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I occasionally receive emails from recruiters and, as you would expect, they look like the kind of message that they send to all the people they are trying to recruit. I'm currently employed and happy with my job, but of course there is a price at which I would be willing to leave my current job. Of course, the initial recruitment email does not have enough information for me to determine if they are even close to my price.

How can I get more information from these recruiters in a polite manner while at the same time not showing so much interest that they'll continue to hound me or that I'll burn the bridge by making them feel like I've wasted their time?

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    "Could you please provide a bit more details about the position, so I can determine whether the remuneration matches my range? Thank you." ?
    – Juha Untinen
    Apr 25, 2017 at 5:49
  • @Juha Untinen's comment could be transformed to an answer, as it is polite, to the point, should answer the OP's question and prevents anyone from wasting anyone else's time.
    – morsor
    Apr 25, 2017 at 6:17
  • I personally wouldn't accept less than 3 mil per year if I were in your fancy shoes.
    – Justa Guy
    Apr 26, 2021 at 13:46

1 Answer 1

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First, you have to define if those recruiters really have an offer for you, or just want to update their "candidates database" in order to promptly react when one of their clients ask them for a headhunt. One possible wording could be:

Thank you for your interest into my profile. Can you provide more information about the position you are looking someone for? I recently invested time after a similar email from another recruiting firm only to discover their was no serious offer at all. I would like to avoid a loss of time to both parties.

Doing so, you get several advantages:

  • if there is a real offer, you will have (more or less) precise data
  • if there is not, you can politely decline going further, without burning any bridges. The recruiter may want to recontact you as soon as they have a real offer for you.
  • when you get the details about the opportunity and it is not interesting enough, you can politely decline it, arguing it does not fit location, salary, or anything you want
  • bonus: after receiving the details and possibly declining it, you can tell the recruiter you are happy with your current job, but if he comes with a new opportunity, you will be glad to have a look.
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  • TL;DR you can't really burn a bridge with a recruiter by declining to move forward. Its perfectly alright to say, "Tanks for the info but it doesn't sound right for me." And if you can say why they're happy to take that information and make a note of it. Saying, "I want to keep hearing about positions like these, but..." is a great way to stay connected.
    – Draco18s no longer trusts SE
    Apr 25, 2017 at 21:36
  • @Draco18s this is exactly my point :)
    – le_daim
    Apr 26, 2017 at 7:45

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