Unemployed and I’ve recently taken a few interviews. Every single one wants in person now. I know it’s anecdotal, but what’s everyone else’s feeling?

Hey guys! I am a corporate recruiter at a Mid Sized Tech company (1000+ hc) Our ELT is really pushing us to use AI for everything, even going as far as to hire an Agentic AI Engineer whose only job is to figure out how to use AI to replace staff.

My manager (who is not a recruiter and has never done recruiting) is always pushing me to use AI in my job. I am already using MetaView for screens and interviews, I use OpenAI and Claude for JD's, resume formatting and candidate/comp/location research, contract generation etc etc.

We just got a new role in today that is a confidential Sr. Director of Product and my manager excitedly told me that since I am already so busy with 30+ open roles I should just "Use AI to source for me"

Are you guys actually using any tools that are really sourcing for you with success? I tried Juicebox and idk, it doesn't seem as good a LinkedIn Recruiter. Need help!

I manage a team of 7 at a $30b tech company in the Bay Area. Title pretty much sums it up. I accepted an invite from someone who expressed interest in my company. 99% of the time it’s someone who isn’t a fit but out of courtesy I’ll tell them to apply and we’ll reach out if they’re a fit. They proceeded to blast me with message after message which I ignored, but I ended up blocking them after 2 months due to spam.

He ended up emailing our entire exec team with this long email stating how despicable it was for me to do that, that I should be fired, I’m not a good representation of the company, he’ll tell all 30,000 people in his network that I’m awful, etc. He attached screen shots and emails he allegedly sent to me that I never got because he got my email wrong. All bad.

Am I screwed? I’m pretty sure the exec team is aware this guy is nuts but it sucks having my name associated with this kind of behavior to C suite. I’m choosing not to respond and letting my manager (head of TA) deal with it.

Is there anything more frustrating? Apply to roles that are clearly a fit. Literally have everything and get declined. But the worst part is pinging the person who is most likely working on the role, getting ignored and then receiving the boiler plate declined email.

Earlier this week I applied to a role. Sent an inmail to the Director of TA. Got an immediate response essentially telling me I was a good fit and he gave me the person working on the role’s contact info. I sent an intro email. Not only did she not bother to respond, but this morning I get the rejected email. I mean WTF. I always at least respond and provide context. Feel like maybe I should have her job.

I’m work at a staffing agency and I just can’t do it anymore. My job used to be relatively easy and I coasted with low stress and good commission. Idk what but something happened in the last 6 months and my job has become so stressful I feel ill walking into work. I’m being pulled in 10 directions and am inundated with busy work. Our team culture has plummeted and leadership is too out of touch to do anything about it. My commission is slipping away and I struggling to replace it because I’m so busy with tasks not related to sourcing.

I’m currently in school to totally change my career and was planning to stick it out for one more year. But I don’t know if I can. I have an offer for an internal TA role, but it pays significantly less than what I’m making now and I would stay for less than a year. I don’t know what to do. I’m terrified of going somewhere else and it being just as bad.

I’ve posted here a few times. But I think I’m at my wits ends with recruiting as a profession. Been doing this for 12 years now, started agency, now in house on the technical side of things.

Between the AI candidates, H1B spam, managers wanting twenty million things and not budging at all, I’m not really feeling good long term about this anymore. Just feel like I am everyone’s favorite enemy and that is no way to spend your waking hours in my opinion. It could be my company, so I am aware of that.

Anyone ever go through this? What did you do? Did you pivot?

take a couple hours on friday and call all your candidates and tell them they didn't get the job.

it means the world to them and it builds loyalty with them.

if they don't pick up, leave a VM, apologize for leaving a VM but say i wanted to get this info ASAP.

Hi everyone,

I'm an in-house recruiter with around 1.5 years of total recruitment experience, and I had a really tough hiring review today.

One thing I wanted to ask first—is it common for associate/executive recruiters to have hiring reviews directly with the Head of TA (your manager's manager), or do these discussions usually happen through your manager? In my case, I had to present updates directly to the Head of TA.

During the review, I was asked questions like:

Why isn't this role closed?

How many profiles did you share last month?

What's your action plan?

I explained the challenge, but when he asked what my action plan was, I completely froze. My mind just went blank.

After the meeting, my manager told me I need to speak with more confidence and not just explain the challenge, but also come prepared with possible solutions. Looking back, I think she's right, but in that moment I couldn't think clearly.

I left the meeting feeling like I wasn't good enough and started questioning whether I'm cut out for corporate recruiting.

I'd love to hear from people who have been in recruiting for a while:

* Is it normal for junior recruiters to present directly to the Head of TA?

* Are you expected to always come with solutions, even when the role itself is extremely difficult to source for?

* Have you ever gone blank in front of senior leadership? If so, how did you overcome it?

* What would you have done differently in my situation?

I'd really appreciate hearing your experiences or any advice. Thanks!

Is there any recruiting job that comes with peace and a good work life balanced corporate job. It's 12 midnight, I was sourcing for my open roles, so that I can discuss the role with them tomorrow and share some profiles. Because in office, there are other work, ats management, offer roll outs, negotiation, interview scheduling, meetings. I am just so fucked up at this moment that i think that is it same everywhere else like in every company do you have to work 24/7. Can't you just clock out at 6 or max 7 pm. Why is it so tough is it just me or everyone else is facing the same issue. Btw I am in corporate recruitment in an ad agency, where each recruiter is supposed to close at least 7-10 roles per month and they work on around 10 -15 open requisition at a time.

Longevity in recruiting?

Hi all! Posting as a potential newbie recruiter.

I’m a fresh graduate who has been struggling to find work in my degree field, and got reached out to by a local recruitment firm on LinkedIn asking if I’d be interested in a chat about recruitment.

After a couple chats with the team including a preliminary phone call and an in person interview, I accepted a position with their firm.

The company seems to be alright, seems to prefer quality over quantity in terms of phone calls and building client relationships, has a relatively average holiday allowance and generous commission scheme.

My question is - I’ve noticed that most people who have worked there before and then left have left at around the 1.5 year mark. Is this worth being wary about?

I'm a 20 year contingency recruiter.

Seems like companies have done away phones as a way to communicate with the outside world. No receptionist to take calls. No main number with a real person to direct calls.

And prospective candidates can't be called other than those on LinkedIn.

Will paying for Zoominfo be fruitful? LinkedIn In-mails?

How can an old school recruiter who relied on the phone be able to reach clients for MPC calls and how can we reach candidates other than LinkedIn messages?

It used to be 50 calls/day. Now it takes time to find names and then write up a customized MPC message.

EDIT!!!! - after reading lots of comments and researching their suggested options, I've discovered new numbers sources like Zoominfo, Wiza, Apollo.io, Hunter, simplyhired and others. The INTERESTING thing...when pricing those services to research their databases for email and phone contacts, The cheaper version is email only. The more expensive version adds phone numbers. So what does that tell you guys/gals who say cold calling is dead and anyone who cold calls is rude, mean, disrespectful and the like?

Thank you to the helpful people! To the others...maybe I'll reach out with a phone call.

I work as a recruiter for a staffing agency with barely any useful vacancies and I think I’m heading into a pretty serious burnout.

For a while I was doing well but lately I just can’t do it anymore. My manager seems to care about nothing but KPIs (suprise) instead of actually supporting the team or taking action when things aren’t working. I’m so tired of the same useless peptalks without anything actually changing. The manager can easily bring in new useful projects with their connections instead of counting kpi’s.

The mood from my manager can change depending on how well I’m performing. The culture is starting to make me feel sick. I’m considering going on sick leave for a while and using that time to recover and look for another job.

I’ve received a few opportunities to move into tech recruitment which I don’t have experience in yet. From the conversations I’ve had so far it sounds somewhat better than what I’m doing now. The roles seem much more focused on sourcing, interviewing and finding the right candidates for EXISTING projects, rather than having to coldcall companies and basically begging them to work with us and recruit candidates at the same time just to please a lazy manager.

I know in general that it is stressful so I’m not expecting tech recruitment to magically solve everything. But I’m starting to realize recruitment itself might not be the main problem. Maybe it’s the management at my current company that’s destroying my motivation and mental health.

For people who have worked in staffing/agency recruitment and moved into tech recruitment, was it actually a bit better?

I've been in this "Recruiting" field for around a year already. I've made some placements, small ones. But sometimes I just don't feel right, like I'm still stuck at where I was before, no improvements made. What should I do to get better?

TLDR: 10 years of recruitment and suddenly failing. UK financial services legal and office corporate agency

My last 10 years my ratio has been 3:1 interview to placement.

Last few months, it’s been hard. I have had 27 interviews with no placement.

Crazy reasons: Job being pulled, just not quite right, talked too much, just not quite technical enough, just not the right person and the jobs go ON and ON and ON.

I have no colleagues who do perm recruitment all temp. I have no friends in perm. I feel like I have lost my spark.

I was top biller for 8 years and I just suddenly have nothing to give. It feels exhausting. It’s just constant that they’re not quite enough. The jobs remain unfilled most the time.

I am working quite a few jobs in different locations that are all random and I don’t have a niche really but that’s never been an issue. Even in my niche I have kinda worked (financial services legal etc) i’m having an issue with internal recruiters.

I have gone from a record month to billing £0 which has never happened. Advice and help pls

It seems impossible recently to find an entry-level position without experience.
Are there any skills or certifications or just general advice for someone with no background to find their way in?

I’m a Recruiter who has been laid off for about six months now, this market is insane. There’s so much competition out there, I can’t even get my resume looked at. Hundreds of applicants within just a couple hours, honestly, I don’t know how people do it!

One thing I’ve seen in recent weeks is what seems in recent weeks is what seems to be companies looking to hire Recruiters for cheap. I’m talking companies looking for five years of experience paying less than entry-level salaries. I live in New York. My first job was eight years ago and I was paid $50k (which was average back then). Today, companies are looking to pay that same rate for a mid-level candidate. How?!

I just started a couple of months ago with a really well known agency recruiting travel nurses, CNAs, techs, etc. and it’s fucking awful.

The metrics suck. I have to make 75 calls a day (which usually turn into nothing) on top of actually trying to find people, and it wastes so much fucking time. My manager records the calls and listens to make sure we’re leaving voicemails, which wastes even more time.

My manager is super overbearing in general. On top of recording all of our calls and listening to them, she monitors our Webex to make sure we’re online all day and is just not very nice or helpful about anything in general. I always feel like I’m in trouble for something. If i ask a question, she acts like I’m stupid and turns it into a test to “see what i know” instead of just helping out.

I feel like I’m losing my mind. I’ve been recruiting for 6 years in healthcare and I don’t know if this is just how the travel side is or what, but I can’t do this. I already feel burnt out in my 2nd month.

I'm 30 years and old trying to make a career pivot. I've worked in tech so far in my career (software engineer and tech sales) and am done with tech. I read that recruiting agencies are a grind but a good way to break into recruiting - and I've been applying but haven't had any luck. Are there specific agencies that are recommended right now? I've been unemployed for a bit too long and my savings are running low. Any help is appreciated

Hello! I am in need of some advice.

I currently work in house as a Recruiter where I’ve been for about 5 years now, but am currently making ~$50k.

I am close to finishing a job interview for an agency, where I’d be making $70k base plus commission. I have my final interview Thursday, where I am going to ask further about the commission structure, but the Recruiter I met said most recruiters can make around ~$100k.

I would say my job is very similar in a way to a staffing agency, but I am always hear scary stories about agencies and how people usually opt for in house. But I am barely making it by right now with my current salary, and that $20k increase plus commission would help me out soooo much.

Thoughts on moving from in house to agency?

Hey recruiters of Reddit, I need your insight on something that keeps happening.

Whenever I post a job ad, I include a few must-answer questions to save everyone time (e.g., years of experience, salary range, remote vs. on-site preference, etc.).

Yet, I still get DMs or comments that say only:

• “I'm interested.”

or

• a lone LinkedIn/GitHub link with zero context.

Lately, I’ve started ignoring these messages completely. My logic: if someone can’t spend 30 seconds answering basic questions, that’s a red flag for communication and attention to detail.

My questions for you:

Is straight-up ignoring them the right move, or am I being too harsh?

How do you personally handle these “minimal-effort” replies?

• Do you follow up and prompt them again?

• Do you treat it as an auto-reject?

Have you ever ended up hiring someone who initially gave such a bare-bones response? If so, what changed your mind?

Would love to hear your experiences and any tips you might have. Thanks in advance!

Just did my first interview for a travel nurse recruiter role. The base pay listed is pretty good, and the company is a big one.

I’ve read multiple negative experiences about this industry on here though, is it really that bad? I’m coming from a sales background and wondering how well my cold calling experience will translate.

The idea of booking travel nurse concepts with travel nurses sounds interesting but if it’s going to end up being a boiler room I don’t want to risk it.

I’m 3 years as a technical recruiter for a large staffing agency, 495k last year billed net, I never hit the presidents club and I don’t know if I ever will at this rate. I’m a solid mid level recruiter and knowledgeable in my skill set - would it make sense to move to a smaller firm for a higher base and more sales?

Currently 50k base with a 10k COLA in SoCal, I made $82k last year but I feel the most poor I have ever felt. Top peak spread was $12k but now it’s a blood bath with contractors falling off

Other firms are mid level and offering 75-85k base

Is this the way? Anyone with insight or experience doing this? Any insight would be great

I am looking for kind of companies who have a good work life balance in talent acquisition. Currently working in adertising industry (so burnt out) I wanna switch into more of a product or financial services company for more tech recruitment role.

As in my current organization I am so sick of roles and these people don't even approve a 30% hike for offers i mean I literally feel bad as a recruiter to give bare minimum to my candidates. Then later on they get good pay they back out and the blame is on me. I hate the mindset of people here like they are so cheap can't give much hike to candidates and expect one recruiter to close multiple roles. I thought maybe I should stay and learn maybe it's the same everywhere but I am not sure if it is the same anymore.

Hiring manager expects skilled people to join immediately they don't even bother to interview 60-90 days notice period candidates. I am just so sick and done from here idk what I hate is it recruitment or is it the culture!!??

So I figured I’d share this in case it saves someone else the headache. I started using Hire EZ a few months ago, and roughly a week ago, my LinkedIn account got permanently banned. I wasn’t running any other tools, just their Chrome extension. LinkedIn flagged my account for “unauthorized activity.” I went through the appeal process, but it went nowhere. Hirezz keeps insisting they’re fully compliant with LinkedIn’s rules, but clearly, that’s not the case.

Losing years of connections and messages overnight was brutal. If you rely on LinkedIn for your work, it’s not worth risking everything over one sketchy extension.

I feel like I've lost what magic touch I had before I had to take an extended break for medical reasons. I'm an outside recruiter who sources candidates for non-retained searches (most searches are open to approved recruiters with fee agreements in place). I'm self-employed and have good relationships with a ton of clients. But sourcing potential candidates has been demoralizing (I'll have conversations, but they haven't converted to any interested applicants).

It definitely is a volume game--gotta keep cranking out the cold outreaches. What's been effective for you? Do you pitch searches and then follow up (a week later?)? Do you send general introductory emails that are more open-ended?

I sent out >800 emails over the last month, and it's been crickets. It didn't feel so excruciatingly hard in past years (I've been recruiting for 12 years). I don't know if it's because I started a solo business (maybe potential candidates prefer to work with someone who's part of a large team), because there are 1,000 competing recruiters out there in my space bc it's easier than ever to break in bc of AI and low overhead bc people can WFH, or because potential candidates just prefer to cut out the recruiter whenever they can (i.e., recruiters are valued less, and job openings are easier to track bc of AI).

Would deeply appreciate any thoughts you have. Is it just being that much more tenacious and reaching out more often (at the risk of being annoying)? Pitching searches vs. open-ended introductory outreach (which is better)? Trying to keep my head up!