Why Candidates and Employers Must Stop Ghosting Each Other

One of the most common complaints about most recruitment processes relates to the lack of communication by the stakeholders involved in the selection process. The issues often involve all stakeholders including employers, candidates and third parties such as recruiters who often appear to “go up in smoke” during the advanced stages of the exercise.

This has always been a potential issue with hirers of staff as they incorrectly believe they hold the upper hand in the exercise and cite other pressing influences such as my real job, that is what they are measured on is often a lot more than team numbers, an internal candidate, employment freeze and many other reasons to not arrange that next phase with some urgency. The likely outcome is significantly negatively affected by this type of employer behavior.

We implore hirers to put themselves on the other side of the table in terms of whether they would like to be treated in the same he way they are treating others.

In recent times candidates have become very comfortable simply leaving a recruitment process for no apparent reason. They basically turn into ghosts at an advanced stage, in some cases after having got to the point of actually accepting a role. Some “candidates” are saying they were not really looking, they were checking their relative value in the marketplace, or they were offered multiple roles or unexpectedly counter offered. So, they just got on with life without telling anyone.

That’s ok, Isn’t it?  

They say

No, it’s not! 

Again, reverse the roles and see whether you would like to be treated in this way

Never burn a bridge if you do not need to. You just don’t know when people you deal and work with today will pop up again in your future, potentially in important relationships.

So, if we are in a situation where the hirer is not prioritizing the recruitment process and/or the candidate(s) have ghosted the process, what chance has a third party such as a recruiter got of pulling it all successfully together?

Very little in fact and what normally happens is that they get the blame for the process falling over and all stakeholders walk away disgruntled.

The underlying critical success factor is clear communication and a respect for others in the process. Regardless of your role, make sure that you clearly think through what you are looking to achieve, create a timeline and share it with all parties. Be clear on what your end game looks like. If variables such as other roles a promotion, headcount freeze etc. come up let those affected know. Make a physical note of what you are looking for at the start ,which you can refer to throughout the process because as emotion creeps into the process and you get closer to decision time it can become hard to be objective.

Whether you are hirer, candidate or advisor create a map of what needs to happen, in what order and an ideal timeline, compare it with the other participants. You must ensure you treat the various parties the way you would like to be treated.

If you would like to hear more about how this process can work extremely well either as a client, candidate or recruiter running your own business as a Tanner Menzies Licensee, give us a call for a chat. We are good at making the recruitment process work very well.

To know more , please call Peter Gleeson 0419367569, Ian Stacy 0417478229 or

Peter Tanner 0419826637 or visit tannermenzies.net.au