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Ghosted During the Hiring Process? You are Not Alone!

Submitted by Amanda Dumsch October 25, 2021

For those not familiar with the term, ghosting is the act of suddenly ceasing all communication.  More and more job seekers are presenting with a uniform complaint – they suddenly haven’t heard back from a company; they have been ghosted. Sometimes even after rounds of interviews and worst of all sometimes even after a verbal offer has been extended.

This shocking and egregious behavior has sadly become a widespread practice. Indeed.com – one of the largest job search aggregators has confirmed in a survey what every job seeker, HR professional, recruiter, and hiring manager has long suspected – ghosting job search candidates is on the rise.  In fact, according to this survey, 77% of job seekers say they have been ghosted by a prospective employer since the onset of Covid-19; 10% reported being ghosted after a verbal job offer. Very unfortunately, ghosting has become a standard part of the hiring process, even though it leaves job seekers feeling confused and defeated and also creates bad press for a company potentially threatening their brand with pools of applicants.

What is causing this increase in ghosting?

The job search has become more impersonal over the years. The large number of job search aggregators and sites like LinkedIn have made it easier than ever to find and apply to jobs, which in turn has left the main work to technological algorithms to sort through candidates. Applicants that get through the first computer filter make it into another huge stack and it seems recruiters and hiring managers are swamped with applications.   

What can a job seeker do?

If this happens to you, try not to give up. It is perfectly acceptable to follow up with respective parties regarding your candidacy, especially if you have interviewed with them. Try to approach the interactions with polite persistence and even though you have a right to be angry, try not to come across as indignant. Rather present as simply curious about updates. Hopefully, more employers will start doing the right thing and following up properly with applicants, especially those they have interacted with personally in an interview.

Ultimately, being ghosted by an employer is more of a negative reflection on the company and not you so try to stay positive as you continue along in your search.

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