That reminded me of a much more extreme story from Derek Sivers'
Your Music and People, although the situation is very different. In comparison, your recruiter's tactic seems very reasonable and makes perfect sense. Also, they might/should want employees who think outside the box, don't accept apparent limits etc. The story:
Repeatedly follow-up to show you care
I knew a music publicist in New York City when she was at the peak of her success. A few of her clients had hits, so everyone wanted to work with her. She was flooded with new music.
Here’s how she dealt with the flood:
Whenever someone sent their music, it would go into an inbox. That inbox was completely ignored.
Whenever someone contacted her to follow-up the first time, to ask if she’d received it, she would take their music out of that first inbox, and put it in a second inbox. That second inbox was also ignored.
Then if they followed-up with her a second time, asking again if she’d had the chance to listen, she would take their music out of the second inbox, and put it in a third inbox. That third inbox would get a listen if she had some spare time.
Finally, if they followed-up a third time, she would take their music out of the third inbox, and make it a priority to give it a real listen.
She saw the shocked look on my face, as she described her system. So she explained:
“I can’t listen to everyone, so I can’t know who’s got the best music. But the ones who follow-up show they’ve got the tenacity and drive to succeed. As long as their music is also good, then those are the ones I want to work with.”
It wasn’t ego. It was just a practical way to deal with a
flood, and a pretty good filter for choosing new clients.
Maybe nobody else has an official system like this. But unofficially, they do. Overwhelmed people don’t have time for all the random first-contacts. Patience and persistence separate you from the rest, and show how much you care.