"I am a financial services recruiter. I understand your pain"

I'm a financial services recruiter. I am a good and honourable person, but I encounter many people who presume that I'm not. This is because being a candidate in the current market is horrible.

For example, this is the experience of a candidate I spoke to recently. 

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In the first week of June, he applied for a job via a bank's website. 

He immediately received a response saying: “Thank you for your application. We’ll be in touch.”

Excellent. So far, so good.

But then… nothing.

Finally, at the end of August, nearly three months later, they got in touch.

This time, they said: “Thank you so much for taking the time to prepare your CV and apply. We’ve decided to proceed with another candidate. We’ll keep your details on file and contact you should the preferred candidate not progress.”

The candidate, who considered himself well suited to the role, thought this was fair enough.

But then, during the first week of September, he saw the same role advertised again.

He has heard nothing from the bank. Not a word. And he doesn't understand why. His CV seems to have fallen into a black hole. It took three months to properly acknowledge his application, then he was rejected for seemingly no reason. Then the role was advertised again. 

This is why candidates lose faith in the recruitment process. The problem isn't a lack of good candidates, or even too many candidates, it's what happens after candidates apply. It's the process and it is increasingly breaking down.

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