NMCJ - 9: Hiring by Ghosts
My experience getting ghosted by recruiters
Happy Friday everyone!
Welcome to NMCJ - 9!
Trying to find a job is one hell of an ordeal. It’s exhausting and can take a massive toll on one’s self-esteem. I reflected on it in NMCJ - 5: What I learned from a gruelling job hunt.
I, however, left out one MAJOR part of the whole experience i.e. getting ghosted by recruiters. It’s something I’ve experienced quite often over the years and I may have gotten better at dealing with it but it still feels weird.
I’ve been ghosted at various stages through different recruitment processes and it’s usually more painful after an interview because, well…one gets a sense of having a shot at the job and being taken seriously. After all, if someone has painstakingly gone through hundreds of applications and picked you for an interview, they must be somewhat interested, right???
Well….NOPE!
I’ll share a recent experience.
The names of the company and the recruiter have been blotted out.
Application submitted - January 16th
Back in January of this year, I came across a role that seemed to match my experience, skillset and interest on LinkedIn. The company that was hiring had been on my radar screen for a while. I won’t mention their name but they are a global leader within their industry.
So, like any candidate, I submitted my application and sat back. I didn’t have high hopes because I knew I’d be up against tough competition. The market was already flooded with candidates who had been laid off recently and I knew it was a long shot. Still, I thought it was a shot worth taking because…why not??
Interview….YAYYYYYYY! - January 25th
Almost a week on, I got an invite for an interview. It was a pleasant surprise. As already explained, I wasn’t hoping for much but then I thought…well…'NOT BAD NAUSH! You might have a chance after all.'
I wasn’t naive. I knew it was the first of potentially several interviews. Other candidates would have been shortlisted as well and there was still a long slog ahead. I had, however, applied for roles at this company previously and had never been called for an interview. Thus, it did seem like a milestone and whether I would eventually land the job or not, it just felt good to move beyond the CV vetting at that point.
I had the interview and it seemed like it went well. I don’t remember any hangups as such and the interviewer seemed satisfied. I also asked some questions that I had about the role/process and got some reasonable answers, as expected.
At the end, the interviewer explained the next steps to me. She was going to discuss my profile with the Hiring Manager the next day (Friday) and get back to me at the start of the following week. The next step, if they decided to take me on, would be a case study.
The follow up e-mail - January 29th
I had not heard back by Tuesday and sent out a follow-up e-mail. Beyond wanting to know whether I would be considered for the next round, it was also a way for me to raise my hand and maintain my place on their radar screen.
Then….nothing….nothing at all.
I did not hear back. No update, no reply…just pure radio silence. Until….
An absent minded LinkedIn message - February 7th
After about 2 weeks of silence I got a LinkedIn message from the same interviewer, asking me to apply for the position - YEAP, the very position that she had ALREADY interviewed me for.
I have blotted out her name but, as you can see in the screenshot above, it’s regarding the Business Transformation Leader (741876) opening. Feel free to scroll up and tally that with the first screenshot from January 16th.
I have no idea what went on in the Talent Sourcing team. I mean, it may have been a mass messaging strategy but even if it was, you typically filter out candidates you’ve interviewed already. It’s common sense!
I wanted to remind her of that fact and this was my reply:
I heard nothing her end after that. That was the strange bit. No acknowledgment, no reply….just silence. It was the weirdest ghosting experience I had had.
Usually recruiters just don’t get back to you after an interview or an application. In this case, I was interviewed and then asked to apply AGAIN and…nothing after that.
I, eager to figure out what had happened, contacted a friend who worked at the company and asked him if he had any thoughts on my situation or could help me find out what was going on.
He got in touch with a contact within the Talent Acquisition team and, a week or two later, was told that the position may be on hold because there may be layoffs on the way. That, of course, was a clear sign for me to abandon all my hopes of landing the position and so, I did.
As you’ve seen, I had followed up politely at first and then, upon receiving a cryptic message, tried to figure out what happened. Like I mentioned earlier, I didn’t have high hopes anyway. I had applied for other openings and was in other processes at that point.
To anyone who is in the middle of a job hunt, I would advise doing the same. Even if you’re at an advanced stage with a potential employer, give it your best shot and leave no stone unturned but assume that they won’t hire you and keep on applying for other relevant roles until you have a signed contract in your hands. You could get ghosted at any point and you need to keep reminding yourself that it’s not something you should be taking personally. That’s what I tried to do anyway.
Eventually, I did hear back from the company. It was one of those automated rejection emails. I had, of course, moved on by then and it didn’t bother me much. Yet, the whole experience gave me some insight into the company’s culture and how they treat their employees. I mean, if you’re taking potential candidates for granted and have such a non-serious approach towards recruitment, how would you be treating your employees?
What I don’t get is why it all had to be done this way. If the position was on hold, they could have just said so. If they didn’t want to continue the process with me, they could have just sent me an email.
Why the silence?
Why tell me they’d get back to me the next week when they wouldn’t?
Why not actually do your homework before advertising an opening?
I just don’t see how hard it could be to treat potential candidates with respect. All you have to do is…communicate.
Have you ever been ghosted by a recruiter? How did you handle it? Please feel free to share your experience in the comments or through a restack.
Thanks for reading!
Ugghhh so sorry you experienced this crappy stuff Naush! It seems HR etiquette has declined even further. TBH I tell my mentoring clients to try to network and call and avoid responding to open call adverts. FYI even with headhunters it can take a minimum of 3 months of interactions to get to final stage as you may already know. When I work on career strategies, clients start more concerted efforts at least 6 months in advance - it depends on your industry annual cycle, but some things will never change re strategy/budgets/planning/hiring etc.
Its Madness and sad at the same time. A lot also to do with internal communication in the company. Mostly people inside the company don’t know much about their situation with the lack of transparency and thus people go out for roles, only to later know there is no budget. If people were open and transparent about situations then things would have been different. The decency here would be a simple communication email, saying sorry. But as you had written earlier about professionalism, maybe they lacked one and it was already a red flag at this stage and better to have been avoided.