Candidate ghosting has become popular in the recruitment industry today. With the rise in opportunities, job seekers are leaving the companies they’re interviewing with in the dark to choose their competitors for better benefits.
Ghosting can affect a company’s productivity in the bottom line. Although this frustrating phenomenon happens when the companies compromise on candidate experience, there are many things companies should practice to avoid being ghosted by potential talent.
What is Candidate Ghosting or Employee Ghosting?
For those unfamiliar with the term ‘ghosting’ – it is a general term used in online dating to refer to someone who just disappeared without any communication or reason. Candidate ghosting happens when an employee or candidate stops returning to calls or emails with a company without reason. Employee ghosting occurs when an employee stops showing up to work without intimating.
When ghosting their employers, employees may escape answering employers’ attempts to communicate with them.
Why does Employee Ghosting Happen?
There are many reasons why employees ghost their employers without any information. Let’s look at some of those.
- Lack of professionalism among employees is one of the reasons why it happens.
- They think their manager or recruiter would react badly or threateningly if they formally report quitting the work or recruitment process.
- In most cases, employees or applicants are unaware of how difficult it is to replace them or how much the company has invested in them.
- Employee ghosting can also happen when they don’t work any longer or serve a notice period if they have accepted another job offer and have to start work immediately. In such cases, they avoid facing the discussion with the manager altogether.
- The major possibility of ghosting could be the unhappy and dissatisfied employees or candidates about the company, work, or the hiring process.
Candidate ghosting is on the rise like never before. Nearly 76% of companies have been ghosted within the last 18 months. Here are some stats that describe why job seekers abandon the recruitment funnel.
- 29% of applicants reported they got a better job offer from another employer.
- 33% said that the interview experience was poor with an employer.
- 40% of candidates quit because they wanted more flexibility than the companies were offering.
- 60% of candidates have left the hiring funnel because of the lengthy application process.
So, here are five effective ways you can prevent candidate ghosting.
How to Prevent Candidate or Employee Ghosting?
Know their Expectations
Studies show that candidate ghosting majorly happens because the company is not up to what the candidate has expected. Recruiters should come up with straightforward and specific job descriptions that outline the roles and responsibilities of the employee. Stating what you expect from the candidate will make the hiring process much simpler and shorter. On the contrary, avoid using gender-specific words or narrow skills that will prevent potential talent from applying.
Communication in the recruitment process should be a two-way street, especially in today’s candidate-driven market. Employers need to be proactive in learning more about the candidates. Ask them and understand their expectations even before proceeding with the further steps of the interview. This way, you get to know the candidates better. Proceed with them only if you think you can meet their expectations. Tell them what exactly you can provide to help their career grow. This is the first and most critical step to achieving a win-win for candidates and employers.
Keep Your Promises
Whether your candidates are still passing through the recruiting funnel or already onboarded, remember to keep your promises. If you have told them you would get back to them after the interview or assign specific responsibilities after six months, do that. Especially during the hiring process, if you keep candidates waiting for their status, they will try looking for other opportunities and abandon you.
Exceed their expectations and deliver your promises even before they realize you haven’t. This way, you can build candidate engagement easier.
Provide Consistent Feedback
As discussed above, do not make your candidates feel left out throughout their journey with you. Update them with feedback after each interview round within the promised time. Thank them for their time and keep posted about the interview status through email. Sending bulk emails is both tiresome and time-consuming. Vultus mass mailing tool can help you send unlimited emails within a couple of clicks.
Always keep in touch with the talent through their preferred mediums to ensure a smooth recruiting experience. Ensure you consistently provide the same great experience even after onboarding them so that they won’t ghost you after a month or two.
Focus on your Employer’s Brand
A recent survey stated that 50% of candidates wouldn’t join a company with a bad reputation. But in today’s digital world, having no reputation is worse than having a bad reputation. Because a poor reputation can be repaired but building a reputation is the hardest (Your aim should be to build a great reputation anyway). So, if you haven’t worked on your brand image yet, it’s high time to look into it. Create and improve your online presence, and share insights into your industry on professional platforms and blogs to nudge your audiences about your company.
Hire Candidates Faster
No matter your hiring goals, speed is the name of the game when it comes to modern recruitment. Moreover, top talent is off the market after ten days. Even if you’ve engaged the potential job seekers with the interview process, they’re more likely to quit the funnel if they receive a better job offer. So, the key here is to hire them faster. An ATS can help you streamline and shorten the time-to-hire with smart candidate management and recruiting tools.
Make Candidate Experience your Priority
In the bottom line, candidate nurturing and exceptional candidate experience are critical to keeping your candidates engaged with your company. The best way to deal with candidate or employee ghosting is candidate-nurturing and improving their experience with the company. Whether it is your prospects or workers, never let them leave with a bad taste in their mouths. Making the candidate experience your priority will make them stay with the company for longer.
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