The reputation of any staffing firm can be severely undermined when they fail to respond to those candidates who were unsuccessful in their application and surplus to requirements. And it is a practice that is still, sadly, far too common. For some, therefore, it might seem that the growing trend in candidate ghosting is simply “chickens coming home to roost.”

Candidate ghosting refers to the unexpected disappearance of a candidate from the recruitment process, which could include not responding after an initial screening, not showing up for a scheduled interview or even failing to appear on the first day of a new job. And the trend is growing in a tight labour market where candidates, with plenty of opportunities available to them, can afford to be both picky and promiscuous.

Perhaps online interactions are partly to blame for this. It’s sadly easier to let your manners slip when you’re engaged in an impersonal online relationship rather than a face-to-face one. People are naturally inclined to avoid awkward conversations like declining an interview or a job offer. So, when you’ve only been communicating with an email address or a chatbot, why bother to have the conversation at all?

“I believe in ghosts, but we create them. We haunt ourselves.”

Laurie Halse Anderson, Wintergirls

Established trend. Those hoping that this may be a postpandemic aberration are likely to be disappointed, as it was rising in prevalence prior to the pandemic and long-term labour market demographics point firmly in only one direction. It seems like every sector in every country is suffering from the blight of skills shortages. Power has shifted from those offering work to those doing it, and it’s going to be that way for the foreseeable future. So, the sooner you get used to it, the better.

According to a report published by job aggregator Indeed earlier this year, 28% of candidates had ghosted a prospective employer over the prior year, up from 18% in 2019. The numbers are even more concerning from the employer side, with 76% reporting that they had been ghosted in the prior year and 57% saying that it is more common than ever before.

An ounce of prevention. If you want to avoid your business being haunted by ghost candidates, there is a fix for it and it is a fix that should have been an established part of everyone’s candidate acquisition strategy from the beginning: Be nice to people — be considerate and be communicative.

At the same time, many are also realising that speed helps. Your rigorous hiring process may well be an exemplar of best practices but your candidate has happened upon three other interesting job opportunities while you have been dotting your i’s and crossing your t’s.

Its own cure. While technology may be partly to blame for the deterioration in relationships between the candidate and the recruiter, we are fortunate enough to be operating at a moment in time where new talent acquisition technology is available to counter flawed human interactions. Far from being the cause of candidate ghosting, technology used judiciously can be deployed to exorcise it.

As a supplement to your human interactions (rather than a replacement for them) products such as texting/email technology, recruitment chatbots, engagement platforms and interviewing platforms can be valuable candidate engagement tools to help maintain ongoing communication throughout the recruitment process.

Candidate care. A focus on candidate care will be a key differentiator in tomorrow’s staffing industry — not only through the engagement process but at the end of it as well. In a highly competitive recruitment market, valuable candidates who didn’t quite make the cut (so-called “silver medallists”) must be carefully groomed as part of a structured outreach program and cannot be allowed to slip into an ATS black hole — especially when you’ve already spent considerable time, resources and money to evaluate them.

Candidate ghosting may be a source of increasing frustration but, in some ways, perhaps it’s a better outcome than someone who is unreliable, inconsiderate and uncommunicative actually starting to work for you. Ultimately, such phantasms are better outside your organisation than within it.