I'm an ex-recruiter. 13 years sober. - Asking for where else you are interviewing. This is important to a recruiter. If you are actively looking for work, it

I'm an ex-recruiter. 13 years sober. - Asking for where else you are interviewing. This is important to a recruiter. If you are actively looking for work, it tells them how far down the road you are with other applications. If you're a good fit for the job they are asking about then this will push them to get things down as quickly as possible. They don't want you taking a different offer in the middle of the interviewing process. However, yes, this can also be fishing for leads. To me, it's acceptable to ask though. - Not telling you which company the resume is getting sent to prior to their submission. A recruiter is paid an "introduction fee". If they are not the one that introduces you to the client then they're not getting a fee. Imagine though, you're down to the last two at interview stage. You applied directly for the position and the other guy is through a recruiter. It's a very close decision for the job but taking the other guy would cost the client $8k. That may be enough to swing it in your favour and for the recruiter to lose out. When I was a recruiter, I can remember a time where I told somebody the client before submitting them and they got off the call then immediately went direct to the client for the above reason. For me, it's acceptable for the recruiter not to tell me the company if they tell me at least their size and market sector. They must tell me as soon as they have submitted my CV though. If I'm not happy, I'll cancel my application at that point.