Ghosted by Recruiter? Deal with Professional Ghosting & Attain Closure!
Have you been recently interviewed by the companies and since then you are waiting to hear from recruiters? And to no avail! Well, if that’s the case you are being professionally ghosted. From ignored e-mails to total avoidance, being ghosted by the recruiter is not a pleasant experience. But you do not have to let it define you. Read on know more on signs and reasons of professional ghosting and how you can effectively deal with it while keeping yourself pushing forward.
Have you recently been interviewed by the companies and still awaiting for basic updates on your job application? Do you often find yourself running after the recruitment agency about your recent interviews but to no avail? Are you are tired of writing into the black hole of companies and their HR department and never hear back from them? Do you still remember that elated feeling of nailing the interview and now you feel abandoned? To your dismay, whenever you check your email, all you get back is some robotic automated responses and that’s it? Well, if that’s the case you are professionally ghosted by the recruiter!
What is Professional Ghosting anyway?
In this digital age, it is not uncommon to end a relationship suddenly by cutting off all communication from someone, which is often painful as it keeps the other person clueless to what has actually happened! All of this is not more hurtful as ghosting- which means simply that the other person has stopped responding to all communication. And I am sure you would have one point in your life have acted as a ghoster or a ghostee or both. Sadly, this is not only limited to the dating world anymore. This practise of ghosting has seeped into the talent acquisition world as well and is commonly called as recruiter ghosting. People on job hunt are now at equal risk of being ghosted by the recruiters.
Being ghosted doesn’t mean that you applied for a job, and then never heard back from them. This happens to everyone. But this rather means you applied to the job, assumed that your interview went well and are expecting a good news or a round two soon. And then nothing- no calls, no texts, no e-mails and all you get is a dead silence in response to your follow-ups. You are ghosted after Interview! When a prospective employer fails to respond to candidates after a round of seemingly promising interview it leads to the phenomenon of professional ghosting.
Professional ghosting is widely used in recruitment context but is also applicable to other corporate arenas like for example a marketing consultant being ghosted by the company when a final invoice is being raised in lieu of marketing consultancy services provided. Or a social media influencer being ghosted by a start-up brand after raising the invoice for successful brand endorsement by the influencer on social media platforms.
However, the other way round is equally true. A candidate may be interviewed by more than two companies and may be selected by all of them for joining. She may finally choose one of the prospective employer and doesn’t inform other companies about her decision. Recruiters sometimes refer such candidates as ‘ghost candidates’. This form of professional ghosting may result in what is called as a “career suicide”, as it often leads the recruiters with a lifelong bitter taste in mouth. Though the candidate didn’t choose them for now, the recruiters might interview or work with her in future. Leaving the other professional hanging, will work against her.
How Recruiter Ghosting is affecting you?
Getting a new job, especially during economic downturn or pandemic like COVID-19 or even otherwise, is no joke. You research the role and the company, customize your resume and cover letter accordingly. Submit your applications at various companies in anticipation of getting a positive reply. People easily spend 6 months on the process of job search before they get some promising lead. But being ghosted after a successful interview can be really devastating as it jeopardizes the mental health of job seekers. It can even become a major cause of your stress.
Read More: Reinventing Yourself for Your Career & Job during The Time of Coronavirus- New Skills to Learn!
Subtle hints indicating that recruiter is ghosting you or you are being professionally ghosted?
1. The super responsive recruiter becomes a slow paced turtle
If you feel your super responsive recruiter has become hard to reach out of sudden or has become too slow in communicating with you, you are probably being ghosted.
A recruiter only makes money, when they close the deal. If your recruiter gets an hint that you are not a right fit for the role, they channelize all their energy on potential candidates and focus more on them, abandoning you in the process.
2. The recruiter is always busy with some meeting
Whenever you call your recruiter, she is always busy in one meeting or the other. And she goes darker by the day without any sort of explanation. So, if you are dealing with someone who has now shifted into a complete “unavailable mode”, it is a sign that she is no longer interested.
3. The recruiter is always having network issues
“Hello…Hello…Hello! I cannot hear you…call me later”. Meanwhile you can hear them crystal clear all the time! If your recruiter is always having some sort of bad connection or network, she is clearly avoiding you.
4. The recruiter is contradictory on social media
Social media can provide you a hard evidence that the recruiter does not want to talk to you anymore. After so many emails, texts and calls all you get is that she is not keeping well. But her Instagram, Facebook & Twitter speak otherwise. You discover that she is quite well and active on social media & even posting selfies with friends. Stop being too naïve to believe in this fabricated story and move on.
5. The recruiter always has mini-emergencies to attend to
If you often find your recruiter, always throwing some reasons to end the meeting in garb of attending to something urgent and it always seems like a faux emergency or mini-emergency, then the chances are that she is avoiding you. Get these subtle hints, find someone more real and look for other opportunities.
Also Read: 6 Types of Toxic People to Avoid in Your Life- Spot, Stop and Cut-off
Why does it happen- reasons you are ghosted by recruiter ?
Professional ghosting is far more common & prevalent these days, than you think. The psyche behind this behaviour is to ‘avoid being the devil, or a bad person or a bad company’ & to avoid confrontation. The deep routed idea is that recruiters do not want to share the unpleasant news or be a bearer of disappointing message as the people they are dealing with are potential customers and may fit another role in some other company in future. As they may eventually add to their bottom-line they do not want a bad equation with the potential candidates.
Professionals who rely more on technology and avoid face to face interactions in the process are more often susceptible to professional ghosting.
The most common reason why you are repeatedly ghosted by recruiter:
1. Opening is no more a priority
There is a shift in priority with respect to a position or job opening, which was important till yesterday is no more relevant now or is no more important.
2. Know devils are better than the unknown ones
Like it or not companies always prioritize referrals over external applicants. Though companies like to interview external candidates, they also have an influx of internal referrals. Even though, you performed well in the interview and are hopeful, the recruiter may be in the process of finalizing an internal referral instead.
3. Your timing is unfortunately not right
Your recruiter, to whom you spoke to initially, may be either on long vacation or no more associated with the company concerned.
4. Your recruiter is the culprit
Your recruiter with whom you have been working with, might not be passing on the correct information to you and is too shy to break the news.
5. Recruiters do not have time
The main reason you are ghosted by recruiter and they do not write back is that they do not have enough time for Candidate Relationship Management. HR department is still considered as an enabler function and is not taken as a direct contributor to the revenue stream. Hence in many organizations HR department often understaffed. The main metrics of HR department in majority of organisations are cost of hiring, time of hiring, quality of hiring, talent pipeline with respect to staffing and recruitment sub function. Also talent management sub function do not have any metric called candidate or potential candidate management. Therefore, if you do not hear from them, do not fret and move on.
Always remember, recruiters are not incentivized to give candidates feedback about where they messed up in their application or interviews. It is not part of their job and they are already overwhelmed with regular recruitments and resume screenings. One recruiter quoted:
“I personally tried to close the loop by calling up candidates — until one experience stopped me. A one minute call to provide closure turned into a thirty minute debate-and-counselling session”.
It is always advisable to look into your own actions before commenting something like “ recruiter ghosted me “. Your actions may sometime may not go well with recruiters and in the process you are ghosted by recruiter.
1. Bombarding the recruiter with follow-up
After a promising interview, you got too excited to think and bombarded the recruiter with follow-ups on all possible channels, without even realizing it. This might bug the recruiter and lead to probable ghosting.
2. Taking a passive approach
Recruiters respect and want candidates who show a consistent desire for the opening and show an active participation rather than showing a passive approach towards the job opportunity. For example if a recruiter tells you that they will send an additional assessment test as a next step on email, as a candidate you should reply to that mail showing your keenness to take this forward rather than waiting for recruiters mail (assuming they will send it) and doing nothing. While being ghosted is never a good feeling, you’re not at a loss. If you still feel like a job is the right opportunity for you, ask yourself, “How can I become a priority again?”
How to avoid being ghosted by recruiter and how to go about it?
Although being ghosted by the recruiter is not a pleasant experience, you do not have to let it define you! Professional ghosting may feel a rough experience, and it may not be your fault. There are always actions which you can take to make sure you are not ghosted by recruiter again. All you need to do is play your cards right. You may have already tried one or more of the tactics but it’s worth giving it a re-try with a different perspective.
1. Follow up consistently
The best thing you can do is follow up with the recruiter and have some patience. Send one mail at regular frequency like once a week for 4 weeks. Approach them in e-mails in most dignified way by being polite and gracious while telling then how you are so much invested in this quest of finding a right opportunity like this. Be thoughtful in your mail and continue to express your interest in the position and ask them if it is still open. You can study the new trends in the industry and very precisely write it in mail and assure them of your immediate contribution as soon as you join in. Be very specific and relevant to the position, role and the company in your correspondence. Also you can ask for an update on status of requisition and ask them if it is still open, close or on hold. Most of the recruiters would not be able to ignore this kind of follow up.
Worst of all, you will be told that position is no more vacant. But at least, you heard from them and received a final verdict and can finally move on.
2. Connect with non-traditional methods
If your attempts to connect with the recruiter via e-mails is not working, there is no harm reaching out to them via different channels. Polite DMs on linked-in or WhatsApp can work. Be sure not to bombard the same person on all the channels you find. One new follow-up on a new channel is enough.
Also if you happen to find out recruiter’s personal e-mail address, or phone number do not invade their private lives with your job enquiry. It will certainly not go well with them.
You may also make use of postal services like India post and send the recruiter or the company in name of hiring manager a hard copy of letter. You may also include your resume. All employees open letters sent on their business address. So, the chances of your letter being read are quite high and so are the chances of getting back a reply.
You can also pick up the phone and connect with the hiring manger via landline extension. This will increase the probability of you getting the answer directly by the horse’s mouth.
3. Build new contacts
If the role you applied is still being flashed on recruiter’s portal, it is a clear indication that position is still open. You may consider reaching out to another recruiter, the company directly, or even the hiring manager. Try to find out the hiring manger’s work e-mail address and email your follow-up directly to them. This will help you build another relationship within the company. You can find out what is happening with the position and if it is still open, your interview didn’t go as well as you thought and that it’s time to move on and channelize your energy for some other position.
But if you are ghosted over and over again, the it is the time to reflect back and find out what you may be doing wrong:
4. Internalise and introspect
Assess you own short comings. Find out where you are probably going wrong. At the same time make sure to introspect on other aspects like
- If you applied for the right role, or right company?
- Are you right fit for the role or culture of the company?
- Are you overqualified or underqualified for the position applied for?
Answer these questions before anything else.
5. Speak the same language as the recruiter
Talk to your contacts in the prospective company or people in same roles and find out skills, metrics and competency the employer is looking for in that role. Do your own effective research and speak the language recruiter wants you to speak.
6. Seek personalized feedback
Seek a personalized feedback from a trusted source, who can peep into your professional journey, advise, guide and motivate you. Have that person follow-up with you and hold a mock-interview with an objective to fine tune your professional dents.
The way forward with professional ghosting?
Yes, there is some hope. The HR industry per say has evolved over time and are even considering active use of new initiative called- Candidate Relationships Management (The New CRM). The Talent acquisition teams are working more hard in convincing the top management, about the value and benefits of the new CRM. If such a practise is implemented, you may expect emails or reply backs on the status of your job application & subsequent interview as a part of responsible recruitment initiative. You can also expect to have a dedicated Candidate Relationship Manager, managing long term responsible relations with potential candidates in an attempt to keep the company fresh in your mind while keeping you posted with new jobs & roles. Hopefully, top executives will start seeing value in this still nascent proposition and let the talent acquisition team have one more KRA added in their job roles in the form of new CRM.
The other tool that can be effectively used to end recruiter ghosting is the use of Automation & Artificial Intelligence (AI). With hundreds of candidates applying for each position, it is not possible for the recruiter to create engaging and personalized interactions with each candidate. However, technology is an answer to this problem. Having Recruitment AI & Recruitment Chatbots , will definitely give recruiter more bandwidth to enhance overall candidate experience. With such technology in place, the hiring team can focus on higher level work and conversational Artificial Intelligence and chatbots can take care of daily interactions with the candidates, answer Q&As and end this ever increasing phenomenon of recruiter ghosting.
But all of this is still is in ideation phase and may take some time to take a concrete form. Meanwhile, the need of the hour is to understand that professional ghosting is something which is out of your control. You can mitigate the chances but can never eliminate it altogether. Take it with a pinch of salt, read subtle hints, attain your own closure and get out of it.
So expect less from the recruiters and focus more on your strengths and work on your weakness. Figure out why it is happening, seek help or guidance, make necessary changes and relaunch yourself. With a little introspection and perseverance, you will succeed and secure yourself a long term match.
Originally published at https://theeasywisdom.com on July 27, 2020.
