“ One in five job seekers said they had ghosted an employer after receiving
another job offer , and 15 percent said it was because they had decided the job in question wasn ’ t right for them , while just 13 percent said the offered pay rate was not enough .”
Businesses ghosted by candidates during the recruiting process in 2021 .
RESOURCE PARTNERS
D0N ’ T KNOW 21 %
NO 27 %
NO 50 %
SPAS
D0N ’ T KNOW
9 %
YES 29 %
YES 64 %
SOURCE : 2021 ISPA JULY SNAPSHOT SURVEY
Often , the sudden halt of contact between employers and candidates occurs relatively early in the process , following an initial phone screen or even a face-to-face interview , but 25 percent of employers said that at least one new hire had “ no-showed ” for their scheduled first day of work . For obvious reasons , such practices are incredibly disruptive for spas who may believe they have filled a key position — and stopped their candidate search — only to be forced back to the drawing board . Even if a spa chooses just one of several excellent candidates , it ’ s likely that those other potential hires will have found other opportunities in the meantime .
The reasons that candidates gave for ghosting employers were varied . One in five job seekers said they had done so after receiving another job offer , and 15 percent said it was because they had decided the job in question wasn ’ t right for them , while just 13 percent said the offered pay rate was not enough .
Additional data from business consulting firm Korn Ferry indicates that a third of surveyed U . S . retailers said that at least 25 percent of candidates they hire to staff their distribution centers don ’ t show up at all . Radhika Papandreou , ISPA Stronger Together Summit speaker and leader of Korn Ferry ’ s Travel , Hospitality and Leisure practice notes that the competitive labor market contributes heavily to ghosting . “ Unless Employer A moves fast , Employer B will scoop up the potential candidate and these candidates will not show up for Employer A ,” Papandreou explains .
A Two-Way Street
Given this data , it may be tempting to paint today ’ s job seekers as rude at best and irresponsible at worst , but Indeed ’ s report offers another factor that is partially to blame for the ghosting spike : employers ’ own communication habits .
For example , nearly four in five job seekers ( 77 percent ) said that they have been ghosted by a prospective employer since March 2020 and 10 percent reported that an employer has ghosted them even after a verbal job offer was made . For their part , only around one quarter of employers ( 27 percent ) say they have not ghosted a job seeker in the year preceding the study . Just less than half of employers ( 46 percent ) surveyed reported that they believe that job seekers are being ghosted by employers more frequently than before .
As with job seekers , there are a number of potential explanations for increased ghosting among employers . The tempestuous nature of the labor market over the past year and a half has meant that recruiters may be doing more outreach and handling more candidate requests
SEPTEMBER 2021 ■ PULSE 45