Makes me sad to read exposés of this kind. Having worked in the recruitment industry as an agent, in-house recruiter and now recruitment tech vendor, I can conf

Makes me sad to read exposés of this kind. Having worked in the recruitment industry as an agent, in-house recruiter and now recruitment tech vendor, I can confirm that most of these practices exist. Some of these behaviours are not directly the result of poor practice from agencies though. In many cases, agencies adopt the bad practice from their customers - the end client, who also needs to take some responsibility for the poor experience candidates often receive. Also, the post co-mingles recruiters of different types (internal vs 3rd party for example) which doesn't help the reader understand the behaviours in this market. I'm going to go point by point on this in an attempt to share a perspective and maybe help out a little. Prioritizing Candidates from Prestigious Companies This happens and it's 100% the responsibility of the end client. 'Pedigree' hiring is a common bias that starts with the customer before being adopted by the recruitment agent. Agent only cares about placements, if client is bias, agent will simply factor that bias into his search. Ghosting Candidates This is 50/50 on the agent and the client. Most often rejected candidates get zero feedback other than the outcome. Without any substantive feedback to offer, an agent will often not bother to provide any contact at all. Poor practice, but shared responsibility between agent and client Not All Recruiters are Created Equal 100% correct Sending Unsolicited Résumés Horrendous demand generation tactic. Happens too often, and won't be stopped until legislation is in place to penalise firms that try this Posting Fake Jobs to Fish for Résumés Horrendous supply generation tactic. Happens too often, and won't be stopped until legislation is in place to penalise firms that try this They Stall for Time Called 'candidate management'. Does happen but impossible to assess whether it is or isn't - could genuinely be the case that no information is coming from the client. Some Agencies are Training Grounds Almost all large corporate firms fall into this bracket. Hire cheap at the junior level and send them out to work the phones. Survival of the fittest mentality, and big part of the reason why candidate experience of agents is so uneven. Recruiters are Rewarded for Diversity Hires Probably not true of agency recruiters - they just want placements. This may be true of internal recruiters, especially of large corporates who have diversity policies.