The Hiring Process Has a Trust Problem, and Its Name Is Ghosting
Candidates are looking, opportunities are out there, and the quality of the hiring experience is increasingly shaping where talent chooses to go.
If you’ve looked for a job recently, there’s a good chance you’ve experienced some version of this: you find a promising role, apply, maybe even interview, and then hear nothing.
For many candidates, that experience is becoming routine.
A recent survey of 1,000 college graduates found that 68% had been ghosted by an employer after interviewing, while 34% said they’d had an offer rescinded after accepting it.
At the same time, The Wall Street Journal recently reported on the rise of “ghost jobs”: positions advertised by companies that may have no immediate intention of hiring. Estimates suggest these could account for as many as one in five job postings.
The result is a hiring market where candidates and employers are increasingly unsure what to expect from each other.
Candidates are looking, but they’re becoming more selective
We recently asked Monday Talent’s Substack readers how they’re approaching the fall hiring market. Of our surveyed readers, 62% said they’re actively looking for a new role, while another 15% are open to moving for the right opportunity. (That means more than three-quarters of respondents are open to a move).
While candidate activity isn’t the problem, the way people search has definitely changed.
Candidates who aren’t hearing back now often respond by applying to more jobs. Technology has made it easier to send dozens of applications quickly, and 35% of respondents in the recent-graduate survey admitted to applying for positions they knew they weren’t qualified for.
Employers are then left sorting through larger applicant pools with fewer obvious matches.
Employers have more to lose from a poor process
Hiring plans change, budgets shift, and roles get paused, but candidates generally understand that. What they remember is how a company communicates when it happens.
Once someone has spent hours interviewing, completed an assignment, or rearranged their schedule to meet a team, closing the loop matters.
This is particularly relevant across communications, marketing and creative, where professional networks overlap constantly. The candidate interviewing with you today could be a future client, referral source or senior hire.
There’s also a more immediate cost: strong candidates keep interviewing.
We see it regularly at Monday Talent. Great candidates are often in several processes at once, particularly as activity picks up in the fall. A company can spend weeks finding the right person and lose them because internal feedback took a week instead of a day or two.
More applications aren’t necessarily the answer
Candidates have a role to play in improving the process, too.
Applying to hundreds of loosely relevant openings might increase activity, but it can also make an already crowded system harder to navigate.
A more targeted search still goes a long way, so focus on opportunities where your experience genuinely aligns. Build relationships with recruiters and people in your industry rather than relying exclusively on job boards, and keep conversations moving until an offer is finalized.
Employer silence can be frustrating, but there are often decisions happening behind the scenes that candidates never see.
A better hiring market starts with clarity
Employers don’t owe every applicant an interview, and candidates don’t owe every company unlimited patience. Once an interview process begins, however, both sides should know what to expect.
For employers, that means making sure a role is genuinely approved before taking it to market, keeping interview processes focused and communicating when timelines change.
For candidates, it means being intentional about where you apply, transparent about other interview processes and realistic about whether a role fits your experience.
Hiring will always involve some uncertainty, but better communication can remove a lot of the unnecessary uncertainty we’re seeing now.
With 77% of our surveyed readers either actively looking or open to the right opportunity this fall, the talent is out there. The companies that run clear, responsive hiring processes will have a much better chance of reaching it.
Mouth Off With Monday is just the start of the conversation. For more insights, talent trends, and behind-the-scenes of the industries we work in, connect with us!
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FAQ’s
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Employer ghosting can happen for several reasons, including shifting budgets, paused roles, changing hiring priorities or slow internal decision-making. While plans can change, companies should communicate those changes to candidates who have invested time in an interview process.
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A ghost job is a position advertised without an immediate or genuine intention to hire. Companies may keep postings live to build candidate pipelines, prepare for future hiring needs or for other internal reasons. For job seekers, these listings can make the market appear more active than it really is.
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Start with an approved role and realistic job description, keep the interview process focused, set expectations around timing and communicate when something changes. Responsive hiring also helps employers compete for strong candidates who may be interviewing with several companies.
