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I've been in contact with recruiter A from recruiting company ABC for almost 10 months now. He answers my phone calls every week and tries hard to find me a job. We have mutual respect for each other, its always a cool conversation.

Recruiter B from recruiting company XYZ contacted me yesterday for a job, for company (client) Bravo. I signed all documents, sent my resume and diploma. Recruiter B sent all documents to company Bravo.

I called up Recruiter A, like I do every week, and he tells me about the same exact job for Company Bravo.

What do I do? Should I tell him upfront. I don't want to burn the bridge I have with him.

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  • We have mutual respect for each other What do you think you should do?
    – Nobody
    Sep 11, 2015 at 5:16
  • If you didn't tell him and ended up taking the job he would get a nasty surprise when he tried to collect his fee.
    – TheMathemagician
    Sep 11, 2015 at 16:55

2 Answers 2

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Short answer: In recruitment, this is just business.

Your Recruiter A should have been more proactive in notifying you of the job. A recruiter's role is to not just let people contact them, but to look at the skills of the candidates they have and match them against the roles they have advertised.

The fact that Recruiter A did not do this matching, or at the very least failed to contact you as soon as the role hit his desk means that he has missed the opportunity with you. Recruiter B did his or her job properly by proactively searching their database, finding a match, contacting you and signing you up.

As far as what to say to Recruiter A, you could say something like:

I'm sorry, but if I'd been aware of this opportunity earlier with you, then I would have immediately signed up with you. Perhaps if you come across opportunities like this in future that you think may match my skill set, if you could contact me straight away so that I know you have this position on your books and can give the work to you.

For all their good intentions, Recruiter A made the mistake, not you.

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  • Yeah I had this happen where a company I would have preferred to work with called me 2 weeks after I was submitted by another company. It sucks but thats the breaks.
    – IDrinkandIKnowThings
    Sep 10, 2015 at 21:40
  • @Chad Harsh as it may be, you are the one looking for a job and you need to find it in whatever way gets you employed and earning. Here at least recruitment agents are very proactive if a role gets released. They all try to contact you straight away to get you to sign them to represent you.
    – Jane S
    Sep 10, 2015 at 21:42
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You'll have to tell him, because if your name is submitted by both recruiters, the hiring company usually just throws you off the list of possibilities. They don't want to deal with which recruiter is really representing you. Your only other option is to say you're not interested in that job, which isn't true.

You've damaged the bridge you have with him, but if you let him know, he may have suggestions for how to go on from here. If he's a good recruiter, it's worth figuring that out. Trying to cover this up will cause less open, but more fundamental damage.

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  • I really like the fact that you mentioned, "If he's a good recruiter, it's worth figuring that out." That is the true test of his care for his clients.
    – Kal
    Sep 29, 2015 at 20:17
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    "They don't want to deal with which recruiter is really representing you." This is usually covered in a recruiter's Ts&Cs, at least here in the UK: the rule is generally whichever one sent your details over first. We've never rejected a candidate for having more than one recruiter represent them to us.
    – Rup
    Oct 4, 2015 at 7:49

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