Contacted by recruiter, sent CV, didn't hear back. Should I follow up? [duplicate]

Question

I'm new to this stack exchange so I hope I don't ask something that's already been asked a thousand times.

I did a quick search and didn't find anything quite like my situation.

I was contacted by a recruiter from an IT consultancy company, and after a short chat they asked me to send her my updated resume, and told me they'd get back to me.

I did, but I never heard from them again. This was more than a week ago.

Should I follow up, or just drop it?

The way I see it there are three possible reasons:

• They didn't like my resume. This seems unlikely, considering that my skills actually improved compared to the old CV they saw originally.

• They don't think they can offer me enough to leave my current job. This also seems unlikely because right now I'm grossly underpaid and I was stupid enough to tell them my current pay during our phone chat (yeah, I know.)

• They haven't had time to process my response. But if that was the case, how did they have the time to call me?

It's not even the first time it happens, either. The same thing happened a couple of months ago, and back then I just dropped it.

Now I'm not so sure that's the smartest way to deal with this.

UPDATE:

I followed up with them, and still got no reply whatsoever. Whatever, it's their loss.

I just find this extremely irritating - it's simple good manners to reply to someone, especially if you're the one who first contacted them.

Answer 1

I did, but I never heard from them again. This was more than a week ago.

Should I follow up, or just drop it?

These are some common reasons for why it happens:

1. The recruiter might have thought that you would make a good fit, and might have inferred otherwise after going through a detailed info about your profile i.e. your resume. And most companies (unfortunately) don't reply to rejected candidates
2. Your resume might have been lost in a huge pile of resumes which happens at large companies.

So, you might follow up once with the recruiter. You might get a rejection message, or a sorry, we're still looking into it message. Companies don't really wait long to respond to accepted/selected candidates.

Anyway, you can go ahead and send the recruiter a follow-up mail, where you might get a confirmation. If you don't get a reply to that within a week, then you can safely assume rejection.

Answer 2

Always follow up. No contact doesn't mean anything other than no contact until you verify.

All the possible scenarios are:

1. The recruiter is swamped and hasn't gotten to you yet
2. Your information may have been lost or misplaced (esp larger firms)
3. The recruiter is waiting to hear back from client.
4. The recruiter is out sick or on vacation, and someone else has the information, but hasn't contacted you.
5. The recruiter left, and your information hasn't been distributed to a new person yet.
6. They don't want you

I have personally run into each situation, including the recruiter leaving the day he contacted me. Someone else handled it.

Point being ALWAYS follow up. Even if the reason is that they don't want you, at least you know the waiting is over. You can NEVER damage your position by following up.