Why you should email a recruiter written consent to send your CV?

​One of the main reasons candidates are hesitant to work with a recruiter for the first time is due to a bad experience in which someone previously sent their CV to a company without their authorisation. Conversely from a recruiter’s perspective, hearing from HR that the CV you just sent is a duplicate makes both the recruiter and candidate look a bit foolish. The best way to overcome both issues is for a candidate to email a recruiter with authorisation stating they are happy for the agency to represent them and the candidate hasn’t applied to the company in the past 12 months. In doing so:

• The candidate has a record of where their CV has been sent and through which agency

• It saves the recruiters time by avoiding speaking to you about a role you have already applied to

• It ensures the candidate is always in control of where their CV is sent which should always be the priority

• If a candidate has accidentally (hmm…) authorised two agencies to put their CV forward and one is simply verbal, written authorisation via email can carry a lot of weight

• It ensures the relationship between recruiter and candidate is both honest and transparent

Our recommendation, therefore, is to always email a recruiter your authorisation to send the CV. What are your thoughts and have you ever had a disagreement with a recruiter about where your CV has been sent? We would love to hear your thoughts.