Pulling Back the Curtain on Recruiter Ghosting

The job hunt can be arduous, exhausting, and even maddening at times. 

The range of emotions evoked throughout the job hunt can fluctuate daily. One day, you're elated - that dream company finally noticed your application. A few days later, you experience sheer frustration when you get “ghosted” - either never hearing back after you submitted an application or, even worse, never hearing back from the recruiter after you interviewed. Unfortunately, this is becoming increasingly common.

According to Layoffs.fyi, the number of new job seekers in the U.S. is well over 194,000 - and that’s just tallying the recent tech layoffs starting in 2023! With hundreds of thousands searching and much fewer job openings out there, there is an immense amount of pressure on talent acquisition teams and hiring teams to get it right. Hiring teams are being asked to do more work with fewer resources, which can lead to a delay in getting back to applicants or even candidates. Talent teams were also heavily affected by the recent tech layoffs. 

Did you know? Many companies downsized about 50% of their recruiters compared to approximately 10% of their software engineers and 12% of product and design staff.  (Bindley - Wall Street Journal, 2022)

Pressure in the job market

When a job is posted, recruiters are often seeing hundreds of candidates apply within just a few hours. When only 10-15 applicants can even be selected to interview with a recruiter, it takes significant time to whittle down the resumes (most often manually.) And the reality is that the number of applicants skyrockets for roles with popular employers, fields that are saturated, or those offering remote/hybrid opportunities.

There is immense pressure to “get it right”. With so many people on the job market and so few open roles, hiring managers are feeling this pressure and it can cause them to take longer than usual to respond to applicants or even cause them to take longer to provide feedback to recruiters. 

But why are candidates getting ghosted?

Ghosting and/or communication delays can happen for myriad reasons:

• Recruiters understand how much this opportunity might mean to you and want to ensure disappointing news is delivered with sensitivity and transparency
• Recruiters want to share substantive feedback and they have not yet received it from the hiring team
• Recruiters get scared too. Delivering feedback can be tough, especially in moments when there were multiple great candidates and not a ton of differences or "things you could've done better." 
• Things fall through the cracks. Check in with your recruiter and remember their team was likely reduced in size at the same time as the applicant pools grew 10x for their roles.

According to CareerPlug’s 2023 Candidate Experience Report, 45% of candidates have been ghosted by a potential employer and 36% of candidates have ghosted an employer.

Experience Matters. If we ghosted you, we want to hear about it. The Talent team at Medallia isn’t perfect, but we are actively working to improve our metrics and measure those improvements. So how do we do it at Medallia?

• We currently do that by sending candidate feedback surveys at various points throughout the hiring process.
• In addition, every Medallia recruiter has a link in their email signature to a feedback survey that can be used by our candidates at any point in the process.

How can we make this process less spooky? Teamwork! Candidates and Talent Acquisition professionals are ultimately working towards the same goal - to fill that open role. 

Job seekers should:

1. Be methodical: Do your homework and try to only apply to roles where you (and this is where you look inward with honesty) really align with the role, responsibilities, and experiences outlined in the job description (a little stretch for upward growth is totally fine!)
2. Be patient: Reference what I shared above. There can be a lot that goes into the recruiting process to ensure that it is fair and equitable, that we are competency-focused, and can provide relevant" feedback to candidates. More applicants means more pressure and more on our plates. It could also require that recruiters take a little extra time to be in touch. But also…
3. Be persistent: If you truly believe this is the right role for you and you are the right candidate for the role, don’t sit around and wait for your resume to be reviewed or for your recruiter to get back to you. Find ways to engage with companies of interest and people at those companies. If you are already engaged in an interview process, remember to give your recruiter a couple of days, and then don’t be afraid to pick up the phone and check in. We won’t be mad!

Recruiters should:

1. Be communicative: It can be incredibly time-consuming to share an "update-less update" with all of your candidates in the interview process, but do it anyway if you have to. Your candidates deserve it and it will provide them with a much better experience throughout the process. Even if they don’t get the job, they could still appreciate that the process was smooth and their recruiter was transparent and (over-)communicative. That goes a long way toward how they talk about your company in the future. One of our goals at Medallia is to have the candidates who DON’T get the job refer their network to other open positions. Providing an excellent experience is one way you reach that goal.
2. Be persistent: Set aside dedicated time in your day to review new applications. I know sometimes this is easier said than done, but it’s imperative. Take an “Inbox-zero” approach to your ATS (applicant tracking system) so that you are moving through the process in as close to “real-time” as possible. Push your hiring managers and interview teams to provide feedback in a timely manner. We ask our interviewers to, ideally, do it within 15 minutes of the interview ending (it’s when the information is the freshest in their mind) but request that feedback is submitted no later than 24 hours after the conversation. Hold them accountable!
3. Be thoughtful: Put yourself in the candidate's shoes. We’ve all been there. The job hunt can elicit a full spectrum of emotions, so be patient with candidates. If they are frustrated or impatient, remember why. Work quickly, be transparent, and when you say you’ll be in touch, just do it! Even if you don’t have any real updates to share. It’s better than ghosting!

Above all, exhibiting empathy and thoughtfulness should guide this process. While ghosting is never acceptable (let’s shout this from the rooftops!), fostering teamwork and open communication can make the job hunt much more tolerable (dare I even say enjoyable?) for everyone involved. Positive and constructive feedback is crucial for continuous improvement in the hiring process. Experience matters.