The bulk of recruitment is done on a contingent basis. That means if you don't place a candidate, you don't get paid. Which is pretty brutal when you think about it - you can spend a solid two weeks on some searches, so to not get paid a cent for that work is harsh. By far the worst cases are when a company decides to withdraw a role - it's one thing to be beaten out by another agency, but there's that real sense of futility when a job gets pulled. You can do everything right and still get stiffed.
Now this isn't a "oh woe is me" moment. I accept contingent business is how recruitment works. That no-placement-no-fee structure does though make one focus all their efforts almost exclusively on doing everything to find and engage the best people that are in the market. And this is probably why customer service from recruiters for many candidates falls down the cracks.
It's probably the single biggest complaints candidates have about recruiters - they sent their CV, or left a voicemail, and they never heard a thing back (other than the obligatory automated response). I understand that would indeed be frustrating, but if you're not right for the role, it's incredibly hard for us to justify spending the time ringing up to tell people they aren't right. It doesn't help us find the right person.
You could argue this is a short sighted approach, and that if we gave candidates a better customer experience that would pay dividends long term. Sadly I don't think that's actually true - in my experience a large percentage of candidates actually get p##sed off when told they aren't right for a job.
So spending a lot of time calling unsuitable people doesn't help you fill roles and nor does it do anything for your reputation.
