It’s officially summertime and in recent weeks we’ve had the opportunity to touch base with clients, competitors, and other industry friends to share insights and compare notes on trends within today’s talent market. While hiring activity remains fairly robust despite the more challenging economic backdrop, the mismatch in expectations between hiring firms and job candidates has never been larger. Filling open positions is taking longer to accomplish and has left many talent acquisition teams overburdened and frustrated due to the seemingly futile process of attracting new talent in the marketplace.  In some cases, the process has been made more difficult due to an unusual candidate behavior in the form of “ghosting”. When discussing current hiring experiences, this is one topic that we continue to hear about again and again from clients as well as experience ourselves. Simply defined, ghosting is when a job candidate either a) expresses interest in pursuing an open position, or b) actually enters an interview process, only to exit the process abruptly with no advance notice or further communication afterwards.

As long-time recruiting professionals, the growth in use and acceptance of this practice among candidates is troubling as it was something rarely done until recently. While we don’t have concrete data we can share, based on industry polling “ghosting” is most commonly attributed to candidates with less than 10 years of career experience. Perhaps this signals the beginning of a generational shift? We’re not sure if the behavior is the result of an overwhelming abundance of job opportunities available in the marketplace, the quick-hit age of social media where attention spans average roughly two seconds (per a Facebook content study), an outgrowth of the pandemic, or something else.  What’s even more remarkable is that some individuals will proceed through multiple rounds of interviews, investing hours of their time and others to do so, only to opt to exit that process without any further interaction afterward.

It would be irresponsible if we didn’t note that we, as recruiters, bear some of the blame as do hiring managers for candidates feeling frustrated about pursuing new opportunities. Lengthy interview processes, endless LinkedIn solicitations, changing job descriptions, or differences in compensation expectations can leave job applicants feeling disengaged or unappreciated.  In a fast-moving market such as the present one, the result is an easy shift by the candidate to focusing on other job opportunities, something that is easily avoidable.  As we’ve said in past blog posts, establishing connectivity with job applicants from the get-go and setting clear expectations for the process steps and timeline is key.

Whatever the case, “ghosting” doesn’t appear to be going away anytime soon. By exhibiting this behavior though, candidates should be aware that they could be setting themselves up for greater career implications than they are considering in that moment. With hiring managers and recruiting firms having invested heavily in technology platforms such as applicant tracking systems, there is a greater amount of information and feedback kept on each candidate, including potential “red flag” behaviors such as this which could lead to a no-go for future roles at the firm for that person. Also, hiring managers may be approached by other potential individuals who are mutual connections within the candidate’s network performing offline reference checks about the candidate. In other words, not only is the candidate potentially burning a bridge with the original firm, they could be taking themselves out of consideration for a future job opportunity when pursuing another position elsewhere.

When exiting an interview process, we cannot overstate the importance of doing so professionally and with gratitude. Taking time out to write a brief email or call that person directly to thank them for their consideration and let them know that after further reflection the role does not feel like a good fit speaks volumes about one’s character. It also ensures that you keep the door open to future networking opportunities whether with that company or another potential employer down the road. Not doing so sends a message of apathy, whether intended or not. Although the job market has favored the seller (i.e., the candidate) in recent years, at some point that dynamic will shift and there will be a tightening of the job market.  The multiple job offers that candidates have available to them may dry up, making it that much harder to compete for fewer job opportunities. Taking time now to position one’s self for future success by re-thinking this practice so that others place a high value on his/her character will pay dividends in the end.  Not to mention, kindness brings good karma ?.