Chasing your recruiter for updates: Your responsibility or not?

Often, recruiters get a bad reputation for not following up with candidates. Sometimes this is not entirely without reason—perhaps they are being kept in the dark, or are waiting for feedback from their client also. Or like every job, perhaps it’s just been an incredibly busy or hectic week, and things have fallen through the cracks. In general though, candidates certainly should expect good communication, and a chronic lack of effort in this regard is both discourteous, disrespectful, and a sure fire way to identify a poor recruiter that you would do well to avoid.

From the candidate’s point of view though, should you be chasing them if things go quiet also? Is it really your responsibility? Will it be fruitless or come across as pushy? Here are some reasons I think you should always follow up.

A show of enthusiasm

First of all, I would sometimes argue that not following up with your recruiter can potentially show you in a negative light.

If you are genuinely enthusiastic about a role, it makes sense that you would follow up to hear about the progress of your application. Maybe you don’t want to appear too keen, but people involved in the process will probably appreciate it if you show some interest in the opportunity!

At the same time, with video interviews now the norm, it’s easier than ever for candidates to interview for multiple roles without having to take time out of work and travel to a company’s office. Is this more convenient? Absolutely. In my experience though, it does sometimes have the unintended effect of people accepting interviews for little more than getting some practice in, with next to no interest in the job at hand. I’ve certainly had direct experience with this.

This makes it a lot harder for recruiters and hiring managers to understand if you are serious. If you follow up, we’ll know that you are keen to move forward with the process, and that we weren’t just your fifth video call of the day.

It’s controversial perhaps, but sometimes, not getting back to you for a few days could be seen as a test. If you don’t reach out to anyone in that time, were you just being polite, or is this interview process, in fact, not something you were all that serious about to begin with?

Standing out

It’s actually a rare occurrence that a candidate will push for an answer from the recruiter. In this case, doing so could make you stand out from the crowd.

Even if you’re not “pushing” after a delay, checking in is still the polite thing to do. You would—or should—always follow up after a job interview by emailing the hiring manager to thank them for their time (although this seems to be getting more and more rare these days), and updating a recruiter on how the interview went, if you have any major concerns, and if you’re interested in continuing the conversation, should be no different.

So, why not chase?

There are many reasons why candidates don’t chase recruiters. Perhaps you don’t feel it’s your responsibility – they approached you after all, not the other way around, and you want to continue to feel like you’re being courted. More likely though, and top of our list, is the natural human desire to not seem too “pushy” or invasive. But as a procurement professional, you probably will chase and follow up with people every day of the week, so it’s time to get over those qualms.

We also convince ourselves that there is a particular timeline to an interview process. If a recruiter doesn’t get back to us in, say, two weeks, we assume it’s all over. Ask yourself how you came up with this timeline—is it an arbitrary figure based on a few experiences?

Every company is different, with some taking a long time to sift through resumes or complete their interviews, and pretty much all of us are dealing with some kind of extenuating circumstance at the moment, so don’t give up.

This is not to mention the emotional reaction to being, or assuming we have been, rejected. Before you know it, you can quickly get into your head and tell yourself you didn’t want them either. Take a step back, examine the facts, and simply enquire as to what’s going on.

Nothing to lose

To sum up, I would say that, especially in 2021, you have nothing to lose by being more proactive in the way you follow up, both with your recruiter and with companies in general. I understand that from a candidate’s perspective, you might feel it’s the recruiter’s job to get back to you in a timely fashion—and it is—but this seems like a potentially dangerous path to go down if you are serious about a role, when the alternative is a quick email or phone call.