I used to think it was just recruiters who were “ghosted” on a regular basis but sadly, not so! Here was a response to my April 2021 post regarding employee referrals and the need to acknowledge them with the employee and the referred candidate: “communication of any sort to any candidate is becoming a rare thing these days… Blows me away…my employer (national company 60,000+ employees) is horrible about keeping any candidate informed about their progress (or lack thereof) in the hiring process. It gets worse all the time. What has happened to common courtesy?? Sad.”

It isn’t just employers who ghost either. Candidates do it also. Here was my recent experience (names changed to protect the guilty): John is insistent I must meet him before deciding whether to present him to Bill the hiring manager for an interview. I meet him and appreciate his enthusiasm for the role and agree to encourage Bill to interview him. After the Zoom interview Bill reports: “quite possibly the worst interview I’ve ever had, one and two word answers to questions meant to spark discussion. It continued even after I mentioned I really needed him to expand his answers a little more.” You guessed it, John hasn’t returned my three phone calls or two texts and an email. I’m pretty certain my client Bill will always remember the name and not ever interview John in the future. I am completely certain I’ll remember the name and won’t be representing John in the future.

Employers and candidates – I’d love to hear your experiences and especially what employers are doing to improve the candidate experience.