You get a promising application from a candidate who could well become your next employee. You reach out, learn more, and then invite them to progress to the next stage. Then, poof! The candidate disappears, and you are back at square one.
Ghosting is a term usually reserved for personal relationships, but it happens at work, too. Candidates or new employees increasingly become no-shows, and they never pick up the phone again.
Why does this happen? No one is sure, but here are a few tips for preventing candidates from disappearing into thin air.
Use an Engaging Recruiting Process
People ghost when a relationship doesn’t interest them or doesn’t seem worth their time. In the employment context, they ghost opportunities or new roles that don’t actively engage them.
An engaging recruitment process offers a good candidate experience and is worth the effort. That means picking up the phone, checking in regularly, and gauging their temperature rather than relying on automated emails.
When you have a connection, you’ll have a better outcome. They may still leave for another opportunity, but they’ll be less likely to ghost. Plus, it will give those candidates who you ultimately passed on a good experience, and they may be open to future opportunities.
Write Accurate Job Listings
A candidate’s nightmare is applying for a job that looks perfect for their skills and goals, and making it to Day One only to find their job is nothing like the role they interviewed for.
Writing accurate job listings is one of the best ways to prevent candidates from ghosting you — and attracting a better crop of candidates in the first place.
Make the title specific and provide an outline of their core responsibilities within the role. Add asides for potential opportunities, but don’t focus on them. Avoid superlatives and be realistic. And don’t ask for more than any one candidate can reasonably give.
When an interview or first day comes with surprises, it will send candidates running for the hills.
Prevent Your Best Candidates from Turning into Ghosts
Ghosting happens when candidates aren’t interested in or engaged with the role. They often think you’ll miss them as much as they’ll miss you — which usually means not at all.
Preventing candidates’ disappearance requires you to be honest, authentic, and engaging from the first point of contact to their three-month performance review.
Are you looking to hire ASAP?
Energi Personnel is placing candidates in West Texas, Colorado, and New Mexico right now. Get in touch to learn more about our process or to request an employee.
