Heart-warming, frustrating and puzzling. Hey, it's recruiting!

A heart-warming tale of employer care: No joke. My client, after interviewing my candidate, to make sure he would have no problems getting out of the parking garage, actually gave him cash! The candidate called me afterwards to debrief and said he felt like this was a good sign - and I had to agree. I called the client for some brief feedback on the interview and he took my call, gave me honest input and listened to mine. Great communication. I appreciate having clients like this one.

A frustrating re-currence: Fully screened and vetted a candidate on Friday last week, and spoke at length with her about my client to make sure she was an all-around good match. Submitted her resume over the weekend to find out that another recruiter had submitted her resume before me. Called the candidate and she acknowledged having spoken to a recruiter from New York after speaking to me, but that he would not share the name of the client, so she did not know it was the same company. My lesson: submit the candidate's resume to the client before I hang up the phone!

Is this a hiring market? Seems like a struggle to hear back from *some* clients on feedback for candidates. Also a struggle to hear back from passive candidates on whether they are interested in a new opportunity. With the market tightening and all consumer prices going up, up, up, it appears that there is some pulling back from both hiring and career-moves.