If you’ve heard of ghosting, you’ll know it’s that modern dating phenomenon where someone you were getting to know disappears without warning, never to be heard of again.

But it’s not just happening in the world of romance – it’s happening in recruitment too.

A recent article in The Independent said that 8 out of 10 young jobseekers have admitted to not turning up at a job interview – without letting anyone know they weren’t coming.

It’s rife among Millennials and Gen Z, but Gen X are in on the act too.

So what’s going on here? Because it’s not just about ‘impatient Millennials’ who bail if they don’t get immediate satisfaction. There’s more to this than meets the eye.

And in our experience ghosting shines a light on outdated recruitment practices and something much deeper – culture issues.

Are you adapting your recruitment practices?

The recruitment market used to be very different when employers held all the cards and candidates felt lucky to be picked for a job. But the tables have turned, and modern job seekers are using the interview process to make assessments of their own.

And when they are put through drawn out and complicated recruitment processes, aren’t kept in the loop with regular communication, or are kept waiting for weeks if not months on a decision – they are judging a company as not a good fit and going elsewhere.

Your interview process says a lot about your company, so here are our 5 top tips if you want to avoid getting ghosted:

1. Recognise and adapt to who you are recruiting. If they are Millennials or Gen Z it’s all about speed to market, speed to response, and speed to start.
2. Keep them warm through regular contact. As soon as job seekers feel like you’re not looking after them, they’ll drop you. So stay in touch even if there’s no ‘news’.
3. Deliver open and honest communication on what the role is, what the expectation is, and what it’s truly like to work there.
4. Factor in the high rate of anxiety among young job seekers. According to the Independent article, 33% of 18-24 year olds have reported mental health conditions. So it’s important to be culturally aware of diverse hiring practices and recognise that the way in which one person communicates or likes to perform an interview is not the same for everyone.
5. Make longer-term connection part of your recruitment strategy. A job seeker might not be right for the current role, but perfect for one in the future. So treat them with respect, share feedback, and stay in touch over time.

The deeper culture issues at play

The tips above will make a big difference to your daily recruitment processes, but they don’t deal with the underlying cultural issues these problems highlight: slow decision-making; a transactional versus humanistic approach; under-resourcing.

Slow decision-making is often a sign of a passive culture, where people aren’t empowered to make decisions but have to run them up the flagpole first. There’s usually a lack of trust, ownership and freedom to make mistakes in passive organisations, which hamstrings the ability to move quickly with recruitment decisions.

Transactional interactions are often a sign of an aggressive culture where it’s every person for themselves. This means recruiters don’t take the time to stay connected, share feedback from the process or build relationships that lead to a strong talent pipeline.

And when we see a recruiter overwhelmed with roles to fill but not enough time to do it, it’s a sign that the company isn’t properly resourcing for its own growth in either time, people or budget.

You probably didn’t expect that ghosting would reveal that much about your organisation! But it sure does – and that’s a good thing.

Because if you want to keep pace with the evolving job market you need to keep your recruitment processes up to date and your company culture supporting recruiters with the time, values and autonomy they need to make empowered decisions and build connections with current and future candidates.