

Should I go as far as to lie about my age on my CV?? cause im desperate at this stage

Lux23

Dial Hard wrote: »

Years ago when I was still working in admin a recruiter rang me to ask would I be interested in a role. I was like "Well, tell me a bit more about it" and they went "So it's a C++ Administrator..."

I keep getting an email from some guy asking me would I be interested in interviewing for a Health & Safety role? I work in Public Relations. At least you can how they made the mistake with that call.

banie01

frosty123 wrote: »

^^^^^^

I was thinking that...can anyone in the recruitment/HR game confirm this??

Should I go as far as to lie about my age on my CV?? cause im desperate at this stage

Why would you have your age on your CV?
Granted some qualification dates or even names could indicate your age but there is no need for an age or DOB on a CV.

mikemac2

LeVaterIzVet wrote: »

Everything was going fine initially, recruiters were constantly reaching out to me on LinkedIn and I met with several of them. Upon meeting with these recruiters, I became suspicious of their intentions. The roles in which I expressed interest in during the interviews seemed to be used as bait to reel me in, only for me to then be offered alternative jobs later.

Completely normal. Happened me a few times to apply for a cool job and when I went to the agents office that job never got discussed and they start talking about roles I had no interest in

Lux23

frosty123 wrote: »

^^^^^^

I was thinking that...can anyone in the recruitment/HR game confirm this??

Should I go as far as to lie about my age on my CV?? cause im desperate at this stage

Your age shouldn't even be on your CV.

OMM 0000

Recruiters work in the present.

Who is available today for a job being advertised today.

It's a high pressure job, and in general the recruiter cares little for the jobseeker. They care about the employer - they are the customer.

So I would just switch recruiter. Try to develop a relationship with your recruiter too. Don't just forward your CV to them. Talk to them on the phone. Let them know you're reliable and won't embarrass them.

Ohmeha

Grayson wrote: »

Creating a "blacklist" like that would be illegal.

Thing is that recruiters are useless. they are the real estate agents of the job market. There's plenty of sites that will put up fake jobs just to harvest CV's. That way they can say they have X amount of candidates on file.

The recruiters themselves rarely know what the job they are selling is. Especially in tech.

I took redundancy, went back to college for a year and then went looking for a job. I spend nearly a year looking. In that time period I heard back from about 10% of the jobs I applied for. However I was also reached out to by recruiters for jobs I'd never applied for and had no interest in because i wasn't qualified for them.

Even worse is the in-house company recruiters hitting you on linkedin not knowing their arse to their elbow about their own roles sending you on some senior management role about 6 levels above your blatant skillset and qualifications. You have to be careful fobbing these guys off when down the line you may need to apply to a relevant role in the same company

yoursaviour1989

frosty123 wrote: »

^^^^^^

I was thinking that...can anyone in the recruitment/HR game confirm this??

Should I go as far as to lie about my age on my CV?? cause im desperate at this stage

I'm a recruiter. To answer your question, age isn't a problem here, the fact that you've been unemployed long-term is.
Recruiters are paid to find the very best candidates. That means people with recent experience in a very similar role who can hit the ground running quicker than any applicant they'll get from a standard advertisement.
If you've been worked in an industry that's heavily regulated and ever changing then chances are your experience is no longer applicable as you're not up to date on current regulations and policies.
Your best best is to go to employers directly and have an explanation for the gap on your CV.

Sorry if any of the above sounds harsh, I'm just trying to show you how the industry works.
Hope you find something soon.

Danzy

LeVaterIzVet wrote: »

Hey guys, something has been troubling me a lot lately. I have been applying for jobs non-stop for the last 3 months but I'm getting absolutely nowhere. I would give more details about myself, but my paranoia has convinced me to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

Everything was going fine initially, recruiters were constantly reaching out to me on LinkedIn and I met with several of them. Upon meeting with these recruiters, I became suspicious of their intentions. I'm very good at reading people and figuring out their ulterior motives, or so I thought? The roles in which I expressed interest in during the interviews seemed to be used as bait to reel me in, only for me to then be offered alternative jobs later. Maybe I wasn't qualified enough for the roles I wanted and they were too polite to say? If so, why would I have been interviewed in the first place?

Ultimately, I was due to attend an interview with a large firm that I had expressed interest in, however for a role that didn't really suit where I wanted to go. Disaster struck the morning of the interview, I woke up to a flat tyre and missed the interview. I contacted the recruiter immediately, however bear in mind that this was at 6am and the interview was scheduled for 9:30am. (I was commuting that morning from home)

The recruiter didn't seem to mind once I spoke to her, she contacted the firm and everything seemed to be fine. Maybe it's naive of me to think this? Afterwards, the tone of our conversations changed and she ceased contacting me. This is obviously understandable and she's well within her right to do so, I feel terrible about what happened and to have potentially negatively impacted her career/reputation.

To cut a long story short, do recruiters place candidates like me on a blacklist? And if so, would this be something that could spread to other recruiting firms? I think it would be naive to think that recruiters don't talk to other recruiters in the industry, but would this not be a form of defamation? Not that I ever intend on taking legal action, but what is to stop a recruiter from blackening the name of a candidate? Any input here would be greatly appreciated. Thank you

Recruiters often don't even talk to people beside them in the office. Never mind outside of it.

Did it for a few years, high pressure job.

frosty123

yoursaviour1989 wrote: »

I'm a recruiter. To answer your question, age isn't a problem here, the fact that you've been unemployed long-term is.
Recruiters are paid to find the very best candidates. That means people with recent experience in a very similar role who can hit the ground running quicker than any applicant they'll get from a standard advertisement.
If you've been worked in an industry that's heavily regulated and ever changing then chances are your experience is no longer applicable as you're not up to date on current regulations and policies.
Your best best is to go to employers directly and have an explanation for the gap on your CV.

Sorry if any of the above sounds harsh, I'm just trying to show you how the industry works.
Hope you find something soon.

So should I increase the dates of my employment to fill up the gaps?

Or do employers/recruiters check up with social welfare on candidates ?

yoursaviour1989

frosty123 wrote: »

So should I increase the dates of my employment to fill up the gaps?

Or do employers/recruiters check up with social welfare on candidates ?

Recruiters won't if we don't have to. Employers will probably require a reference from your previous employer so if you change the dates you'll be caught out there. Also if you work in a regulated industry the employer may do a background check which may result in you being asked to produce documents from social welfare.

AndrewJRenko

frosty123 wrote: »

So should I increase the dates of my employment to fill up the gaps?

Or do employers/recruiters check up with social welfare on candidates ?

If you're going to be a liar, you need to be a very good liar. It's very easy to catch yourself out.

seamus

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

If you're going to be a liar, you need to be a very good liar. It's very easy to catch yourself out.

Little white lies aren't that big a deal; inflating the extent of your responsibilities is easy enough, as is embellishing your job title or salary.

Nobody will ever check with social welfare unless you tell them you were unemployed.

Modifying dates can be fraught though. A reference will almost always include confirmation of the dates that you worked for the company. A month or so out is no big deal; everyone makes mistakes. But if you said you were there six months longer than you were, then that's going to come up.

If you know your referees well enough, they may ask you what dates you want them to say, but a HR department will never falsify dates.

LollipopJimmy

seamus wrote: »

Little white lies aren't that big a deal; inflating the extent of your responsibilities is easy enough, as is embellishing your job title or salary.

Nobody will ever check with social welfare unless you tell them you were unemployed.

Modifying dates can be fraught though. A reference will almost always include confirmation of the dates that you worked for the company. A month or so out is no big deal; everyone makes mistakes. But if you said you were there six months longer than you were, then that's going to come up.

If you know your referees well enough, they may ask you what dates you want them to say, but a HR department will never falsify dates.

References are not carried out to the extent they used to be, now it's more a 'statement of employment', this will include dates. A lot of companies are using HireRight and the likes so dates need to be fairly accurate.

To put the cards out I am a recruiter, it's not this high pressure KPI chasing role that it's being made out to be above. Even the days of it being massively commission driven are gone.
I don't get the comments above that call recruiters 'scroungers' etc, I mean the same can be said about any profession then surely. I work in a particular area where my network is my value, the businesses who operate within my space give me a call and they have suitable candidates with them in no time at all. A company couldn't go out themselves and recruit with the speed I can.

Anyway, to the OP, no blacklist will be kept, you might have a mark against you with that agency but if I was to give advice, call the recruiter at some stage this week and have a proper conversation.

whoopsadaisy

Another recruiter here.

My advice to the OP would be to try and get a hold of your recruiter for a quick catch up on what the market looks like and if there are any other suitable opportunities she feels she may be able to help you on. Take stock of where you're at with your job search and seek advice. What's gone wrong over the past three months? Are you applying for the right jobs? Are there options you could look that you haven't been considering? Does your CV / interview technique need work? Is your position typical of the industry you're in at the moment?

I've come across many candidates I would like to blacklist tbh. People who are lazy, only half-committed to their job search - these are the ones likely to embarrass you in interview the most. People who, like many in this thread here, think that I am some sort of scam artist and will be openly nasty to me for no apparent reason. Entitled people who think that they are somehow owed a list the length of my arm of job opportunities and are persistent in hassling me for updates sometimes quite aggressively, even if I have made clear I don't have anything for them. I've come across excellent excellent people who have disappeared off the face of the earth and completely ghosted me at the eleventh hour.

These people are the minority but you remember them for the wrong reasons. My background is in retail so I'm well able for dealing with rude / disrespectful people, and some of the genuine, excellent candidates who I've met and ultimately been able to place more than make up for some of the more painful ones.

I love my job, but it is high pressure and you need resilience. There are very few of the above that I would say I would never contact again - I try not to burn a bridge, you never know when a contact could be useful to have. Everyone takes a different approach though and I'm sure not every recruiter would be as easy-going!

Build the relationship with your recruiter but don't hound her. If she can help you, she will - it's in her interest to get you a job, remember, so keep in touch. But if she doesn't have anything she can help you with, leave it be and explore other avenues.

frosty123

seamus wrote: »

Little white lies aren't that big a deal; inflating the extent of your responsibilities is easy enough, as is embellishing your job title or salary.

Nobody will ever check with social welfare unless you tell them you were unemployed.

But a company can't contact Social Welfare without your consent??

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

References are not carried out to the extent they used to be, now it's more a 'statement of employment', this will include dates. A lot of companies are using HireRight and the likes so dates need to be fairly accurate.

and how does HireRight go about getting details of people's work history??

LollipopJimmy

frosty123 wrote: »

and how does HireRight go about getting details of people's work history??

The candidate completes a questionnaire with HireRight, this will be cross referenced with a CV and they contact employers on the CV to confirm dates and job title. Generally companies will only go to this length at offer stage.

To add, if there was a period of unemployment, HireRight and the likes tend to seek proof of this also.


If you want to PM me your CV with personal data removed I can review it and offer advice on it.

frosty123

Whats gets me about rec agencies is that they promise you all sorts when you sign up initially ...and then you hear FA from them..if they don't have anything or unlikely to get you anything then..id wish theyd be more up front with you from the outset

yoursaviour1989

frosty123 wrote: »

Whats gets me about rec agencies is that they promise you all sorts when you sign up initially ...and then you hear FA from them..if they don't have anything or unlikely to get you anything then..id wish theyd be more up front with you from the outset

At the same time if they told you outright they have nothing for you you'd walk away thinking they're a useless prick. It's also pretty hard tell someone you won't be able to help them based purely on the fact you don't think their skills are relevant.
They may actually have something for you in the future when a client gives them a role that suits.
I've over 1,000 registered candidates in my name on my companies database alone. It's a very small percentage we actually get the work with and help but unless I meet someone who is completely irrelevant to the field I work in then I'd never say never to them.

frosty123

^^^^
Over 1k candidates?? I take it you're in dublin?..

Btw-What job sector do you cater for?

LollipopJimmy

As above I have 1000's of candidates registered with me, however, I know I am good at managing expectations.

I don't really advertise roles, generally reach out to people but I have two roles advertised at the moment and since yesterday I have 36 applications and only 2 of the 36 would have the right kind of experience, even at that they aren't an exact fit experience wise.

Charles Ingles

Yes of course they do,
They all contact each other sharing information without a doubt.
I'd say you should stear well clear if recruiting agencies

AndrewJRenko

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Yes of course they do,
They all contact each other sharing information without a doubt.
I'd say you should stear well clear if recruiting agencies

Have you reported these agencies that are illegally sharing data to the Data Protection Commissioner?

LollipopJimmy

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Yes of course they do,
They all contact each other sharing information without a doubt.
I'd say you should stear well clear if recruiting agencies

Have you any basis for this allegation?

Charles Ingles

AndrewJRenko wrote: »

Have you reported these agencies that are illegally sharing data to the Data Protection Commissioner?

Yes

Charles Ingles

LollipopJimmy wrote: »

Have you any basis for this allegation?

Yes of course I do

AndrewJRenko

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Yes

When?

LollipopJimmy

Charles Ingles wrote: »

Yes

Oh well good. If you have reported them then they will be dealt with.

As for me, I have dealt with recruiters and have been in recruitment both internal and agency and I have never seen a recruiter or colleague share data with another agency. I don't see why any recruiter would do that, there would be nothing to gain.

robodonkey

mikemac2 wrote: »

Completely normal. Happened me a few times to apply for a cool job and when I went to the agents office that job never got discussed and they start talking about roles I had no interest in

In my younger days, same thing, there was no job - I was asked to come in for interview but really I was being pumped for information. When I queried why they were talking about people I might know that would be interested in jobs, I was told that was a scurrilous accusation and I would be blackballed. Never used that agency again, agency is one of the biggest in the country.

J Mysterio

Lux23 wrote: »

Your age shouldn't even be on your CV.

It's normal to put your DOB surely?

AndrewJRenko

J Mysterio wrote: »

It's normal to put your DOB surely?

No. Why would this be relevant?

yoursaviour1989

frosty123 wrote: »

^^^^
Over 1k candidates?? I take it you're in dublin?..

Btw-What job sector do you cater for?

I am indeed.
To avoid outing myself as some people know I use this site I'll say broadly finance/financial services.

joe199

joe199 wrote: »

Scroungers is what they really are let's be honest hear.

My opinion is: Those who can, do. Those who can't, teach. Those who can't teach, become recruitment consultants.

Sorry to any teachers out there.

I had a long call with a recruiter recently. Told her what I was looking for. Security, Pen Testing etc. She emailed me on Wednesday about an "exciting" role deploying Office365. :rolleyes:

OMM 0000

There's nothing wrong with being a recruiter, and there's nothing wrong with using a recruiter.

The problem is the lack of professional courtesy - all it takes is a quick follow-up e-mail.

"I'm sorry Joe, the employer doesn't want to proceed with your application".

"I'm sorry Joe, I have nothing for you at the moment".

These can even be templates which are sent to the jobseeker with the click of a button.