Working in a service based industry, your reputation is everything. So if recruiters are relying solely on the candidate’s experience you would think all recruiters would follow certain guidelines of moral and ethical behavior that would allow them to be successful. Unfortunately recruiters get a bad wrap; a reputation of being self-centered and not providing the level of service that a candidate would expect. Are the job seeker’s expectations too high? This is a loaded question that has come up repeatedly over the past thirteen years that I have been in the industry.

You’ll never make everyone happy but here are seven ways that recruiters can change the perception that some people have:

1) How come recruiters never call me back: This is the #1 pet peeve that candidates have. The honeymoon is short lived as recruiters call candidates with passion and excitement only never to reach out to them again. At a bare minimum, recruiters need to re-connect with candidates within a certain time frame (established during their initial conversation with the job seeker) via email or phone–it’s 2012 after all!

2) Write clear and descriptive job descriptions: Bad input equals bad output. As a recruiter you need to take the time and effort to meet with the hiring manager and go over the specifics of the role. The copy and paste tactic will not get you far.

3) Take the time to learn the lingo: A lot of recruiters get a bad wrap for playing buzz word bingo on resumes. Take the time to learn the technology; from my experience candidates love to talk about technology and are more than willing answer questions.

4) Explain where you are in the recruiting process: You can be the best matchmaker in town but if you don’t divulge where you are in the recruiting cycle (interviews, how many resumes you have sent for review, potential offers on the table) expectations can be set too high.

5) Provide feedback: This can be a double-edged sword and managers might have negative things to say about candidates, but in order to build trust sometimes you have to provide constructive criticism that people may not want to hear.

6) Understand where the candidates are coming from: One of the hardest jobs an individual will have is finding a job. Candidates know that you are one of the many avenues that they can use to find a position and, at the same time, you have to be able to put yourself in their shoes.

7) Finally make sure you close the loop: Once you engage a candidate and go through the recruiting process with them “closing the loop” with each person is one of the basic tenets that all recruiters should follow.

How many of you have a set of rules you follow during the candidate life cycle? What do you think of these 7 tips?