"You never write, you never call"

I don't know whether to send this email or not. It won't make the slightest bit of difference but let's treat it as an open letter to all you recruitment consultants out there who act like this - and there are many of you.

"You may recall speaking to me about the above position suggesting that you may be interested in me as a candidate and also giving me some feedback on my CV that I had submitted. You suggested that I use a professional CV writer and resubmit the CV which I did.

I have heard nothing from you since despite a further email asking for an update.
Perhaps you will now let me give you some feedback.
You queried the structure of my CV for a senior position. You suggested I spend £400 having my CV rewritten and, having done all that, you do not have the courtesy to let me know what the status of my application is. I am querying your professional courtesy and processes when conducting searches for senior personnel.

I find your sort of attitude amongst recruitment consultants sadly widespread. In my experience there are very few recruitment consultants that I would rate as excellent - you are not one of them. You would not, on the basis of this experience, even merit a mediocre score.

Compare your dilatory approach with this response I had recently for another very senior position.

"Thank you very much indeed for your expression of interest in this position. If we are able to include you on our short list, we will try to get back to you by July 13th to discuss the next steps. If you haven't heard from us, say by July 27th, please assume that on this occasion your name will not have been put forward: we will have received, in those circumstances applications from others who match the profile more closely."

See the difference?

I now know that the CV has been received, when I might expect a response and the final cut off date after which I can forget all about the application. What has it cost? A cut and paste from a template and an insertion of the name into an email. Two minutes? And you do not have 2 minutes for a potential candidate?

Please do not claim workload for the lack of response either. I ran an operation comprising 400 people moving 3000 cars a day and I always responded to all my staff, clients and suppliers. I did not have a PA either.

I read this statement about your consultancy - "{name} has a strict ethical policy with business procedures to ensure our service to clients is exemplary." Shame that doesn't extend to the candidates.

I do not expect a response from you. You have already displayed your lack of courtesy."

So do I send it? Do you recognise yourself?

And an update. After almost three weeks sitting in my email drafts I sent the note. Within one hour I got a reply from the consultant's PA. "He has sent you details to the client and he's on holiday until the 12th of never." Sniff.
So I replied:
"Thank you for neatly proving my point. You clearly have access to his email and you haven't replied to me when I requested an update two weeks ago. Even if you missed that email you clearly know his movements, know what he has done with my details with the client and still and haven't bothered to let me know what is going on after 16 working days. I wonder how much longer it would have taken you to contact me."
It will achieve nothing but it feels so good to fight back against this shoddy behaviour.