Ghosting is a practice of interviewing candidates and not informing them about the result of the recruitment interview, maintaining complete silence. In other words, ghosting refers to completely ignoring the candidates once they have been interviewed. Ghosting affects employee recruitment in a very negative way.
For quite some time now, employers and recruiters have been indulging in ghosting applicants. Earlier the effects of ghosting were not felt as the unemployment rates were high and the available pool of candidates was large. Things have been taking a turn in the opposite direction in the recruitment arena. Qualified candidates are difficult to find now and recruiters and employers are facing ghosting in reverse. Candidates are refusing to return calls and have started to leave without notice to the company. Companies that have been ghosting applicants for long now face the same disrespect from candidates that they were subjecting them to.
Ghosting affects employee recruitment in a bad way it is true, but its effects are far more pernicious than that. Recruiters and companies talk to a great number of applicants routinely for hiring. When recruiters indulge in ghosting candidates, they run the risk of getting bad publicity and unsavory reputation. For poorly treated candidates will tell their friends and colleagues about it. Recruiters thus lose out on future candidates in a big way.
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More importantly, when companies and recruiters interview applicants for a particular position, they may not hire everyone so interviewed. However, a lot of candidates interviewed thus would perhaps fit some other job description and position in the company in the near future. It is important to treat candidates with respect therefore from the larger point of talent acquisition and retention. If employers ghost such applicants, they are essentially depriving themselves of a wider pool of talent.
A very good system of getting good candidates is the internal referrals. Employees stop referring others in companies that ghost applicants.
Considering ghosting leads to so many negative recruiting issues, why do companies do it? An easy excuse is lack of time. Talent acquisition teams are busy and have no time. Companies need to pay attention and this attitude needs to change. Respect shown to candidates by getting back to them is the right thing to do. There should be no compromise, as it is ethically and morally incumbent on recruiters to do so. A little time spent in apprising candidates about their interviews will not only result in better reputation and greater pool of prospective candidates but will save time as well. For the talent acquisition teams will have a ready pool of satisfied candidates to choose from.
There are solutions at hand. Talent acquisition teams must rely on technology for interviews to save time spent on administrative work. This will allow them to concentrate on relationship building with candidates. This is important because even if they do not get recruited, these candidates will refer the company to their friends. They themselves will apply again in future for other positions as well. Another solution is to improve the candidate experience such as using technology that candidates find user friendly, for example mobile friendly applications.
Ghosting affects recruitment adversely. Ultimately the solution lies in treating candidates with respect and professionalism. Not only is it the ethical thing to do, it impacts the business in a positive way too. Companies get better reputation in the market which results in getting better candidates. Talent acquisition and retention becomes easier as employee satisfaction levels rise.
References:
- Ghosting job candidates can destroy our reputation. Suzanne Lucas. 13 April 2019
- Smart hiring decisions: stop ghosting candidates. Melissa Blazejak . 22 Aug 2019.
