Interesting! I’m somewhat under-employed at present, and have responded to a number of recruiter’s / agency’s ads. I’m selective, so only go for roles I believe I can do well in, yet often feel I’m emailing my particulars into an electronic black hole. I would expect the common courtesy of – at least – an acknowledgement, if someone has ‘gone fishing’, and I’ve bitten and gone to the extent of tailoring an appropriate cover letter. Last week someone asked me to send CV etc. It didn’t arrive, yet I had nothing to indicate anything was awry. He phoned again, and I re-sent, using various addresses, and a test message with no attachments. I copied myself and received them …but not a flicker at his end. Why and how often this happens I've no idea. I subsequently emailed another recruiter asking if he'd received an earlier application (I’d had no response), and he said not, although he obviously got the later one... and was obviously prepared to take the time to reply to that. I've certainly had trouble with emails in the past. I 'request read receipt', but some folk ignore / decline as it's sort of nagging. Sometimes things cannot be delivered because I've sent them to wrong address; sometimes they return with 'mailbox was full'; sometimes I've attached something too big (which all has to come back again!). There's one consultancy I worked with (who insisted I use their address with their clients) that had a server which often replied 'trying to deliver...' etc. for a day or two, and then said it had failed. I don’t believe any of these reasons explain my recent email problems.I regard it as common courtesy to at least acknowledge a response to adverts. Including the line ‘if you don’t hear from us you may assume you have been unsuccessful’ doesn’t discharge the requirement for courtesy. Also, that assumption may be wrong – and, if the recruiter is genuine, they might be doing themselves a disservice, as well as potential recruits – and, of course, their clients.
