Duplicate Submissions – You might think to yourself “What’s the harm in letting two recruiters submit my profile for a role? Surely that doubles my chances!”
You couldn’t be more wrong!
When discussing an opportunity with a candidate we always let them know the client name, job title and rate before we submit them. We also ask candidates to confirm they have not already applied to that company/role. Unfortunately more and more often now we are submitting a candidates to a role only to get an email back from our client saying they already have their profile!
When we call the candidate to let them know we are getting responses like:
“I applied but I didn’t hear anything back yet so I didn’t think it mattered.”
“I’ve been applying to a lot of roles recently and have lost track so I didn’t know it was the same company”
“Another recruiter called me but I wasn’t sure it was the same company/role”
“I spoke to a recruiter recently but they didn’t say they were submitting me for anything”
Duplicate submissions have a damaging effect on a Recruitment Agency’s reputation but they also have a damaging effect on a candidate’s reputation.
We understand that it can be frustrating if you don’t get feedback from a company for a long time and it is very tempting to apply again to try and kick-start the process but it very rarely ends positively if a company receives duplicate submissions.
If you are very actively looking for your next opportunity and are applying to a lot of roles, maybe try starting up a list of companies and jobs you have applied to. That way when a new opportunity comes up you can quickly check if you have applied before.
We also hear: “Recruiters are sending my profile without my permission!” Here are some tips to avoid just that:
- If a recruiter calls you with an opportunity make sure they tell you the company, job title and rate. If they can’t tell you that then explicitly tell them you do not want your profile submitted until you have those details.
- Ask the recruiter to send you an email confirming the details of the role and that they are submitting your profile to a certain company – that way if another recruiter calls you about a similar opportunity you can check your email and compare the details.
- Partner with a recruiter you trust and only work with them
- If it turns out that a recruiter has submitted your profile without your knowledge, write a letter/email explaining the situation and confirming that you wish to be represented by the recruiter who discussed the role with you and got your permission to submit your profile. The recruiter can then submit the letter to their client and prove that the original application was not authorised and your representation will change over.
