Most recruiters are professional and respectful when reaching out to gauge a candidate’s interest in an open tech position. However, some recruiters (especially those new to the profession) persist in pitching jobs that aren’t the right fit, calling and emailing several times a day, and worst of all, they don’t take a hint.

Ben Martinez, principal recruiter and founder of Ramp Talent says pushy recruiters often have “commission breath.”

A pushy recruiter is someone who doesn’t take the time to build a relationship with the candidate or the hiring manager, he added. They only care about finding someone to go on an interview, not your aspirations or career goals.

Of course, you don’t want to burn a bridge with someone who may hold the key to success down the road when they have more experience. So, what’s the best way to deal with a pushy recruiter?

If you’ve reached the end of your proverbial rope, here are some tactics for keeping pushy recruiters from wasting your time by setting boundaries in a way that is comfortable, yet polite and effective.

Recognize and Reject the Pushers

You are not obligated to respond to every recruiter who reaches out to you. Research the recruiter and their agency before engaging with them. Do they have recommendations from colleagues or people they’ve placed? Are they connected to high-profile people in the industry?

If they have a bad reputation or don’t work with companies that interest you—or seem like they are only interested in earning a fee or soliciting referrals—reject them outright, advised Smita Philip, a senior technical recruiter.

If you're not interested in discussing the opportunity further or working with the recruiter, send them a short email stating: “Thanks for reaching out, but I'm not interested."

Counter Assertiveness with Assertiveness

The best way to deal with assertive recruiters is to be assertive yourself. Develop a concise, two-minute pitch that specifically explains the type of company, role and work environment you’re looking for and the things that are absolute dealbreakers. For instance, if you’re not willing to relocate or work in-house, be calm, firm and direct about your needs and preferences.

In fact, being very specific about what you’re looking for might help the recruiter suggest other opportunities that are a better fit. A competent recruiter will back down and limit their future contact to more suitable roles. If they keep pitching jobs that aren’t the right fit, Martinez recommends that you ignore them. Eventually, they will focus their efforts somewhere else.

Flip the Script

Rather than admonishing a tech recruiter who contacts you about a job that is neither relevant nor appropriate for someone with your skills and experience, stay calm and ask why they contacted you for this specific opportunity.

Running ineffective or incomplete searches to identify candidates is one of the most common mistakes new recruiters make, Philip explained.

Because they are in a hurry, they often skip steps, which returns resumes that aren’t a good fit, she said. When you ask something like: “What is it that you saw in my resume that makes you think I’m a good fit for this position,” that forces them to pause, re-read your resume and take a moment to consider their rationale for contacting you.

Exploring the reasoning behind their decision may help them realize their mistake and potentially identify another open position that better fits your skills and interests. It may even reveal the opportunity to tweak your resume’s keywords, headline, content and tags towards the opportunities you want to pursue, not the jobs you’ve had, so other recruiters don’t make the same mistake.

To that point, asking fact-finding questions can help you evaluate a recruiter’s understanding of the role they’re trying to fill, the depth of their relationship with the hiring manager and the right to represent you as a candidate.

If the job sounds interesting but the recruiter is either unable or unwilling to share detailed information about the opportunity (such as why the position is open, the name of the company, what the job entails, the hiring process, etc.), then ask them to contact you when they’re ready to share more information.

The best recruiters don’t try to camouflage; they share the good, the bad and the ugly things about an opportunity right away, Martinez noted.

Build and Maintain Relationships with Recruiters You Trust

Do not be pushed into emailing your resume to a recruiter who contacted you out of the blue.

It’s not unusual for a hiring manager to give multiple recruiters and agencies the opportunity to fill the same job opening. However, some companies have a policy of rejecting duplicate submittals, which might hurt your chances of being hired for any position. Don’t be rushed or hasty, especially if you’re contacted about the same position by multiple recruiters.

If you find yourself in this position, just explain that you’ve cultivated professional relationships with several recruiters, and they may have may have submitted your resume for another position at the company. Then contact the recruiters you know and trust to see if they are working on the same position.

Fostering relationships with just a few recruiters who are willing to listen to your career goals and aspirations essentially means that you can avoid interacting with recruiters who are overly aggressive or insistent about trying to place you in a job that doesn’t meet your objectives.