Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:54     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
It sounds like age discrimination and devaluation of experience for you to disregard any work experience from more than 15 years ago.

I am not currently looking. But I have been caught up in corporate layoffs before.

I also recently got a new job in my company where the resume pool was about 200, the top 20 were reviewed, 3 internals and 1 external were interviewed. And I came in 2nd. I didn't get that job but another opening came up within a month and they tapped me. I felt bad for the external person because they were up against dozens of internals with relevant experience.

Inside my F500, with thousands of employees, every week-long posting tends to get 100s of internal applicants unless it's hyper-specific. And that's been true since at least the 2010s.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:50     Subject: Re:I’m a recruiter AMA
This is great and thank you for the insight. Is there any advantage to applying directly to the company website vs going through indeed?

- A determined, F500 50 year old (with 15+ years of experience) trying to find something in this crazy landscape!

On a side note, I am a designer and a clean sans-serif font like Calibri, Arial, Helvetica, and Avenir are good choices and ensure ATS compatibility and easy screen reading for recruiters.

Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:50     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
Anonymous wrote:Why is the job market so bad for new college graduates?
What makes the successful applicant stand out?


I read an industry report on company recruitment. Something like 24% reduction in early career hires. Probably Ai. Probably economic uncertainty. Regardless of reasons for it there has definitely been a pullback. It’s going to be really hard for new grads. What makes a candidate stand out: for a corporate role it’s going to be internships and real work experience. Paid unpaid summer - any way they can get it - is going to be better than the kid with 3 summers as a camp counselor. Just being honest.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:44     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
Anonymous wrote:Are people going to be forgiving about gaps on resume in 2025/2026? How long is too long or can you talk about gaps?


Just my opinion but I don’t care about a one or two year gap in a solid 15-20 year career. Like don’t even call it out. If a recruiter asks about it in an interview you’ll have an appropriate response. I’ve had candidates essentially break HIPPA rules by giving TMI on a career break in their resume and then they go so far as to highlight in red font. What is the first thing that catches my eye? That you took a break!!! Instead of just skipping it - let me see that you had some great roles, solid responsibility, some progression over 14 years - you have a better chance at me advancing you that way.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:40     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
Why is the job market so bad for new college graduates?
What makes the successful applicant stand out?
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:39     Subject: Re:I’m a recruiter AMA
Anonymous wrote:
Email does not let me
Run data analysis on the number of candidates in the funnel
Create a dashboard of which candidates are in which stage of the interview process
Nudge me to nudge the hiring manager about your application because it has been sitting in their queue for 5 business days
Identify and red flag that you’re a bot because you’ve applied to every job we’ve posted from entry level to VP
Alert me that even though your resume says Houston TX, you are actually in Nigeria when i go to schedule your inteview
Hold in one place all the notes from all the interviewers about your candidacy and the scorecard that they gave you after their interview with you
Condense all the scorecards for our top 3 candidates so we can see a picture of who we’ve got as finalists


Interesting. I get that all of this makes your job easier, but it also generally makes it harder for applicants to apply to jobs. Anecdotally, I have chosen to not apply to jobs that would have otherwise interested me because the application process was too annoying or time-consuming. I fear that these methods select for the most desperate candidates, rather than the best one.

Is there any evidence that these systems actually result in better candidates and hiring decisions?


I get it. I’ve been the candidate who didn’t fill out a complicated portal as well. Ours is incredibly simple. Fill out contact details, attach your resume - no need to re-fill the ATS form with details that are already in your resume. Every organization is different about which ATS they use and how they implement it. Those are choices.

Yes the systems help us get our jobs done. Hiring decisions? Humans make the hiring decisions not the ATS. A good hire or a bad hire - that’s on us not the system.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:28     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
Are people going to be forgiving about gaps on resume in 2025/2026? How long is too long or can you talk about gaps?
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:28     Subject: Re:I’m a recruiter AMA
Email does not let me
Run data analysis on the number of candidates in the funnel
Create a dashboard of which candidates are in which stage of the interview process
Nudge me to nudge the hiring manager about your application because it has been sitting in their queue for 5 business days
Identify and red flag that you’re a bot because you’ve applied to every job we’ve posted from entry level to VP
Alert me that even though your resume says Houston TX, you are actually in Nigeria when i go to schedule your inteview
Hold in one place all the notes from all the interviewers about your candidacy and the scorecard that they gave you after their interview with you
Condense all the scorecards for our top 3 candidates so we can see a picture of who we’ve got as finalists


Interesting. I get that all of this makes your job easier, but it also generally makes it harder for applicants to apply to jobs. Anecdotally, I have chosen to not apply to jobs that would have otherwise interested me because the application process was too annoying or time-consuming. I fear that these methods select for the most desperate candidates, rather than the best one.

Is there any evidence that these systems actually result in better candidates and hiring decisions?
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:28     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
I, too, am going to have nightmares about this Font thing. Never heard anything wrong with Times New Roman until now...
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:24     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
What is PE?
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:17     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
Anonymous wrote:What are your thoughts on using PE to recruit.


Private Equity? No experience with that
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:16     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Internal recruiter or external/third party?


Internal Corporate


Why does it take MONTHS to get to the second round and NEVER to respond when you’re not interested?


I get it.
Our priority is to move the best candidates Forward.
That does mean that the hundreds that aren’t our priority get left behind in terms of communication.
So say I interviewed you and 6 others. The Hiring Manager chooses to advance 4 of them to the next round. But you’re not one of the 4. My activity is now hyper focused on those 4. (Multiply this by 10-20 roles). I’m managing communications to say 80 people.
Now it takes 60 days for us to fill a role, sometimes 90. Once the new hire signs the paperwork, we close the job down and disposition the hundreds that in the recruitment funnel. Hence why, if you aren’t the candidate moving forward, for you it takes MONTHS.
I wish the systems could be faster - maybe AI helps to close the candidate communication loop better in next gen ATS’s


How big is your company that it takes 60-90 days to hire? That's really long time and shows a lack of efficiency in your company's hiring process.


Nope industry standard for F500 TTF Goal = 60 days from posting


Maybe for executive jobs but not billable/revenue generating roles.


Okay
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:10     Subject: Re:I’m a recruiter AMA
Anonymous wrote:
Calibri, Arial, a clean sans serif font works really well


Why would sans-serif be preferable? It is generally considered to be harder to read for body text, and it also looks less serious than serif type. And Arial is sort of an abomination.


+1

I get that there are many reasons not to use Times New Roman, but I'd put Arial on a do-not-use list as well.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:08     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:
Anonymous wrote:Internal recruiter or external/third party?


Internal Corporate


Why does it take MONTHS to get to the second round and NEVER to respond when you’re not interested?


I get it.
Our priority is to move the best candidates Forward.
That does mean that the hundreds that aren’t our priority get left behind in terms of communication.
So say I interviewed you and 6 others. The Hiring Manager chooses to advance 4 of them to the next round. But you’re not one of the 4. My activity is now hyper focused on those 4. (Multiply this by 10-20 roles). I’m managing communications to say 80 people.
Now it takes 60 days for us to fill a role, sometimes 90. Once the new hire signs the paperwork, we close the job down and disposition the hundreds that in the recruitment funnel. Hence why, if you aren’t the candidate moving forward, for you it takes MONTHS.
I wish the systems could be faster - maybe AI helps to close the candidate communication loop better in next gen ATS’s


How big is your company that it takes 60-90 days to hire? That's really long time and shows a lack of efficiency in your company's hiring process.


Nope industry standard for F500 TTF Goal = 60 days from posting


Maybe for executive jobs but not billable/revenue generating roles.
Anonymous
Post 02/18/2026 21:05     Subject: I’m a recruiter AMA
What are your thoughts on using PE to recruit.