This more applies to the UK market but I've heard this is fast becoming the norm everywhere.

You get the usual blind carpet bombing you with pointless emails, "Hi, check this role out" and it does fit your skill set or work history at all. Fine that's fair enough, you can just ignore those and delete the emails.

But then you find the roles that fit you, so you apply and your happy. Then you hear nothing back from them. Did they get the email? Was I not successful? Was I a complete tool and the company laughed at my CV. ZERO FEEDBACK.

So you sit and think, "Perhaps it's just the agency themselves, they got some arsehole in that is useless and lazy and can't be bothered to email you back", but you see the same role with another agency. Great you think, I'll apply to that one. And the same thing happens.

First time around when I started contracted back in 2005 you got feedback, even it was just a "Sorry not successful" but you got something. That allowed you to focus on other roles and avoid that company who were looking in the first place. Now your forced to chase recruiters up, get ignored, apply for the same role with another and just waste weeks of your time searching. I pretty much worked for the same agency, with the same guy, most of the years I was contracting.

Just have the decency to reply back with "Sorry but no", I can take it I'm a big boy but we know that's not the reason. Customer service, which is what I am to them, is out the window these days. Everyone is too "busy", doesn't give a crap, and is bone idle lazy. Screw that extra minute of my time to respond, they'll come back to me any ways, they have to, right? WRONG!

It's come to the point where I've started avoiding certain agencies. I see the perfect role for me listed, I either go find it somewhere else or try to figure out who the company is and see if I can go direct. Kiss your commission goodbye.

"Your a perfect fit for this role, they'll love you" yeah yeah OK your following your script but stop dicking people around. End of the day all your doing is pissing good devs off to the point they are sick of it and they'll just seek other ways of finding the roles.

If this reaches any recruiters, for the love of God, treat your pay cheques with some respect and F-ING reply back to them to let them know what the hell is going on. Otherwise lose that contact and get a rep where that said contact is now telling every other contact in their network, "DON'T TOUCH THESE PEOPLE!"

Thank you for your time,

Hugs and kisses from The Broken Developer.