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I receive at least 5 job offers from Recruiters every month, via my LinkedIn. From the beginning, I replied them all, said that "thank you very much, but I am not actively looking for new job", etc.

But now I don't reply, because I don't check my LinkedIn very often. I wonder if it is impolite not to reply to these mails. Does it feel OK to ignore these mails? Or what is best to respond to Recruiters?

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  • 1
    I don't reply. I didn't ask for the request, they can clearly see I already have a job.
    – Summer
    Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 13:44
  • Obligatory XKCD: xkcd.com/1873
    – Mike Harris
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 18:03

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I have a couple of approaches based on how they interact with me:

  • If they send me a covering note explaining why they want to link with me, I respond politely, and if I see the relationship as adding value I will accept the connection.
  • If there is no covering note and I don't know them or have a close connection I reject the request and use the "I don't know this person" option
  • If they contact me saying they have read my profile and have a perfect role for me and then show that it is a generic role, spam, or even worse, one entirely unsuited to me or good for someone with 20 years less experience, then I typically respond to articulate the minimum I expect from a recruiter. (If they then respond rudely, which has happened, I let my peers know, and add them to my blacklist to ensure I never work with them again)

So I now have a core set of recruiters I trust, a few more I will work with, and a longer list of folks who will never get my business, as an employer or as a candidate.

Your approach may be one or more of those - early in a career it may be politic to avoid burning bridges, but later on you can get a lot of value in separating out the chaff and building strong trust relationships with those who actually do their job well.

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  • As an additional data point, I typically get 5 of these a day, so I have to be quite harsh with how I do it.
    – Rory Alsop
    Commented Aug 16, 2017 at 13:05
  • Thank for your tips. I think I will opt to approach 1 :)
    – Ragnarsson
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 8:40
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Don't burn bridges

You can simply decline their offer.

Dear,

Thanks for reaching me out. I am currently not available for new opportunities.

This way you show them respect by answering them and saying politely that you are not interested.

You can still ask them to connect with you. This can be useful later when you will try to find new opportunites

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  • I did just that. But sometimes, some Recruiters they sent job offers which are completely not relevant to my skillsets in my profile. For those, I just don't reply
    – Ragnarsson
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 8:20
  • You can still reply with the same message. The other way is to not reply to them at all
    – Weedoze
    Commented Aug 17, 2017 at 8:25

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