List of Top Recruiter Turnoffs Shows Reasons Candidates are Rejected

In a new survey from leading online recruiting and staffing software provider Bullhorn has identified the top five reasons recruiters turn away job candidates. The number one turnoff, reported by 30 percent of recruiters, were those candidates applying for jobs for which they are obviously not qualified; over 40 percent of these recruiters indicated that they would blacklist these candidates, thus suppressing their names from resume searches. The other four negative behaviors turning off recruiters included: exaggerating qualifications (21 percent), focusing on salary as the most important aspect of a job (15 percent), responding to a job posting requiring far more experience than the applicant has acquired (13 percent), and contacting more than once per week for job status updates (11 percent).

“Some job candidates have no idea how their own behaviors can be a total turnoff to the recruiters who are trying to help them,” said Art Papas, founder and CEO of Bullhorn. “The findings of our survey will hopefully not only help job seekers get inside the heads of recruiters to be able to better position themselves, but also help make the job of a recruiter a lot easier.”

When asked which attributes most differentiated candidates from one another, 57 percent named personality fit with the company as a strong factor, nearly half agreed that presentation at time of interview was important, 32 percent said the reputations of previous employers gave an advantage, and 29 percent gave a lot of weight to being referred by a colleague. Less than 4 percent of recruiters said a candidate’s alma mater was a strong differentiating characteristic.