What is Candidate Ghosting?
Candidate ghosting is when a candidate unexpectedly stops communicating with a potential employer during the hiring process.
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Understanding Candidate Ghosting
The term “ghosting,” meaning suddenly stopping all communication with someone, originates from dating culture but has been adopted professionally. Candidate ghosting has become increasingly common in today’s job market. Unfortunately, technology has empowered individuals to feel comfortable dropping out of the hiring process by stopping further communication without any notification or explanation.
Candidate ghosting can happen for any number of reasons. In competitive job markets, candidates might receive multiple offers and choose one without informing the other companies. Sometimes, slow communication from a prospective employer can provide a poor candidate experience during the recruitment process, making them more likely to disengage.
Impact of Candidate Ghosting
Candidate ghosting is not just a mere inconvenience, it's a significant disruption that slows down the hiring process, leading to increased time to fill. It also results in wasted resources, as recruiters and hiring managers invest time and effort into getting to know candidates who eventually disengage. Moreover, frequent candidate disappearances may indicate deeper issues in the recruitment process that need to be addressed.
Candidate ghosting slows hiring and often signals deeper recruitment issues.
How to Address Candidate Ghosting
It isn’t easy to avoid “ghosts” in any modern communication context, but there are a few strategies organizations can implement to ensure a positive candidate experience that disincentivizes it. First, maintain clear, consistent communication throughout the hiring process. Effectively set and meet expectations and provide regular updates about candidate status.
Another key strategy to reduce candidate ghosting is to personalize interactions with candidates. Building strong connections with prospects can increase their commitment to the hiring process and reduce the likelihood of them disengaging. Finally, gathering feedback from candidates who left the hiring process can provide valuable insights into the reasons behind ghosting, helping organizations to improve their recruitment processes.
Improve communication and personalize interactions to reduce candidate ghosting.
Best Practices for Small Businesses
Small businesses can avoid candidate ghosting by working to create an excellent candidate experience. Create an engaging recruitment process by communicating regularly and providing clear timelines and expectations. Small businesses can also use technology like ATSs to streamline applications.
Small businesses should not just consider, but actively prioritize creating an exceptional candidate experience. This is a key strategy to avoid candidate ghosting and ensure a smooth recruitment process.
Candidate ghosting is an increasingly common issue in today’s job market. It occurs when candidates abruptly stop communicating during the hiring process. It indicates a poor hiring experience and leads to increased resource use and time-to-fill for open roles. Understanding the reasons behind candidate ghosting and implementing strategies can help organizations minimize its impact. Small businesses should make communications clear and personalized to encourage engagement in the recruitment process. They can also use technology to streamline candidate interactions.
About the author
Casey Pontrelli
Casey Pontrelli is a multi-talented professional with a background in content creation, branding, and social media marketing. Whether writing for a newspaper, eCommerce website, B2B startup, or a marketing agency, she has taken her strong background in journalism and turned her focus to SEO and content marketing. She’s written about everything from boutiques to cars to small businesses, and enjoys most when she knows her writing has had an impact. When she’s not writing up a storm or creating attention-grabbing social media posts, Casey enjoys hanging out with her partner and three cats, Eddy, Larry, and Marcus, going on long walks in the Green Belt, and, predictably, reading.
