You should hire someone to answer to the people you can’t hire

Agreed with your mom.

Make a standard response and go on with life. :)

Omg no. I don’t answer every email I get, especially unsolicited ones. Who has the time?

I make an effort to people I deem have made an effort. If it’s a clear copy paste blanket email then no.

I will generally try to answer every one we get even though we are a small team and will never hire. I usually let them know if another agency is hiring, or perhaps a tip or two on their resume if they sent or to connect with me on linkedin. For one I rememeber what it was like scrounging the fields for a job and was always discouraged when people couldn’t even bother to give me a screw off, and secondly you never know where theyll eventually land at and could benefit you in some way

The local job centre requires unemployed people to seek work. The job centre gets them to spend time writing letters asking for jobs. I get so many. Some posted. Some by email. Many have poor English or poor handwriting etc. They all get ignored because otherwise the amount we receive goes up dramatically. These people are given task lists which include things like sending out cvs and applying for jobs….which are either oversubscribed or totally unsuitable for the job seeker.

My mum posts jobs in the local shop window now….she will never tell the job centre about anything because she had thousands apply and nobody turned up for interview.

I do agree w/Mom.

However, Mom may not understand the fineline for a business owner between focusing to finishing a task vs the impact of a 30 second interruption.

Maybe put together 2 line auto reply/copy-paste for when one of those inquiries flows in.

Unsolicited I wouldn’t say there’s any obligation to respond, but I think it’s a nice thing to do; you never know when your paths may cross again.

As a candidate to an actual job posting, something that really stings is when I clearly put a lot of time/effort into a cover letter and get absolutely nothing from the employer. Some HR people will say ignoring unsuccessful applicants is best practice to avoid starting a potential conflict, but IMO it shows a basic lack of decency and I add that business to a personal blacklist of places I won’t patronise or recommend to others.

The local job centre requires unemployed people to seek work. The job centre gets them to spend time writing letters asking for jobs. I get so many. Some posted. Some by email. Many have poor English or poor handwriting etc. They all get ignored because otherwise the amount we receive goes up dramatically. These people are given task lists which include things like sending out cvs and applying for jobs….which are either oversubscribed or totally unsuitable for the job seeker.

My mum posts jobs in the local shop window now….she will never tell the job centre about anything because she had thousands apply and nobody turned up for interview.

No. Unless they put extraordinary effort into the email and it caught your eye, in which case I would email them and thank them and ask if you can hold onto that resume for the future or share it with peers who might be looking.

The local job centre requires unemployed people to seek work. The job centre gets them to spend time writing letters asking for jobs. I get so many. Some posted. Some by email. Many have poor English or poor handwriting etc. They all get ignored because otherwise the amount we receive goes up dramatically. These people are given task lists which include things like sending out cvs and applying for jobs….which are either oversubscribed or totally unsuitable for the job seeker.

My mum posts jobs in the local shop window now….she will never tell the job centre about anything because she had thousands apply and nobody turned up for interview.

The local job centre requires unemployed people to seek work. The job centre gets them to spend time writing letters asking for jobs. I get so many. Some posted. Some by email. Many have poor English or poor handwriting etc. They all get ignored because otherwise the amount we receive goes up dramatically. These people are given task lists which include things like sending out cvs and applying for jobs….which are either oversubscribed or totally unsuitable for the job seeker.

My mum posts jobs in the local shop window now….she will never tell the job centre about anything because she had thousands apply and nobody turned up for interview.

No, if they are unsolicited, I do not respond at all.

Yes. It only takes about 20 seconds to say “We’re not hiring for this position at this time.”

Why open a dialogue if you don’t have to?