10 Things Recruiters Won't Tell You

It is normal for job seekers/candidates to enquire their Recruiters or Job Interviewers on why they were not short listed or recommended for a job. If there is a mismatch in terms of qualification, skills-set or salary, telling candidates point blank is not a problem. However, on many occasions the reason can border to personal and may come across as hurtful, offensive or downright embarrassing and that makes the job of telling the truth not an easy one.

Furthermore, Recruiters are usually trained to be diplomatic in their approach, therefore delivering "not so pleasant news" is not something they enjoy doing. 

So most of the Recruiters in the name of professionalism, will weigh what to tell and what not to tell. In the end, the big question is: by telling, will it make any difference? If not, should I risk my reputation of being the bad guy? 

For job seekers/candidates, if you think the reason given by the Recruiter was a bit wishy-washy and you have a feeling that they may be hiding something from you, chances are they might. 

Top 10 Things A Recruiter Won’t Tell You

1. Bad breath
2. Bad body odour or overpowering perfume/cologne
3. Interview attire out of fashion or too flashy (OMG, she came in her grandmother's clothes!)
4. Too much saliva till they covered half of the Recruiter's glasses.
5. Swearing (even mildly)
6. Too pushy or dogmatic about certain views 
7. Your eye contact is intense or worst, they wander at places you should not.
8. Overusing certain phrases or words, for example, words like "Am I right?" at the end of every sentence.
9. Awkward facial expressions (and you are not interviewing for Stand-up Comedian)
10. Partial deafness or misinterpret questions (was told more than twice you got the question wrong)

A job seeker that genuinely wants to improve his hiring chances should always seek to know the truth of the rejection. Hence, convincing the Recruiter that you can handle the truth is crucial. After all, we do have our own blind spots, job seekers or not. 

As for experienced Recruiters, they would know better whether to tell or not as experience would inform them that there are people who won't and can't handle the truth.