I reached out to the recruiter via email because the Taleo system used is a black hole. The recruiter then said he would send the hiring manager my resume. After a few days of not hearing back, I reached out. The recruiter said the hiring manager was looking for someone with a slightly different background. That really made no sense to me seeing as I have the management consulting experience they’re looking for, in line with their job description, etc. So, I don’t really understand their reasoning- unless they're only looking for Big 3 experience, but in that case they should have stated it outright. I was primarily interested in Gap because I’m interested in retail. But their corporate strategy group and/or their recruiter seem to have a nonsensical filtering process. Typically if you reach out to a recruiter you know that you're a very close match to the job description and if there isn't a match I would assume recruiters tell you. As such, at they very least you're scheduled for a first round with the hiring manager as a result of reaching out.