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I had 5 rounds of interviews at a very famous company. I am based in Europe and the company is based in US. It's a fully remote position. My contact point was Recruiter A during the whole process, and she was very cooperative. All the interviewers were amazing, too.

After I finished the hiring process, Recruiter B got in touch with me and is more senior and is talking to me about my offer letter and reference check.

But this recruiter is blatantly ignoring my questions (for example, I asked about the number of days off and other benefits via email). He is not saying he will answer late. He is completely ignoring them.

He recently asked for a call. He was late 10 minutes. Asked me questions but didn't answer any of my questions, saying he was in a hurry.

Everyone else besides this person has been amazing. What should I do? I can't just accept an offer with such incomplete information.

I also feel it will look bad if I approach the other recruiters or the managers with my question. It might look like I am bypassing the recruitment process.

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    I once asked questions after a contract (temporary) job offer, and it really bothered both the company's HR and my own recruiter. This shouldn't be the way it is, but it sometimes is. So, unless you can get several job offers at once, I would tread very carefully indeed.
    – JosephDoggie
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 14:33
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    where in the world?
    – EarlGrey
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 17:26

8 Answers 8

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I would be patient. It's always best to appear polite and humble until the hiring process is complete. It's probably this recruiter's job to get the paperwork sorted and your signature on the dotted line. The contract will likely answer your questions, but if it doesn't, all you have to do is be polite and say 'I still have a few questions that are waiting to be answered' when the contract comes through and don't sign until you are sure. The power is in your hands.

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Reach out to the hiring manager directly.

The recruiters are just a means to an end: they are working on behalf of the hiring manager. Corporate recruiters have only a limited stake/interest in you and often have little or no decision authority. At any given time, they work on many different positions and their priority is often determined by which hiring manager is screaming the loudest at them.

Your manager should be able to quickly unstick this by doing a bit of yelling themselves. If they don't want to engage, that would be a warning sign.

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    I don't know any hiring manager. I only talked to 2 recruiters during the whole process.
    – CodePanda
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 19:13
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    @CodePanda who did you interview with? Someone at the actual company I hope.
    – rtaft
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 20:05
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    @rtaft I worked at a large company a few years ago, and although I talked to many candidates, none of them had my contact info — the candidate and I were both just given video links to joins for the conversations, when they weren't in person. So it could be that OP talked to many people including the HM, but doesn't have an email address for anyone other than the recruiters. I think that's very common.
    – yshavit
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 20:10
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    @yshavit I was thinking more along the lines of a possible scam since from my experience I was usually handed off to the hiring team after initial introduction. However, my first professional job I was hired by the recruiter because it was a temp to hire position and was paid through the recruiting agency for the first 8 months. Maybe that is what is going on.
    – rtaft
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 20:23
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    @CodePanda - So talk to the original recruiter. If the new recruiter is ignoring your questions, refuse to work with them, ask for someone else.
    – Donald
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 2:13
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I have been in the situation where the recruiter wasn't clear about the details, so I asked them to send me the contract.

The contract should contain everything you need to know in terms of formalities, and you shouldn't make decisions on things that are only said by the recruiter (in fact many contracts explicitly rule out any side-agreements made verbally).

When the recruiter refused to send me a blank contract, stating that they told me everything I needed to know, I simply told him "Ok then I am accepting, please send me the contract. This of course is with reservations that the contract is to my liking."

Recruiters are often incentivised to close the deal and are tempted to tell you what they think you want to hear. And often recruiters are with the company for only short amounts of time. Your agreement with the company is reflected in the contract and that should be the thing that counts.

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    This is probably not going to address all of OP's concerns. Direct hires through a recruiter do not use a "contract". The recruiter will secure an offer letter from the employer, and pass it along to OP. The offer letter will contain only basic information.
    – Xavier J
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 17:34
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    @XavierJ Maybe I am missing something, or this question needs a country tag. Where I live the employment agreement is not final until the contract is signed and it is easy to bail out before signing it.
    – Helena
    Commented Dec 12, 2023 at 20:41
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    I guess this must vary by region. in the UK and Germany, one ALWAYS gets a contract. Regardless of agency or direct hire, regardless of temp or perm or freelance.
    – kpollock
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 10:16
  • In the US, even though it's true the job isn't finalized until the employee signs the offer letter, recruiters often pressure for a verbal agreement first. @Helena's tactic has worked for me, "I accept conditionally on the contents of the offer letter"
    – gusmally supports Monica
    Commented Dec 14, 2023 at 16:43
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Perhaps the recruiter was genuinely busy and just trying to gather some critical information.

I would contact recruiter B and request a follow up meeting, as you still have some unanswered questions. Acknowledge that you recognize they did not have time last meeting and that is fine, and ask to meet with them at a time that is more convenient to them.

No need to go over peoples heads. Just give the benefit of the doubt and work the problem: you want questions answered, so meet and get them questions answered.

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    I don't like making up excuses for blatantly rude people. "Sorry, I'm very busy at the moment but I will get back to you" costs about 3seconds to say. You can't be THAT busy.
    – infinitezero
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 7:28
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    @infinitezero I basically agree with you, but on the other hand, why does OP care if the recruiter is a nice person? They're never going to talk to them again after they start the job. Just find a way to get the information you need without starting any fights, and move on.
    – Richard Rast
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 15:29
  • @Richard Rast Assuming this is an in-house recruiter who is part of the company's HR team (not clear from the question): This is a two-way process and one would expect both the candidate and the hiring company to put their best foot forward during the hiring process. An HR department's unprofessional and / or arrogant behavior therefore can be a red flag. I once declined an offer from an extremely well-known global player in the computer industry for this reason (that is, multiple missteps from HR in the lead-up to the offer).
    – njuffa
    Commented Dec 13, 2023 at 22:31
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I would simply send an email and/or a voicemail message to both recruiters saying something like, "...As much as I want this job, I cannot sign the offer letter until all my questions concerning this job have been answered...".

If the employer is truly impressed with you and really wants to hire you, then your hestitation to accept the job offer will then put a lot of pressure on the recruiter(s) to get answers to all your questions.

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Are you going to be working for the company or the recruiter?

Based on what you've said - it sounds like there's one bad apple, in an otherwise good batch. If you like the company, like the interviewers and everything else is gelling, I would probably just accept that this 'Senior recruiter' is just a hurdle to be overcome, in order to get to the end-goal.

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    I still have to receive my offer letter and negotiate salary and benefits. How do I do it if the other person has such poor communication? Should I talk to someone else within the company?
    – CodePanda
    Commented Dec 11, 2023 at 22:52
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    @CodePanda - if you have the email of the original recruiter, send it to them, CC in the other party or vice-versa - that's how I'd approach it.
    – TheDemonLord
    Commented Dec 11, 2023 at 22:55
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These aren't questions for the recruiters, nor the hiring manager. HR will have all this information in a 'new employee' package. The recruiters will have general information unless they get better information directly from HR. Hiring managers will always defer to HR.

If the recruiters are dragging their feet on the specifics you're looking for, you'd do best contacting HR yourself - let them know who you are, and that you're in the pipeline for employment through such-and-such agency. HR can give you specifics on vacation, PTO, 401K, and benefit options.

Of course, you don't want to accept a job without some specific info!

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You don't have a problem actually.

One of 2 things will happen. At some point they will say not interested/go quiet, or they will formally make an offer.

Your job is to get to that point, with the best chance of being made a formal offer. (Also to watch how they operate and make sure you have eyes open and negotiate well of course).

Your questions only actually matter when an offer is on the table. Days off and benefits only matter if they offer you the role, or if you want to know whether to accept or decline some other offer.

At that point, "I asked a while ago about X and Y..." or "I need a bit of information. As you recall I emailed to ask about X on DATE..."

If the offer is serious, and they have taken it that far, you'll get your answers if you need them.

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