What is Ghosting? Why is this a growing trend in Recruitment & how can we prevent it?

Ghosting! A term we hear a lot, but what does it mean when we apply it to Recruitment? 

Ghosting occurs when candidates or clients suddenly cut off communication without any explanation or notice during the hiring process. This trend has become increasingly common and has an awful impact on relationships across this sector, be it with your talent pool or clients and visa versa. 

So I’m keen to explore why is this happening more and more and what can be done by recruiters and hiring managers to prevent it? 

When would you typically experience ghosting? 

A candidate, after showing initial interest in a role, could suddenly stop responding to communication from the recruiter and employer and not show up to interviews with no warning. This frustratingly can tend to happen at any stage of the hiring process, from the initial interview to salary negotiations and has a massive impact on relationships with the client and the client’s view of the candidate. 

Similarly, clients ghost a recruiter, this typically happens when a company stops responding to the recruiter’s follow-ups or they fail to provide feedback after interviews with candidates. This can also be known as “window shopping”, where a recruiter’s time and resources are wasted with, unfortunately, no further commitment from the client. 

This all sounds pretty unproductive, so why is it happening? 

There are a few reasons to explore here, including a competitive job market; a lack of transparency; changing priorities; fear of confrontation or a poor candidate experience. 

1. In a competitive job market candidates tend to hedge their bets and apply for multiple positions at a time. As they start to receive offers or interviews, their interest in certain roles can dwindle, and they don’t always feel they need to share this decision with the hiring team.  
2. If a candidate feels they have a lack of transparency during the hiring process around things like salary, benefits, location or job expectations, they will quite quickly disengage with no remorse. 
3. Changing priorities applies to both clients and candidates. If these change during the lifespan of a hiring campaign that result in them reconsidering the job search or the reason for hiring, this can also lead to a cease in communication as this no longer sits high on their priority list.  
4. Often a fear of confrontation is the biggest cause of ghosting. It can be very hard to deliver bad news when rejecting an offer, interview or candidate shortlist which unfortunately leads to the easier path being chosen, ghosting! 
5. Lastly a point every recruiter and client should be passionate about improving- poor candidate experience. If a candidate has a negative experience during the process, be it a prolonged process, lack of communication, unfair treatment or lack of care then they are very likely to pull out of the process without a second glance.  

Knowing all of this, how can we prevent it? 

Once you know some of the reasons why either a candidate or a client could become absent from the hiring process it becomes a little easier to try to put steps in place to mitigate it. 

For me, the way to avoid ghosting is to build stronger relationships. It is so important that every touch point you have with a client or candidate makes a good and lasting impression. Invest your time, listen and hear, build rapport then following this, trust and loyalty will grow. 

Building on this, it’s important to keep in regular agreed communication where frequent updates are shared even if nothing significant has changed. Both candidates and clients will truly benefit from knowing the work that is being put in on their behalf. Also create an environment where open communication is welcomed- even constructive criticism! 

Improving the hiring process will also support this. If you set clear expectations from the beginning, lay out timelines and promptly communicate any changes then it allows all parties to feel invested in the process and understand the commitment needed upfront to produce a successful hire. 

A great way to build a stronger relationship with candidates is to offer them what I like to call a ‘red carpet service’.

Make sure all feedback is personalised and delivered over the phone or in person as opposed to on email. Offer them advice on their job search and proactively support their search for a new role even if that role doesn’t end up being through you. This will undoubtedly build a relationship of trust and will result in the candidate coming back to you for their next search or in turn, becoming a trusted client. From the client’s perspective, it is so important to treat candidates with care and respect as they are the eyes and ears in the market and can carry positive or negative reviews about a company that directly impact their reputation. 

So I think we can all agree, ghosting is not helping anyone. It might feel like the easiest thing to do but in the long run, the impact goes much further than that initial action. To address this growing issue, we need to focus on communication, transparency and positive meaningful interactions with clients and candidates. With these in practice, we can create more fruitful partnerships between candidates and employers (with recruiters somewhere in the middle). 

If you are finding it challenging to build trust & rapport with candidates, I can help. Drop me an email & I will be in touch.

Antoinette Werrell

Head of Partnerships

antoinette.w@peapletalent.com