A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn for a role quite well suited to me.

I already live and work in the EU but am a non-EU national.

He asked me some questions, set up the call,and a few hours before the call asked me if I have an EU passport. I said no I do not and he casually dropped “let me know once you have it” and proceeded to cancel the call.

It’s not really a big deal but the tone deafness made me laugh a bit. Hope he realises an EU passport isn’t something one can go buy from the corner store.

I'm genuinely asking because I'm trying to figure out the best way to approach this in 2026.

Every recruiter I talk to says outreach isn't working like it used to. Response rates are down, candidates are ghosting, and inboxes are flooded with messages.

The inbound side isn't much better. Resumes written by AI are getting through all the filters. Bots are applying to hundreds of jobs in one night. A real person is getting buried under a pile of applications that all sound the same or are "perfectly" matched to the job description.

This makes sourcing passive talent feel like the most genuine way to find people. I still see generic messages like "exciting opportunity at a fast-growing company" being copied and pasted into LinkedIn messages.

I'm curious to know what's actually working right now. Are recruitment leaders taking outbound approaches seriously, or is it still just an experiment? How are founders screening candidates when resumes can't be trusted?

How are you finding the right people these days?

Recruitment put on hold???? WHY WOULD U EVEN ADVERTISE it for WEEKS then

Just a rant.

Went to work for a consultancy agency as a PM about a year ago, accepting a pay cut, so that they sell my services at a profit while giving me a sense of stability — they’d have to find me projects if the current one ends.

Well, the project ended, I sat on a bench for a bit, than got laid off as the job market is getting worse, and fewer and fewer of their clients are hiring.

My previous unemployed spell lasted 11 months. Fuck this all, honestly. My business manager hinted at clients not wanting to hire me because I’m a foreigner (who speaks and uses local language at C1!). Feeling sad and useless. Maybe it’s time to shell out the savings and start a business.

A recruiter reached out to me on LinkedIn regarding a position in another continent. I said no after knowing that this is a role based in Bangkok because I had no intention to move to Bangkok. Then I got this email...well it's clearly an automated reply and in my case very inappropriate.

Recently came across an open position in the UK for one of the Big4's and saw this wonder.

"Have you ever been eligible for free school meals or your household received income support?"

I have applied to a well known organisation and from my resume my experience is overall 2 years 9 months.

I got an automated ai bot call pretending to be hr and getting my details. That bot mentioned my overall experience as 1.5 years.

This happened in one of big4 as well, instead they have not website to fill the details.

Even though I corrected it, i am wondering if ats readers are reading my experience as 1.5 and automatically rejecting where correction chance is not given.

Ps: I mentioned my work experience timeline in format MM/YYYY - current

shitty website

Hey everyone,

I built this thing called Appycan and figured I'd share it here because if you're applying to LinkedIn jobs every day you'll probably get this.

What it does: Auto-applies to LinkedIn jobs for you while you do literally anything else.

How it works:

Set your filters (role, location, salary, etc.) and upload your resume

Hit Start Applying

It opens jobs and the AI answers every single application question for you automatically, based on your info, your resume, and any extra context you give it. Even the weird custom screening questions

Attaches your resume, submits

Logs every application so you can see exactly what it sent

Why I made it: I've been job hunting for a while and was applying to 40+ jobs a day manually. Same form. Same questions. Same "are you legally authorized to work" 200 times. After two weeks I wanted to throw my laptop. So I automated it.

A few things that make it different:

The AI handles all the screening questions, not just the simple ones. Custom questions, multi-part questions, the ones with weird dropdowns. It uses your profile and the job context to figure out the right answer

It writes personalized cover letters per job with AI (you can turn this off)

It runs at a human pace so LinkedIn doesn't flag it

If you're job hunting and tired of typing "5+ years" into the same dropdown for the 80th time, give it a try. Just google Appycan.

Genuinely curious if it helps. Let me know how many apps you crank out the first day.

The recruiter made me solve a problem in Word without any documentation. Nothing.

I feel completely screwed. I was expecting to code an actual problem with an existing codebase.

Why are they doing this??

Sharing my experience publicly so that other job seekers stay careful.

I went through a recruitment process with RMT Engineering Company where I was repeatedly asked to submit highly sensitive documents including:

* PAN card

* bank statements

* payslips

* 10th/12th marksheets

All of these were requested through email even before any official offer letter was issued.

I was uncomfortable sharing my bank statements initially and clearly communicated that, but I was continuously told the documents were required for the hiring process. Trusting the company, I submitted everything in good faith.

After that, communication became completely unprofessional.

The HR handling my process later left the company, and since then there has been no proper point of contact, no application update, and no clarity regarding the status or safety of my documents.

I even contacted the office directly asking only for clarification regarding:

* whether my documents are still stored,

* whether they have been deleted,

* and who currently has access to them.

Instead of receiving professional communication, my calls were disconnected and I was told not to disturb further.

These are highly sensitive personal and financial documents shared over email, and the complete lack of transparency afterward is extremely concerning.

I have already spoken with the cyber department regarding the matter and was advised to formally document my concerns for the protection of my personal information.

Posting this so other candidates remain cautious before sharing confidential documents without:

* an official offer letter,

* proper company communication,

* or a secure onboarding process.

I have been in this game for 30 years now. Over that time, the market has changed and shifted - but the biggest takeaway today - companies have lost the ability to assess and hire. But importantly - have lost the ability to attract people.

Where to start on this....

First off - Advert companies put out... 90% "WE ARE WONDERFUL" and 10% "YOU GOT TO BE PERFECT" - not realising they're a shitty little company in the back streets of a city, or town, people dont really want to work for - but have too, because they are desperate.

Posting a job - believing they are doing you a favour.

Taking either too long to respond or ghosting. (Most recruiters can tell you, they get ghosted a lot by companies.

BAD management - within the first 10 mins of meeting a company, candidates tell me they think the place is shit, but need a job. And this happens more often these days.

No promotion, training or development - all talk BTW - but zero evidence, bear in mind - we recruiters talk to people exiting these companies - and know what is really going on.

Salary - where to start - let me quote an MD first "I dont want the salary advertised, because I pay my staff a lot less than this" - I shit you not. So basically, there is no progression of salary or growth - this is why you are losing people.

Progression planning "hey can you find me a new Dave - he is retiring next week - and does 4 people's jobs - so we need a direct replacement" - what? How? And when you replace Dave, the candidate discovers that Dave was very good at doing nothing for 10 years. True story, I placed a guy replacing Dave once, found out there was no job, and Dave was pretending to solve problems and have meetings. His emails were in the region of 10's of thousands of unread, adverts from gambling sites and p*rn sites.

"We dont hire grads or apprentices, but we can't understand why we can not find good people to work for us"

Then - the other way around then "yeah we have been looking for a sale person for 2 years, but we can afford to use a recruiter" - i ask "so what is that sales target that is being missed.... " one time a manager said "oh the target would be £$1.2 million" - so that is 2.4million in missed revenue - and you cant pay me £8k to find you the right person....OK...

Candidates if you are reading this, this is the mess we have to deal with - companies HATE recruitment - they hate replacing people - the hate to reflect and realise that the owners and maangers are the problem - they dont engage with their stafff, under pay and treat them like shit - then hate recruiters because "we have to pay you to fill our jobs" - well - duh...

Sorry, I felt like I needed to rant this today.

About a month ago, I posted here about how companies are mistreating job searchers by posting job ads with no intent to hire. Ghost job postings. This practice is harmful, wasting the time and efforts of people who are increasingly more and more desperate to find a job and a stable source of income.

As it turns out, this is just one facet of the “cold war” happening between employers and the workforce. And workers are indeed fighting back in creative ways. For example, I heard some GenZ are interviewing, getting the job, and not showing up on day one. They’re trolling employers. Personally, I find it hilarious. I bet they’re acting really weird during interviews. Ah, to be young and careless once again.

Another aspect (which is my main topic of discussion here) with job security not being secure at all, some of those who are currently employed are playing ahead of the game. As you know, in recent years, many companies enforced return-to-office mandates to ensure their workers are doing their job. The logic is that if you’re in the office, and you’re being monitored (both physically, and through your work device) you’ll perform as expected. 

But here’s what I see, and what I’m hearing from others… Many workers, especially some of the top performers, are leading a double worklife. They’re managing two jobs, even if they're mostly in-office. Some are doing it entirely from home but others manage to get away with doing it in the office thanks to various strategies. They bring their own devices, they use their lunch breaks, they take a really long toilet break with their phone. Another strategy, they fill their schedules with "deep work" or private appointments to prevent Job A from booking over Job B’s meetings.

The thing is, these folks aren’t even slacking. They’re actually able to do what is expected of them in less than 40h/week and use the invisible pocket of time to handle their secret job, despite the risks. Beyond getting fired, the risks of secret overemployment include being sued for civil fraud and "time theft," facing breach of contract or fiduciary duty lawsuits, potential criminal fraud charges, the loss of professional licenses, and triggering severe tax audits or penalties for under-withholding.

In all seriousness, this is sheer madness. I’m utterly baffled by the level of stupidity this job market has reached.

I am currently on month four of the job hunt and I thought I had seen it all but today took the cake. I applied for a senior dev position at this mid sized tech firm and about an hour later I get an automated email. I figured it was the usual "thanks but no thanks" but no. It was an invitation to their "pre screening portal" where the first task was to record a 5 minute high energy video introducing myself. They literally asked me to be "creative and show off my personality" and even suggested using props or background music to stand out.

Are you kidding me? I have fifteen years of experience building scalable systems and you want me to do a puppet show for some entry level recruiter who probably doesnt even know the difference between Java and Javascript? This isnt American Idol. I am not a content creator and I am certainly not going to dance around my living room for a chance to maybe get a first round interview. The worst part is they framed it as a way to "save time for the candidates" so we dont have to do a boring phone screen. Saving time for who exactly? It takes way longer to set up a decent recording and edit out the stutters than it does to just hop on a ten minute call.

I checked the glassdoor for this company and apparently they do this for every single role from janitor to c-suite. It feels like a massive ego trip for the HR department to see how much people are willing to humiliate themselves for a paycheck. I sent a polite email back saying that my portfolio and github should speak for my personality and that I would be happy to chat in person but I am not doing the video thing. Ten minutes later I got a "status change" notification that I was no longer being considered. Honestly good. If this is how they treat people before they even hire them I can only imagine the micromanagement hell that happens on the inside. The job market in 2026 is just a circus and we are all forced to be the clowns.

Hey! I wanted to learn from fellow HR's and recruiters if you folks use sales navigator to do your prospecting of candidates? Is it very primarily used as part of your tool stack?

Hi everyone,

I just got shortlisted for the next step — a recruiter test + interview — for a US-based company. This is HUGE for me. I’m from India and this would be my first US recruiter role.

I’m really nervous because I don’t know what kind of test they give. Is it Boolean search? Sourcing tasks? HR scenario questions? ATS tools?

I’m applying for a part-time remote recruiter/admin role. I have 2+ years of Virtual Assistant experience with scheduling, applicant coordination, and CRM/ATS data, but no direct US recruiting experience.

*Can someone PLEASE mentor me or do a mock with me?* Even 20-30 mins on Zoom would mean the world. I can pay a little if needed — I just don’t want to mess this up.

Test is in 2-3 days. If you’ve cleared a US recruiter test before or work as a recruiter, please DM me. I’ll be forever grateful.

Thank you so much for reading. I’m trying really hard to break into this field

A month ago I had a panel interview where I was told in the following week they would do callbacks for a final decision. I never heard back from them until now. Since I don’t see the position posted anymore, I’m assuming they already filled it. Yesterday they sent a link to a survey asking for feedback on their hiring process.

In short, what’s in it for me?

Hello guys, i rarely post of reddit but i thought someone might be able to help/give me some direction.

I am a qualified Maintenance engineer i had around 10+ years exp in the trade but due to a mental health collapse i took a few years away from that profession (long story but i'm anti-depressent free now and extremely motivated to succeed)

Had difficulty getting back into that line of work after the time away due to companies not wanting to take a chance on me, but someone i know who runs a newly started company (9 months old) and has another company (15 years old) really wants to bring me on board. They'll provide a van and access to a 15,000 client base.

So basically what i need is a letter of intent to allow me to have a chance for the Job Centre to fund the course i need for them to get me on board. The course costs around £1200 of which neither me or the company i want to work for can afford right now, as they're already willing to provide a Van for me.

Does someone know or have a template i could use for the situation i'm in for the letter of intent or have any advice for me?

Thanks in advance.

Everyone talks about how candidates should respect interview time, attend interviews, and be responsive. I always make sure to join and complete every interview properly. But once the interview is done, there is often no feedback at all. When we follow up, there is no response.

Why is it that a company’s time is treated as important, but a job seeker’s time is not?

This is very frustrating. At least if we receive feedback, we can improve for the next interview. The amount of effort HRs and recruiters put into scheduling interviews should also be put into giving feedback. Ghosting candidates is not acceptable.

I have personally experienced this with more than 10 companies, from the first round to the final round. Some even gave assignments and then rejected me without any feedback.

My interviewer scheduled the interview for today morning three days ago, i messaged last night to confirm the online interview happening, no reply. I was still going to appear for the interview but 40 min before interview they message that if I don't reply within the next 10 min they are cancelling, What do you mean man?! I usually open my laptop 15 minutes before meeting, who just connects and sit there for 2 hours?!??

So when i fortunately checked my inbox it was 12 minutes after their message, i replied and told them i am available.....nothing, sat there waiting half an hour after meeting time still nothing...now thinking if i should just ghost them as well or send a follow up message. What would be the best course of action?

Hi everyone,

I’m currently trying to land a remote job and I’d really appreciate some honest feedback on my CV/resume. I feel like I might be missing something or not presenting my skills in the best way, especially for remote roles.

If anyone has any tips to make it more appealing for remote employers, please feel free to chime in.

Thanks in advance, I really appreciate any help or advice

How about you know I’m “really interested” because I sent the application? And “take me seriously” because I took the time to tailor my application and apply???

I went to their onboarding on Wednesday, 3 weeks after my interview, and signed the agreement for a background check and drug test. I finished the drug test on thursday (next day). The recruiter told me that I should hear back around monday or tuesday next week. Its been 2 weeks of waiting and I haven't heard back from anyone. So I called the recruiter 3 different times on monday, no answer. I left a voicemail, hoping she'd get back to me the next day. Tuesday afternoon, I left her a text message to see if she'd respond. No answer. No callback. nothing.

I have never had a recruiter not call back or atleast leave a message after 2 weeks of waiting and 2 days of calling her, leaving a voicemail and a very polite text.

I'm starting to feel annoyed because this same recruiter made me wait 3 weeks after my first interview with zero communication, and would say the same thing like "you'll hear back on friday" 2 Fridays later no updates. And everytime I sent a message through indeed, she (or someone else) would respond with "please give me time to update you tomorrow" then another week would pass with zero update or follow-up.

It sucks because I've been desperately seeking work in an awful job market, and it just feels like these people are wasting my time, but they're also the only employer that has even given me a job offer so far.

Should I wait another week, or should I send them a message on indeed? I don't know if she's the one who responds there.

I had went with 3 rounds of de test engineer and then today hr called and asked for reference from my old company.Then they asked for few docs like offer letter of old company and slip but no offer alloted yet it’s been 5 days