Weekly Newsletter Vol. 8 - October 25, 2023

Generating your Lead Story…

Ghosting Candidates in the Hiring Process

We’ve all read history books about how letters were passed across the globe by horseback. Broken stories shared throughout history that would take months and years going back and forth fill our literature with detailed memories of our ancestors and their ancestors.

It wasn’t until 1971 that email was first introduced and it was 21 years later that the first text message was sent.

Technology in 2023 is now at our fingertips. We can call, email, text, voice note and video chat. Most of us are in work Slack groups or on email chains we can’t seem to get off of.

Every social media platform has a direct message option, making it almost too easy to get a hold of people these days. Yet, for some reason we can’t escape the ever-growing topic surrounding “Ghosting” each other.

While Ghosting isn’t a new phenomenon, it’s become increasingly common in not just our personal lives, but in our professional lives as well. Unfortunately, Ghosting is occurring during the hiring process and while this certainly happens on both sides, today we’re focusing on the candidates’ perspective.

So, what does it mean for candidates to be Ghosted in the hiring process?

It means that they no longer receive communication from a hiring manager/recruiter who previously expressed an interest in their application or interviewed them.

It’s fairly safe to say that if you never hear back from the employer again then you were ghosted. But, some candidates may feel they are being ghosted after not hearing back only after a week or two. Therefore, the timeframe in which a candidate perceives they are being ghosted may be subjective, and the term may be subsequently overused or misused.

During this time period of assumed Ghosting, there could be many reasons why an employer may be ghosting a candidate. Some common reasons include the role being filled, the role no longer being filled, the hiring manager/recruiter has left the company, or there are a high volume of candidates and they are delayed in their response time.

Nevertheless, getting back to candidates is not just right on a professional level, but on a human level. We as individuals should always strive to treat others how we would want to be treated. And while communicating with candidates during the hiring process may be time-consuming, doing the right thing is never the wrong thing.

3 Reasons Not to Ghost a Candidate:

1. It discourages those candidates from considering future opportunities with your company. If the first impression of you and your organization is your lack of communication, usually it’s a sign that they won’t have intentions of giving you a second chance.

2. It hinders your ability to attract top talent and grow your talent pool as word gets out. Information spreads like wildfire these days on social media. Don’t be the company that goes viral over bad hiring practices.

3. It tells current employees that if you can’t get back to candidates in a timely manner, then you likely will end up treating them similarly when they need feedback. Setting expectations early on that your company shows respectful lines of communication with people in and outside of your organization.

Shortlisted Tips & Trends

Trick-or-Treat Edition of: Say this, Not that.

Sometimes you get more with sugar, but in some cases in the interview process, being a bit too sweet may unintentionally imply that you’re unsure of yourself. Making bold, definitive statements helps exude confidence and when you’re more confident in what you’re saying, others will subsequently be more confident in what you’re saying too.

Try swapping these ‘tricky’ statements for the following ‘treats’ and you’ll see that changing the way you approach the conversation yields to sweet results:

1. Trick: Is that okay?

   Treat: Let me know your thoughts.

2. Trick: I think we should…

   Treat: We should…

3. Trick: I’m just following up on…

   Treat: What did you think of…?

4. Trick: I’m not sure if I provided everything you need.

   Treat: Please let me know if you require further information.

5. Trick: I’m sorry but I think I’m unavailable at that time, can we reschedule for another day?

   Treat: I’m unavailable tomorrow, but how’s Friday at 11 AM?

You can’t make this stuff up

_{(*Disclaimer: these are real experiences provided by RME's community of job seekers and hiring managers)}

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