Re: I don't know a rinky dink application so I'm not a good fit

[David Farbey <dfarbey -at- yahoo -dot- co -dot- uk>]

Dan,

I understand your frustration, but your predicament is not uncommon. 
Even when a recruiter is doing their best - and that isn't always the 
case, of course - they are bound by the job description they receive 
from their client. If that job description says "must have 5 years 
experience using MS Project" then the recruiter has to filter out 
candidates who don't meet that "must have" condition.

The best recruiters will always try to negotiate down the "must have" 
requirements so that they can submit more candidates, which increases 
their chances of winning their fee. (If one of their candidates isn't 
hired they don't get any fee in most cases.) Often, this is not 
possible, as the Job Description came to the recruiter from an HR 
department that doesn't understand the real requirements of the job.

Regrettably, a good cover letter (such as Beth Agnew suggested) can't 
always help, as high volume recruitment agencies and major company HR 
departments often use automated systems to scan CVs for keywords, and to 
filter them accordingly. We all know these systems are imperfect, but 
companies feel that they have no alternative - actually hiring 
intelligent people to read CVs would cost too much.

Sorry that this is not much comfort.

David Farbey