5 Things Recruiters Hate

Sometimes it’s hard to specify what makes a great candidate – it’s a lot easier to let you know what doesn’t

By the time you’ve finished this article you will know which things recruiters hate and that you should avoid doing when you are applying for a job. We’ve asked a real recruiter what they hate, since they have plenty of experience with applicants. During their time in the role they have seen some pretty shocking things in their recruitment career!

So read carefully through this 5 things recruiters hate the most:

Rude, aggressive or overly personal candidates

Always stay professional: some recruiters have special tactics to check how a candidate acts. So it doesn’t matter if the recruiter is making a bad joke about your shoes or if they’re critical of your shy voice – it’s you who is applying for the job and has to prove your business personality. These situations should be taken as a opportunity for you to learn. However, if anything makes you feel extremely uncomfortable, you have no obligation to stay, and this could be a clear warning sign of somewhere you don’t want to work.

An inappropriate CV

This is a huge topic – the CV. Don’t use an inappropriate or weird e-mail address like DJChillazZ@gmail.com. Don’t write something on your resume that you can’t 100% back up and don’t mention every technical thing you ever heard of. This will not help you to get invited to an interview and the recruiter will not be impressed after reading your CV.

Acting like you are famous

This won’t work during a phone call or an interview. Recruiters don’t care how many influential connections you have or how amazing you are. Many people make this mistake by trying to overcompensate for their nervousness by seeming extra confident. Better you impress the recruiter with your knowledge and your natural attitude instead of acting too cool.

No response after contacting a candidate

Recruiters spend a long time reading through CVs and trying to choose the right candidate. So naturally, it can be very annoying if you have finally selected an applicant and they don’t respond. So if you apply for a job try to regularly check your emails. If you are not reachable at a certain time,  mention it before and do the recruiter a favour and let them know if you’re not interested in the position.

OR – Even worse: Going through the interview and the whole process and then dropping out at the last minute.

Turning up late to a job interview

Ok – Sometimes these things happen, but you should have a better excuse than ‘I couldn’t find the building’ or that you missed the bus. Make sure that you check the location of the company and how long it takes you to reach it the day before. Arrive early enough to know exactly where you are going before you actually need to go inside. If you are unavoidably late then send a short message to let them know.