Recruiters ghost candidates after three interview rounds
14 posts across 2 communities in the last 30 days; 86% from r/recruitinghell.
“I'm forgiving. If I'm not a fit after one round, I'm fine (ish?) with being ghosted. But when I have spent over 2 hours of my life chatting to people in the company - not to mention the research and work required to put together my portfolio - this is unacceptable. I wish there…”
“It is overwhelmingly an unwanted candidacy irrelevancy problem. People you aren't going to hire do not matter.”
“Valid point. The issue of ghosting is certainly not just limited to UK/US. The current geographic scope is only down to my own laziness! The colonial database is relatively small at the moment and If an agency isn't included it can be suggested but I have to manually approve it…”
Candidates report being abruptly dropped from the hiring process after investing significant time in multiple interviews, sometimes as many as three. This leaves applicants feeling disrespected and uncertain about their job prospects.
SOURCES (60)
“This behaviour is called "ghosting", which is practised by many hiring professionals (HR, recruiters/headhunters, etc) in these years. I have received a fair bit of such myself. I think sending a following up, a fortnight after the last interview and regardless what sort of response…”
“With 5 rounds, it's usually that they are trying to justify an unqualified internal candidate.”
“The state of modern recruiting, dude starts an AMA and then ghosts, classic”
“This is some what comforting because I’ve had these same experiences. Twice I was told verbatim that I was the top candidate and top choice, then they act like a sheepish dog when they get caught overpromising and being unreliable. I think our corporate etiquette has been lost.”
“classic recruiter move that. i'd write em off without a second thought, twice is taking the piss”
“Not horrible advice, but also not necessarily the default if you make it through that many interviews.”
“This has become the language of so many interactions as of late. People don't have the heart to tell deal with disappointment or confrontation, so they just avoid it. I'm very sorry that happened to you OP. 3 hours in one sitting is a very long time to not give someone a courteousy follow-up, especially considering how many touch points you actually gave them.”
“Yea you’re the honorable one! Way to stand up for such a. Important topic! Ghosting is so mean and disrespectful! Never ghost!”
“I'm forgiving. If I'm not a fit after one round, I'm fine (ish?) with being ghosted. But when I have spent over 2 hours of my life chatting to people in the company - not to mention the research and work required to put together my portfolio - this is unacceptable. I wish there was a way for feedback from prospective employees to impact the pay of HR/talent recruiters, because this is just poor form and unprofessional. Writing this so I can avoid sending a nasty email! submitte”
“So sorry you’re going through this. Has happened to me several times now, and my boyfriend went three rounds with a company that got recommended to him by an ex-coworker. They ghosted him too, in the end… and he knew the man who recommended him the job! So it’s everyone, not just you. It sucks and is so inhumane.”
Totally ghosted them, after that lack of professionality.
“I wasn't looking for a job but keep getting messages from recruiters. One was for a director position which I thought was too much for me but sure, I'll entertain it. First discussion with recruiter. Then he discusses with client. Then they realize director is too much for me so they create another position for team lead I have first interview with hr, seems to go well, we're discussing second interview next week. I give my availability to recruiter on Friday. Monday is labor day. Tu”
“As much as it sucks, it’s time to move on. No response basically equals no offer. I’ve done a few interviews recently and thought they went really well and had the experience and skills to a tee - three strikeouts though. It’s strange times at the moment and it makes you question everything.”
“Well, no. I don’t see anyone here arguing applying for a job through a portal among a ‘million’ other applicants and not hearing back is ghosting. It seems clear people mean actually going on interviews etc, and then not hearing back. It seems a lot of people are not receiving that closure from employers. BTDT unfortunately”
“You did fine. How many times has that same recuiter ghosted a candidate when the role had already been filled or that they were not selected? I'd imagine more than just a couple. He needs to put his big boy pants on and get over it.”
“I'm so glad to never have gone through this stupidity of multi round interviews. Two max and I'm moving on, my time is valuable.”
“It is overwhelmingly an unwanted candidacy irrelevancy problem. People you aren't going to hire do not matter.”
“Yeah they’re the worst. Years ago I signed up with them while unemployed. I had to go into the office in person to do it and fill out forms etc. They then told me about a role they had that they thought I would be well suited for. I said great, let’s set up an interview and immediately they told me actually you wouldn’t get along with the team. You’re not a good culture fit. They determined this after speaking with me for only 15 minutes. They also told me I needed to work on answering questions”
“Over the course of a month. Can’t be bothered to send the stupid fucking automated decline email? Can’t have the decency to respond to my follow-up emails? Fuck these people. submitted by /u/b8236 [link] [comments]”
“the client decided not to go with you. Yes it would have been nice to let you know”
“they only make money when someone is place. otherwise they dont give a shit about you”
You know what career field this shit doesn’t happen in? Union jobs
“I had a similar situation in 2000, when everyone was scrambling to get teams together to sell their companies to bigger ones and cash out before the crash. I had one in Kansas City that just wouldn't let up, to the point where HR was creeping me out with all of the additional perks they kept shoveling on if I'd just pack up everything and move to KC. Then suddenly "We're on hold, but we should have an answer about your move package in two weeks." Well, dodged another bullet”
You've heard of "the banality of evil"? This is "the evil of banality."
“Yep..they are very quick to forget there's a human behind every application who deserve to be treated like one”
“Like as in "Hey, Judy... Remember the candidate who made it to the fourth round of interviews and emailed the follow up message?" "Yeah, Bob. Ghosted him." submitted by /u/2diceMisplaced [link] [comments]”
Is there any way to identify recruiters who were there only to ghost you if you don't get the offer? I get opportunities from recruiters but more often than not, they either…
“Valid point. The issue of ghosting is certainly not just limited to UK/US. The current geographic scope is only down to my own laziness! The colonial database is relatively small at the moment and If an agency isn't included it can be suggested but I have to manually approve it. I'll add it onto the list of things to improve though.”
“specifically, for a mid-level lateral position submitted by /u/Even_Persimmon_1452 [link] [comments]”
“Which is more frustrating for you? knowing you weren’t even good enough to land an interview rejected / ghosted after a final round you thought you aced submitted by /u/throwawayseason3 [link] [comments]”
“They lack professional courtesy and habits that used to be standard and common place.”
“They lose interest. They go after the shiny candidate and spend all their time trying to recruit them. They just forget. It sucks, but there really isn’t a direct incentive to keeping communication with rejected candidates. I would argue otherwise - having respect for all candidates does eventually reflect back on the company.”
“If a company gets 500 applications, I can at least understand why they aren't responding to everyone. But what I don't understand is getting through multiple rounds of interviews, spending hours preparing, meeting with the hiring manager, and then just… nothing. No rejection email. No update. No “we went with someone else.” Just silence. At that point, the company already has your contact information and has spent time interviewing you. How hard is it to send a two-sentence rejection? Ha”
“There would be less workers. So it would cause more burn out. So people would want to be paid more for doing more work cause there would be less people. Be accountable for taking care of people and paying them”
“It would lower wages, not raise them. When job postings decrease, companies have more power to lower wages. What do they need held accountable for? Not hiring you?”
“So frustrated as this has happened thrice in 2 weeks of initial recruiter screen. submitted by /u/Ok_Concern7771 [link] [comments]”
“I totally agree... but only if they have a system like that in place to automate but if they don't, it's not expected. Consider, if you have a job posting and 10 people reply to the posting and send their resume. This is easy to manage. if you have 100 or 1,000 responses this becomes unmanageable.”
I think this is awesome! It is so F'ing rude that people ghost- especially if this is a "recruiter and their sole purpose is to place people in jobs! And karma is…
“These types of recruiters also complain when candidates ghost them in return. I'd respond with 'nobody owes you anything' in return.”