Ghosting is becoming more common in the job market

“Ghosting” isn't just a dating phenomenon: it's becoming more common in the workplace, too. Recruitment experts said this unreliable behavior risks damaging the reputation of employers and job seekers.

The concept of ghosting — suddenly and unexpectedly ceasing to communicate with someone (i.e., disappearing) — arose around the mid-2010s with the growing importance of social media and dating apps. Merriam-Webster added the new-age definition of “ghost” to the dictionary in 2017.

This practice has become common among job applicants and employers during the hiring process.

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About 78% of job seekers said they had turned to a potential employer, according to a December report from the job site Indeed, based on a survey conducted in the spring of 2023. That's up from the previous year, when 68% said they had left without permission while The hiring process sometime during their career.

Nearly 62% of job seekers said they plan to go underground during future job searches, up from 56% in 2022 and 37% in 2019, Indeed found.

But the matter is not limited to applicants only, as 40% of job seekers said that the employer ignored them after the second or third round of the interview, compared to 30% in 2022.

Data suggests shades are “still trending up” and are not a “passing fad,” Indeed reports.

It's not as if ghosting is a new phenomenon. Jill Eubank, senior vice president of business professionals at Randstad Recruitment, said there have always been job seekers and employers who showed lackluster communication during recruitment.

Its spread in recent years is likely due to a hot job market heading into and then out of the COVID-19 pandemic, she said.

Labor demand rose in early 2021 as the US economy reopened from the pandemic-related recession. The unemployment rate has been hovering near historic lows for about two years, and layoffs have been around for nearly three years. Job openings – an indicator of companies' need for workers – reached their highest historical levels in the era of the pandemic. So is the act of quitting, which is a measure of workers' ability or desire to get jobs elsewhere.

Although the job market has gradually slowed, it remains strong, Eubank said.

Job candidates likely feel they have abundant options and a high probability of success, and the shadows are magnified as a result, she added.

“They feel like they have options: I don't have to reach out because I can just go here [for a job]“Or I have this other opportunity,” Eubank said.

About 1 in 6 Millennial and Gen Z workers ignore a potential employer during the interview process, mainly because they no longer want the job, got another job offer or had a bad interview experience, according to a survey by the Center for Prosperity Psychology 2023., a platform for mental health.

Two-thirds of workers – 66% – “like” their employer by accepting a job offer and then backing out, or disappearing, before the start date, according to a 2019 Randstad poll.

Additionally, 35% of workers said they had been ignored by employers during the interview process, according to the Thriving Center for Psychology.

The problem has turned into a feedback loop, said Clint Carens, a career strategist at Indeed's Job Search Academy.

“Job seekers feel that employers are getting worse at dealing with ghosting,” Carens said. “Many take the approach that if employers view this as normal etiquette, they will also engage in this behavior. It's almost a circular problem.”

However, experts said ghosting carries risks for both parties through potential reputational damage.

“As a coach, I would never recommend that a job seeker stalk an employer,” Carens said.

Those who do may be red-flagged by their employer and lose access to a future job opportunity, for example, he said.

Carens added that employers may feel that ghosting nets them a win in the short term by cutting down time during the hiring process, but it also hurts their brands in the long run, especially if job seekers talk about their negative online experience.