Recruiter offering $3.5k–$8.5k role says jobseekers often ‘vanish’ after he shares all the details upfront

SINGAPORE: Fresh grads and jobseekers in Singapore often gripe online about being “ghosted” by recruiters and potential employers. 

However, one recruiter has turned the narrative around, claiming that in his experience, it is often the candidates who “vanish” without a word once opportunities are presented.

Posting on the SingaporeRaw forum on Monday (Sep 15), the recruiter, who’s currently hiring a front-end developer (mid-level, permanent, hybrid) in Singapore, shared that he has gone out of his way to make the hiring process as transparent and straightforward as possible. 

According to him, he provides candidates with a full breakdown right from the start: details of the role, the required tech stack, salary band (which ranges from S$3,500 to S8,500), hiring process, and even the exact GitHub repository that applicants should study in preparation for their coding test.

To make things easier, he also offers flexible screening times, responds to applications within a day, and follows up two to three times before closing the loop.

Yet despite these efforts, he claims that many of the candidates he reaches out to either ignore him completely, fail to turn up for scheduled interviews, or insist on conditions such as fully remote work arrangements or higher pay than what the role offers.

“Many [of them] read, [but I get] no reply. Some book, then no-show, and others want fully remote or a higher pay,” he said. 

Wanting to understand the situation better, he asked job seekers on the forum for honest feedback: “What must be in the first message for you to engage? Is salary range the blocker, or title or benefits? Do recruiter messages feel spammy or risky? What fixes that? Would a clearer process or shorter timeline help? I’m open to specifics I can change.”

“The roles you offer are not the roles they want.”

In the discussion thread, some Singaporean Redditors offered their own explanations for why the recruiter might be getting ghosted. 

One suggested the hiring company could have a “trashy reputation” online, while another speculated that the salary “might not be competitive enough”, which could explain why some job seekers turn down the opportunity before even responding.

A third echoed this sentiment, writing, “Just because it’s an employer market, doesn’t mean there are no expectations from potential employees. S$3.5k for experienced developers? Don’t expect you’ll be getting many or serious enquiries unless they very very desperate people. Some F&B roles I’ve seen already pay S$3k and above for a floor manager.”

A fourth added that it might simply be a case of mismatch, writing: “The roles you offer are not the roles they want. Good luck in finding your ace software developer.”

Meanwhile, a few others stepped in to give the recruiter some tips. 

One suggested that the recruiter include “all the job details” in the first message and make sure to reply within a week. 

“Shorter timeline definitely helps,” they said. “After constantly applying for jobs, I’d give up on a position if I don’t hear back after a week. If I did hear back after a week, most of the time, I don’t even remember what I applied for anymore.”

Another commented, “Be transparent, upfront, and human about the whole process. I really appreciate when they [recruiters] share the salary band upfront as well. If they’re able to share the benefits upfront it helps me as a job seeker to better evaluate the whole package too.”

In other news, a man in his late 30s has turned to social media to confess that his wife became a completely different person after giving birth to their child.

Sharing his story on the r/SingaporeRaw subreddit on Sunday (Sep 14), he claimed that the arrival of their baby had, in his words, brought out “the absolute worst of [his] wife’s personality and character”.

Read more: Man says wife became a completely different person after childbirth, turns to locals for advice