What is Ghosting in Recruitment?

In recent years, ghosting has crept into the job market by both employers and potential employees. This is despite the fact that the job market is booming, and the UK jobs vacancies are at a 20-year high. At Talent Hub, we have seen first-hand that the requirements for specialist skill sets are in demand, especially in e-commerce, CRO, UX, Paid Media and mostly digital marketing. As online retail and comms continue to grow, our clients in these sectors are expanding at a rapid rate. Therefore, ghosting on either end still remains a bit of an odd phenomenon. So what exactly is going on here? And what can been done about it?

Definition of Ghosting in Recruitment

The phrase ghosting used to refer to online dating, when people disappeared and stopped all forms of communication, not responding to texts, emails, or phone calls. 

So, what is ghosting in professional terms? 

If ghosted by a candidate, it means that an employer has not heard from or has cut off contact with someone they have either invited to an interview or have offered a job to. This can happen at any point throughout the job application process and can happen suddenly, without explanation.

If ghosted by an employer, it means that a candidate has not heard from an employer after having been in contact with them at any point in the job application process. Basically, it’s the inverse of what we discussed above.

From a recruiter's perspective, we can understand that sometimes, the sheer volume of applications means not everyone has the time or resources to respond to all applicants. However, when people have put the time and effort into preparing for and attending interviews, they should be updated on feedback from the interviews and the next steps of the process. 

This has been an ongoing issue for many in the process. Even Forbes has been reporting on this subject with this article: A New Study By Indeed Confirms That Ghosting During The Hiring Process Has Hit Crisis Levels.

Why is Ghosting in Recruitment an Issue?

From a business perspective, ghosting is as costly as recruitment itself is expensive. This applies to both ghosted candidates and ghosted employers. It’s not only monetary cost that builds up - it’s the impact on time and resources used.

Businesses can also experience impacted productivity across the team where a role is being filled. Team resources may be spread thin already, but ghosting by candidates can mean it can take longer to fill a role and therefore have a knock on effect on team performance.

On the flip side, ghosting candidates can affect brand reputation. If would-be employers ghost applicants, word can get out and impact what people think of your organisation. This can affect would-be candidates to existing and potential customers. The effects of brand reputation are far reaching.

From our perspective, we fully understand that it’s a candidate-driven market. Recruiters and employers get enough bad press about ghosting candidates. So, we want to stand up for the recruitment industry! It’s affecting us too - we’re getting ghosted by candidates more than ever before at all process stages. So many people apply for jobs and never answer the phone or reply to emails. 

Some people have a thorough interview with our Talent Hub team about specific jobs or discuss their experience and job search, and then we get ghosted. Also, some people have gone to client interviews, prepared for them, taken time off and then, when we are looking for their feedback… ghosted! So we fully understand the situation from both perspectives. But why exactly does ghosting happen, particularly for employers?

Why do Candidates Ghost Employers?

There are a couple of key reasons why candidates ghost would-be employers. These are:

• Feeling uncomfortable turning down the job offer or carrying on with the application process. This may be down to the job just not being right for them, but the candidate in question doesn’t know how to go about putting on the breaks. Saying ‘no’ can be difficult, especially for those who are sensitive to conflict.

• Receiving a better job offer. After the great resignation, candidates expect more from their employers. It may be that an alternative offer for a similar role has better benefits, pay, flexibility, and ultimately offers a better work-life balance.

• Feeling unsure about the company. It may be that they had a poor experience through the job application process, or they don’t have enough information about the organisation to want to carry on.

• An intersection of all of the above reasons.

So, what do we, the recruitment industry, do about this?

How to Deal with a Candidate Ghosting You

If you’re asking ‘why are prospects ghosting me?’, you may be at a bit of a loss to know what to do to prevent this from happening. How do you deal with candidates ghosting you?

If we circle back to the reasons why candidates do this, you may be able to identify opportunities to prevent ghosting from happening. These start from investigating potential bottlenecks in the job application process to instigating small changes to support communication between candidates and recruiters. Here’s some starting points to look into:

• What’s the application process like? Are there any pain points? Is it clunky and long-winded? Take a step back, and look at the process as a whole, then break it down stage-by-stage. At these different points, what does the communication process look like? You can also ask for feedback from candidates who have gone through the process.

• Are you meeting candidate needs and expectations in the role in question, as well as throughout the job application process?

• Is the job description accurate to what the job actually is?

• How comfortable and straightforward is turning down a position with your company? Is it intimidating?

To Sum Up

Ghosting in recruitment, both by candidates and employers, affects everyone involved. It’s also growing to be a serious problem that impacts the bottom line. The best things that employers and recruiters can do right now is fully evaluate the application process and identify areas that could encourage ghosting behaviour. Prevention is the best strategy in this instance. If you have any insights as to the whos, hows, whats, whys and whens on ghosting in recruitment, do reach out - we’d love to hear from you!

Talent Hub and the team specialise in headhunting, executive search, and the recruitment of marketing, digital, and creative jobs and people, both in the UK and Internationally.

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