Two Cent Tuesday: Employer Ghosting

Two Cent Tuesday: Employer Ghosting

Over the past few months, I have read a number of articles and listened to a couple of podcasts discussing the recent trend of ghosting, both by candidates AND employers. Last week’s Two Cent Tuesday discussed candidate ghosting; this week, it is employer ghosting.

When a candidate applies for a job and the employer does not respond, that is not what I consider ghosting… that is an entirely different topic. Employer ghosting occurs after the point in which a potential candidate has been identified by an employer and the employer engages with said candidate.

Should the employer engage with a candidate and then at any point along the way communicate to him that he is not a fit, then we do not have a problem.

Should an employer NOT have the courtesy to follow up from as early on as an initiating email, text, or phone call, ultimately leaving the candidate hanging, well, that is ghosting. And that is being polite.

Without a doubt, the candidate driven market in the civil engineering profession barrels forward; as a result, recruiters, hiring managers, and HR professionals are all spread thin. But that is NO excuse to ghost a candidate, in fact, it is unacceptable, and more importantly detrimental to your firm down the road.

Imagine this.

You are contacted by an employer about an opportunity, you just complete your third round of interviews, everything seems to be headed in a positive direction and all indications are that an offer will be extended.

You send out a thank you email that evening.

Crickets. No problem, they are probably just busy trying to iron out the details of the offer.

Three days pass, you follow up with a voice mail just to check in, let them know you are excited about the opportunity and offer to provide any additional information that may help in finalizing the deal.

Crickets. A week has now passed, no communication…the red flags start to go up.  

A last-ditch effort to reach out via email and text, looking for ANY sort of response, even it is a “thank you, but we have decided to go with another candidate” response.

Crickets. Red flags come down, the white towel is thrown in, time to move on.

You DESERVE the professional courtesy of closure…good OR bad.

But you get nothing. You have officially been ghosted.

How does that make you feel?

Personally speaking, I would accept it for what it is and move on with my life.

But I will not forget.

Two years from now when that company reaches out to me, they better be prepared to get “The Heisman.”

As a recruiter or hiring manager, all candidates with whom you engage in any sort of interview activity are owed the professional courtesy of communication.  We all LOVE giving people great news, but delivering not so great news is a buzz kill…but you’ve got to put on your big boy pants and do the deed. Doing so at least keeps the door open for future opportunities to successfully recruit them. Ghost a candidate though, and they very well may become invisible to you and your firm forever, and that could be costly in the long-term.

Don’t make that mistake.

No Comments

Post A Comment