Early in my career as a recruiter, I was treated poorly by a job seeker and couldn’t understand why.

After several conversations that felt more like a heated sparring match rather than professional dialogue, I mustered the courage to ask him why he was so curt. Clearly, he was upset and didn’t want to have the conversation.

Over his career, he had a history of unproductive relationships with recruiters. As he put it, recruiters exhibited a lack of professionalism and even told outright lies. Consequently, he had strong bias against anyone in the profession, and he perceived no value in the relationship. As stated, “Talking to recruiters is like dealing with the root of all evil. I’d rather not bother.”

This conversation and his perspective was enlightening for me.

Rather than take offense, I listened. Over time, I saw a pattern in what his experience was, and what some recruiters do.

Here are six things a recruiter will never say, but should.

1. “We have no intention of calling you again — for any job.”
Working for an agency, you have billings to make.  If you don’t place candidates and bill clients, you don’t get to keep your job.  Statistically, in the first six months, only one out of a hundred makes it as a recruiter.

Recruiting isn’t a normal sales job. Recruiters are selling people. Above-average recruiters need to know their product (people) and what the market demands. Job markets shift like the stock market shifts. Supply and demand of the skill set du jour is what makes a candidate hot or not. For example, right now a cloud engineer could write their own ticket. They are hot.

Your resume is a marketing statement.  Recruiters will know within two minutes of reading it whether or not they can place you. It may seem harsh, but their judgment is immediate and usually final. Smart recruiters will keep track of you, putting you aside until they can “use” you.

It may seem petty, but seemingly inconsequential details can make a recruiter decide they don’t want to work with you. It could be a statement you made in the phone interview. It could be your tie.  They base their credibility on you, the candidate.

When you don’t hear back from a recruiter, you’re left wondering why. The blunt truth is that because of the “burn and churn” nature of the industry, if the recruiter hasn’t contacted you with interviews, he or she has likely moved on to the next set of candidates. Wise job seekers ask for a recruiter’s advice on what skills sets are in demand. Ask the recruiter — he or she knows the market and can guide you. Be wise. Befriend them.

2. “The jobs we have posted aren’t real.”
The practice of posting phony jobs is unsettling and unethical, but it does happen.  Jobs that are posted online for weeks at a time, but aren’t getting filled, may or may not be real. A recruiting firm is only as good as their inventory (i.e., you).

If you have questions about the veracity of a job posting, call the recruiter that posted it. Ask specific questions about the position and see if he or she gives reasonable answers. If you’re told the job has been filled suddenly, something might be amiss.

To save money on advertising fees, some agencies with numerous job openings will post blanket ads designed to attract several skill sets, rather than posting each job individually.

3. “Your resume looks embellished.”
I had a green recruiter tell me that he didn’t want to work with a particular Quality Engineer because he looked “too perfect on paper.” Often during a recession, some candidates put everything they have ever done on paper in an attempt to trigger keyword searches. I told my colleague to pick up the phone and call the candidate directly to better understand her skill set, rather than jumping to the conclusion that he had embellished her resume.

Unfortunately, e-mail, social media and the internet have made some in the recruiting profession lazy. Somewhere along the way, we forgot how to talk to people directly, opting instead to communicate online.

 “I am new to recruiting, I don’t really want this job, and I have no idea what you do for a living.”
This is one you won’t hear, but it sure would save everyone a lot of time and aggravation if it was disclosed up front.

Many junior recruiters enter the profession excited about finding people jobs, but they don’t understand that upper management will be pressuring them for numbers and billings. Some new hires have no prior experience and aren’t even able to read technical resumes. You may have to educate your recruiter on your industry background or technical skills if you want to work with them.

I’m not suggesting that you shy away from new recruiters — you may come across one with fire in his belly and a strong desire to succeed — but you may need to stay on top of him to make sure he knows what you are qualified to do, and that he is working to find job leads for you.

5. “Our client won’t call us back.”
This is one of the most common — and confusing — situations for candidates. You find the perfect job online. You sneak out of work on your lunch hour, drive downtown in your suit and meet with your recruiter. After what you thought was a good interview, the recruiter agrees to put you forward to the client for the job. Then you never hear back. After a few days, you call the recruiter to see if your resume was given to the hiring manager. You’re told it was, but they haven’t heard back.

Almost always, this lack of feedback occurs when the recruiter is selling to the wrong person (i.e., the recruiter is dealing with HR and not directly with the hiring manager). Hiring managers know where you stand in the interview process and will usually take a few minutes out of their day to comment on your resume. Unfortunately, recruiters will never disclose who they deal with in their accounts. With the sale stalled, and no feedback to give you, the recruiter will avoid you… hoping that you will go away.

6. “I will blast your resume all over town hoping to place you.”
This business practice is completely unprofessional and can be hazardous to your career – especially if you are C level or work for a reputable company or a small city.

If a recruiter thinks you are a hot candidate, he may go through his address book and send your resume — without your knowledge — to all of his clients, hoping to pop a fee. In smaller cities, this can be harmful to your career — especially if your current boss find out. Or if word gets out on the street that you are looking for a job and your peers start sharing that information. Job searches should be confidential.  Be direct with recruiters to ensure that they will not give your resume out without your express consent.

Much of recruiters’ bad behavior can probably be attributed to the underlying fact that they don’t want to hurt candidates’ feelings. Or because of the sales quotas or thresholds they need to meet on an ongoing basis, they just plain don’t have — or take — the time to break the bad news to you.

Just because a recruiter didn’t get you into the last job, doesn’t mean they can’t find you something else. Be choosy about which recruiter you want to work with. Build a relationship.

Elizabeth Lions is the Author of “Recession Proof Yourself” She is an Executive Coach and specializes in engineers and technical professionals. For more about her work, please visit www.elizabethlions.com