Recruiting takes time. It can take months to recruit, engage, and hire the right person for a job vacancy. Occasionally, as you move forward through the hiring process, some candidates drop out. Maybe they’ve received a better offer, they’ve decided to stay with their current employer, or they’ve decided your company is not the right fit for them. Fair enough.
When this happens, it’s commonplace for candidates to notify you they are no longer interested in pursuing the opportunity – until now.
There has been a large increase in companies getting ghosted by candidates. This is an alarming trend for hiring companies. You invest a lot of time and resources into the hiring process and for candidates to drop out it could significantly cost your organization.
What Is Ghosting?
While the term originally referred to dating, it’s defined as a person cutting off all communication with no warning. They will ignore all calls, emails, texts, social media messages and communications.
When a hiring company is ghosted, it puts them in a compromising situation. It can be difficult to tell if a candidate is doing it purposely, and it can be difficult to determine if you should move on from the candidate, especially if you believed them to be the right candidate for the job.
4 Ways to Reduce the Odds of Getting Ghosted by Job Candidates
Obviously, your organization doesn’t want to be ghosted by a candidate. Here are some ways to reduce the odds of it happening to you:
- Communication is essential: Companies have a tendency to poorly communicate with candidates. Too many candidates have applied for jobs and received no response. It’s vital for companies to have a strong process to communicate with candidates – all of them.
- Follow up if a candidate goes quiet: People get busy. But there is a difference between being busy and going quiet. Have a process in place to follow up with candidates who don’t initially respond to your communications.
- Keep them updated about their status: Each time a candidate’s status changes, provide them with an update. Send an email to recognize receipt of their application and make it known if you are interested in them. Provide them with timelines and an overview of your hiring process so they are not kept in the dark about next steps.
- Speed up the hiring process: Candidates are not going to wait forever for you to get back to them. They’ll pursue other opportunities. Speeding up the hiring process will keep candidates more engaged and less likely to ghost you.
More Recruiting Advice
Hire Better: Focus on Transferable Skills Over Experience When Hiring
Why You Should Consider Non-Traditional Job Candidates
Hire Better: Improve How You Reference Check
5 Ways to Always Be on the Lookout for Fresh Talent
IQ PARTNERS is an Executive Search & Recruitment firm supporting clients across the country. We help companies hire better, hire less & retain more. We have specialist teams of recruiters in Executive Search / Board & C-Suite, Technology, Media, Digital & Marketing, Accounting & Finance, Financial Services & Insurance, Cannabis, Startup, Data Science, Consumer, eCommerce & Retail, Operations & HR, Manufacturing, Supply Chain & Engineering, Legal & Professional Services, Pharmaceutical & Life Sciences, Non-Profit & Sustainability, and Sales. IQ PARTNERS has its head office in Toronto and operates internationally via Aravati Global Search Network. Click here to view current job openings and to register with us.
