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I have received a couple of requests for contacting people regarding employment opportunities on my linkedin profile. This would be fine normally however I am employed and on my linkedin profile it clearly states.

"Please note I am not interested in being recruited at this time, thank you."

To me personally, this shows when i do get people asking to get in contact, they have not even bothered to read my profile. Of course i am not interested.

How should i respond, emphasising that i have stated "not interested" on my profile?

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    Also, why put that in your Linked In page at all? What will your coworkers / boss think when you suddenly remove that?
    – Eric
    Nov 7, 2014 at 15:03
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    Why the implicit assumption that you should respond to them? I mean, you don't respond to spam, do you? So... why do you think you have to respond here?
    – HopelessN00b
    Nov 7, 2014 at 16:14
  • You left something out: what do you want to happen? Most likely you simply don't want to talk to this recruiter now or in the future, this can almost certainly be achieved by silence. Communicating back most likely increases the odds of future communication, whether you are rude or polite.
    – jmoreno
    Nov 7, 2014 at 16:19
  • @Eric - I have something similar on my profile as well. It has nothing to do with whether I'm looking for a job - I have never taken or even considered a job that was communicated to me via cold contact.
    – GalacticCowboy
    Nov 8, 2014 at 12:49

2 Answers 2

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Why respond at all?

If it's clear that the recruiter is simply spamming anyone who looks appropriate for the role he's selling, regardless of whether they are interested in a move, he probably won't even notice a failure to reply. And in my experience, if that's the case, a "not interested" has no more effect (and takes marginally longer).

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  • Plus, the amount of answer they get (even negative one) is one of the metrics of their jobs. On the top of my head, they expect something like 2-4% answers and 10% of positive answers.
    – Fabinout
    Nov 7, 2014 at 17:19
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    This is simple drag net recruiting. (generating a pool of leads that they can dip into for recruiting from) Some recruiters do recruit directly through linkedin, but I find they tend to have the less desirable offers, but lead generating is a tactic used by some of the best. (But the better way to find THOSE recruiters is at conferences or events related to your field)
    – Eric J Fisher
    Nov 7, 2014 at 22:00
  • +1 very true. I get an average of about 2 - 3 such messages per week. In the beginning I used to reply saying that I'm not interested. But now I just ignore them and consider them a normal part of life :) .
    – Radu Murzea
    Nov 8, 2014 at 22:22
  • You can usually spot the best because they have some other form of connection e.g. a common domain interest. The worst are those that don't even bother to customise the default "I'd like to connect with you on Linkedin" message - if they can't even put in a minimal effort, they don't deserve any sort of courtesy.
    – Fiora the Ferret
    Nov 9, 2014 at 10:49
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Dont waste time bother responding, they are just doing a keyword search and mass mail everyone they get a hit on. But when you are looking for a new job, make note of which recruiters have a way of working by spamming and never bother to read the resume. Those are not the ones you want to represent you.

Every now and then I do get a mail from a recruiter that clearly has taken the time to read and understand your profile. When that happens I tend to add them as a linkedin connection.

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  • Why wouldn't you want to work with a recruiter who spams potential candidates?
    – NotMe
    Nov 7, 2014 at 15:49
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    I agree with sending a response if the recruiter has clearly read your profile and put some thought into it (though he should acknowledge the "don't recruit me" part in some way too). But why add the recruiter as a contact? How does that help you? (It helps him, but why would you care about that?)
    – Monica Cellio
    Nov 7, 2014 at 16:42
  • @MonicaCellio The day I am looking for work, I'll update my profile and the recruiter will see it.
    – Fredrik
    Nov 8, 2014 at 16:18
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    @ChrisLively Because that would probably be the recruiters approach when trying to "sell" me; Spamming my resume to everyone in their contact list. I dont want my resume to end up being sent to a job where I clearly wouldn't be appropriate. But sure, that can differ depending on the type of job you apply for
    – Fredrik
    Nov 8, 2014 at 16:28
  • @Fredrik:"I dont want my resume to end up being sent to a job where I clearly wouldn't be appropriate." Would that ultimately matter to you if it were? Seems like the company would know the recruiter wasn't doing their job but I don't see how that would reflect on you at all. - Not being argumentative - I'm just trying to see if you think there is actually a downside here.
    – NotMe
    Nov 10, 2014 at 14:29

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