By Debbie Bunch
August 31, 2025
Most of us are familiar with the concept of “ghosting” – you know, those times when you’ve texted or emailed someone about something and they seem to disappear into thin air. It’s most often used in the dating world, but it can apply to anyone and any situation.
These days, it’s happening in the job market too, and for job seekers who are already anxious about finding a new position, it only adds to their stress.
Why it happens
According to sources in the recruitment arena, job ghosting occurs when a prospective employer suddenly ceases all communication with a prospective employee. It can occur early in the application and interviewing process or later on, when the prospective employee may have already visited the facility and had multiple interviews with existing staff.
Regardless, the prospective employee is left to wonder what’s going on. Emails, texts, and phone calls aimed at finding out go unanswered, and the job seeker comes out of the experience feeling demoralized at best.
Why do employers engage in ghosting? The reasons are many, but experts most often cite these factors:
- Sometimes, a position will have attracted so many candidates that hiring managers are overwhelmed and cannot personally inform everyone of the final decision not to hire them.
- Hiring managers and recruiters may be uncomfortable delivering bad news to candidates who have not been selected for the position. It’s easier just to let them go and move on.
- Organizations may not want hiring managers or recruiters to explain why someone did not get hired for fear of inadvertently saying something that could be misconstrued as racist, sexist, or in some other way discriminatory.
- Occasionally, ghosting may even be malignant, illustrating the organization’s lack of respect for workers or a toxic work environment.
Of course, employers aren’t the only ones ghosting in the job-hunting process. Prospective employees are also known to engage in this practice by ignoring all calls, emails, and texts from prospective employers to whom they may have applied, even after they have already accepted another position.
Don’t let it define you
The bottom line, say experts, is not to take ghosting in the job market too seriously. It does not mean you lack valuable skills or are in some way deficient. It is simply a reflection of the wider world we all live in today, where the proliferation of digital communication makes it easy for people to cut off the conversation when it no longer serves their purposes.
So, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and start the process over again with a new prospective employer. And this time, find out up front how rejections will be handled so that you won’t be left wondering whether you are still in the running or not.
