Why do headhunters try to get the resume or cv by all means?

Question

Sometimes, headhunters make me scratch my head with their behaviors. Here, I write one instance I had with a headhunter.

I hope someone can explain what's going on with them.

One headhunter contacted me around 2 months asking my cv. I was not looking for a new job and was very busy with my work so I couldn't find time to update my cv. Also, I didn't want to send my cv when I didn't look for a job and I was not pleased with his contact. But he repeatedly messaged me through Linkedin and eventually, I wrote one for him. And as soon as I sent him my cv, I couldn't reach him anymore. I asked him what's going on but no answer. He didn't introduce any opportunity either.

I guessed that he might need only my cv and nothing else. Why does headhunter need cv? Can they make money only with applicants' cv?

Answer 1

Many recruiters are playing a numbers game. They are going for quantity over quality. Collect as many resumes as possible, send them to as many companies as possible, and collect the commission when one bites. They are not trying to achieve a high success rate, they are trying to achieve a high success frequency through sheer volume.

Recruiters who operate that way often use a lot of automation to safe time. They automatically skim platforms like Linkedin or Stackoverflow Jobs, automatically write emails to people who match certain criteria and automatically write followups if they didn't respond within X days. They don't manually interact with individual applicants after they got their resume, because that's not an efficient use of their time.

Should you use such a recruiter? Well, if your job search strategy would be basically the same - send the same application to any company you can find and sort through those which reply - then why not. You can just as well outsource that process. But if you prefer to thoroughly look for companies and apply to those you really want to work at by hand-tailoring your application for every company (yes, they can tell the difference), then such a recruiter is not a good fit for you.

Answer 2

In my experiences 99.9% of "recruiters" that reach out to you for CV with no position in mind a low level / starting employees that have to show work for their bosses, result is NOT their goal, all they want is your name with file in their weekly / monthly report

Do not get hammered in to doing anything you do not want / need to do.

Answer 3

Possibly had a good lead for which you were a match which then dried up, or went to another candidate or agency.

Alternative Scenarios: Multiply this (CV gathering) by 1000 (or some large number) and the headhunter company can boast about having 1000 qualified candidates available to their clients. The fact you are not actively looking is a minor consideration.

Worst case (and I have seen and experienced this) is they take a good CV and change the contact and name details to that of a candidate they need to place.