Ghosted: Why Candidates Do It Too (And How We Stop It)

Ghosted: Why Candidates Do It Too (And How We Stop It)

Everyone loves banging on about employers who ghost candidates, and fair enough, it happens far too often and it's rubbish behaviour. But let's have the conversation nobody in recruitment wants to have out loud. Candidates ghost too. A lot. And most of the reasons are more understandable than you'd think.

The numbers are stark. Over six in ten job seekers have been ghosted after an interview, and on the flip side, three in four recruiters say they've been ghosted by a candidate. It's not one-sided villainy, it's a broken system where everyone's learned that silence is easier than an awkward conversation.

So why do candidates disappear mid-process? The top reason isn't rudeness, it's speed. Someone else moved faster and made an offer while your process was still "with the hiring manager, should hear back soon." That's not the candidate being flaky, that's the process losing on time, not on merit. Add in the sheer volume of applications people are sending out right now, the exhaustion of managing five interview processes at once, and the very human fear of an awkward "actually I've gone another way" call, and ghosting starts to make a lot more sense.

So what actually stops it? Hint - it's not more chasing emails.

It's building an actual relationship instead of a transaction. Tell candidates exactly when they'll hear from you, and stick to it. Ring them, don't just email, a two minute call at the right moment does more than three chasers in their inbox.

Ask them honestly where else they're interviewing and what timeline they're working to, most people will tell you if you ask like a human being instead of a form. And if you're the one who has to say no, say it. A short, kind rejection call builds more loyalty and referrals than silence ever will.

Ghosting isn't a candidate problem or a recruiter problem. It's a communication problem, and communication is the one thing we can actually fix.