I see that sometimes, if a candidate's interview fails to advance their candidacy, some agents or headhunters will send a message to the candidate, to say it failed.
But for some case, even when you ask for a progress update, they just say they are busy or don't reply. Why do they refuse to reply, not say a word? They could provide an update which would let the candidate save time.
Some recruiters (not all) are dealing with a HUGE volume of people. They may have a hundred or several hundred people get in touch for one position. Imagine that it takes just 60 seconds to write "Hey Elisa, thanks for asking, unfortunately the client didn't select your resume as one of the ones that will move on in the process. I wish you luck with your future endeavours." If you spend that minute 240 times, that is 4 hours or half of the workday spent doing nothing but telling people they did not move on. Recruiters working with that volume cannot do that. (What's that? You could send that email in 6 seconds, not 60? Well, a recruiter has dozens or scores of jobs in motion at a time, not 1. The math is relentless.)
What can you do about it? Always assume everything you apply for is a "no" until you hear otherwise. Keep applying. When you get an interview, go to it, even if you had an interview yesterday that went great for a job you would love to have. Just keep going. Don't ever wait on a recruiter for a no to enable you to keep going. Assume if you hear nothing, it's a no. When people want to move forward they let you know and they find you: to schedule the phone screen, to schedule the interview, to make you an offer. You don't need to poke them and remind them and ask them how it's going. It's going. They are busy doing their job because they want to fill the position. If you're not going to be the one they fill the position with, they see no point in spending time talking to you.
Sure, there are recruiters who take you on as a client and try to place you. These "agents" come back to you and say "looks like your C++ was terrific but they wanted someone who also had strong JavaScript, and other candidates were ahead of you there. I'm going to keep proposing you for C++-only jobs, but I do see that combo a lot so if you're interested in learning something new, Javascript would be a great choice. I'll keep you posted about the places I'm proposing you to in the meantime." This kind of recruiter is marvelous to have at your side. Just don't assume anyone you've ever sent your resume to is that kind of recruiter.
