What is the recommended length of time a recruiter should hold on to an applicant's resume or application?
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Thanks,
Puja
There isn't one.
Recruiters receive almost no training and are guarded with competitors about their practices.
A recruiter may decide that an applicant is not ready and will not likely be ready soon and discard the application immediately. One recruiter described his process to me just that way.
And a recruiter may hold a file indefinitely, hoping the candidate will one day be hired.
I have followed some candidates for more than a dozen years before we hired them.
In practice, I try to put all applications into a file with the name of the month on it. This helps me find the applications of people who follow up a few months after they apply.
When that monthly file is a year old, I go through it. If candidates have been showing sustained interest, or if I think there will be possibilities for them, I put them into an alphabetical permanent file. Most applications are one-shot deals and are discarded at the one-year mark.
I reserve the prerogative to put any application into the permanent file right away. I might also advance internship applications from especially promising people that way.
And about once every six years, I have to go through the permanent files and prune them.
Coming Friday: She is actually a writer, but has been asked to be the secretary of a magazine editor whom she sees as a role model for her ultimate career goal.
