Ghosting during the employee recruiting process seems to still be increasing.

I have to say that it’s the dumbest way to treat people if you really do want to find and keep great employees. But I get that it’s a way to avoid an uncomfortable conversation and that you’re “too busy” to follow up with all those recruits.

It’s still foolish.

Once you’ve made contact with someone, there are a few possible outcomes:

  • We want to hire you
  • We’re not going to hire anyone
  • The whole process got bogged down
  • We’re hiring someone else

None of those is particularly hard to say, right? Of course your recruit wants to hear the first one and will be disappointed by the others, but they’re going to be even more disappointed when you leave them hanging …

Perhaps you don’t know what to say when someone says “why not?” in reply. Fair enough. But the honest answer is that you can’t disclose sensitive company information like that. So maybe just be a professional and tell your interviewee that. They may not be super happy, but they’ll be better than if you just leave them hanging …

The worst part about ghosting a recruit is the brutal word of mouth that results. You may be called all kinds of nasty things, both when people talk with their friends or on social media. There’s no way you can clear THAT up. It negatively affects everybody trying to recruit in your company, not just you.

So send the email. Make the phone call. It’s the right thing to do. Don’t leave them hanging …