The term is now firmly established in the recruiting world and almost everyone has already had experience with it. If candidates withdraw from the application process without making further contact, this can have unpleasant consequences. If the entire process is delayed, this means increased personnel costs and simply higher costs for the company.
Effects of ghosting
This is naturally a frustrating experience for recruiters. After all, this kind of behavior prevents them from doing their job properly. Adriana Schwedt, Junior Recruiter at KÖNIGSTEINER Services, confirms this: "Ghosting is annoying for everyone involved. The manager blocks out the date for the interview and prepares for the interview, just like we do as HR."
Before the actual interview, there are already a number of work steps, such as screening the application documents and working out the questions for the applicants. "Ghosting therefore has a negative impact on the time we spend working," says Adriana Schwedt. The situation is even more dramatic if a recruitment has already taken place but is simply not noticed. This costs a lot of time, resources and nerves.
Reasons for ghosting in the application process
With the profound changes in the job market in recent years, candidates are now more often in the position of having to choose from a variety of offers. This is a development that affects not only the world of work, but virtually all areas of life. In the information age, the options seem endless. This makes it difficult to make a sustainable and binding decision.
Adriana Schwedt suspects the following reasons, among others, for such behavior:
- Applicants have received or accepted another job offer
- The date was simply forgotten
- The date for the interview is too far in the future (too much time between initial contact and interview)
- No more interest
- First impression of the company was negative
Looking for the reasons for the spread of job ghosting only in a shortage of workers and an oversupply of vacancies falls short of the mark. Underlying this is a change in society as a whole, which is leading to a redefinition of human relationships and norms such as commitment and reliability. In this respect, possible solutions must also be broader in scope.
What to do? How to deal with the phenomenon
However, it is not the case that only applicants host the companies. Especially in the past, the reverse was not uncommon. As a company, you should, as is so often the case, take a critical look at yourself and your own behavior.
It is therefore possible to gain important insights from a negative phenomenon with a different perspective, which Adriana Schwedt also confirms: "Ghosting also has positive effects, as we constantly reflect on ourselves in order to better classify the reasons. It could be due to the way we make contact, the length of the application process, the location or even the first impression we as a company make on the applicant. As a result, we are constantly questioning our job advertisements and our approach."
Many employees have experienced in their lives that they are more or less interchangeable in their job. They are often reduced to their function as employees. One of the consequences of this type of work culture is that they cannot develop a particularly strong bond with a company. These experiences, which are also passed on to the younger generation, can lead to a critical attitude in the application process and thus also to the conviction that non-committal behavior is perfectly acceptable.
As is often the case when complex problems arise, there is no simple and all-encompassing panacea. One fundamental aspect that can help to counteract the current trend in the medium to long term is the much-vaunted corporate culture. It is crucial that values such as respect, appreciation and commitment are authentically practiced at all levels.
This starts with the application process and should be consistent throughout all phases. For Adriana Schwedt, it is therefore helpful to take a critical look at your own processes: "There shouldn't be a long period of time between receipt of the application and initial contact. The initial contact should always be made in person to give applicants a feeling of appreciation right from the start. In general, it is desirable to present yourself as an interesting and respectful company."
Job ghosting is likely to become established in the recruiting world. This is precisely why it is advisable to find a sustainable way of dealing with it in order to minimize the negative effects as much as possible.
