The Emotional Toll of Job Interview Ghosting

“Raghav, a recent graduate, still checks his phone anxiously at every notification – Gmail, WhatsApp, LinkedIn. He’s given five interviews this month. Most ended in silence.”

“Nisha, an HR at a rising startup, invested in hiring a candidate. After three rounds, documentation, and a team introduction, the candidate vanished the next day.”

In recent years, the term “ghosting” has become a trend as almost everyone has experienced it at some point. The term ghosting means “when someone of your acquaintance suddenly cuts off all communication without explanation.” Most people think ghosting is just limited to the digital world, but it can also happen in social circumstances.

Job interview ghosting occurs when the candidate, employer or interviewer stops communicating with the candidate after an interview or before the hiring process, which creates significant emotional impacts. For instance, an employee attends an interview for a company, once the interview gets over, the employer or the interviewer stops texting or gets disappeared immediately away from the employee without any explanation; another example is the candidate accepts a job offer but then never confirms their start date or paperwork or drops the contract entirely after acceptance.

What are the Types of Ghosting happening in hiring?

During the hiring process, the employer can cease the communication, which occurs after an interview, after a job offer, or even after the job has been accepted. 

Candidate Ghosting:

It refers to when the candidate stops responding to the emails or phone calls from the organisation, after giving an interview or after receiving a job offer. This can happen for various reasons, HR communication, Negative experience with the interviewer, prolonged interview durations,not being excited about the role, or finding a better job offer.

Employer Ghosting:

When an employer or the interviewer stops communicating with a candidate during or after the hiring process. It can happen in between various stages in the hiring process, such as after an interview, after a job offer, after a job acceptance or after a rejection. Employer Ghosting is said to be considered “Unprofessionalism” as it affects the company’s name and reputation.

Stalled Interview process:

It is where the interview process seems to be going smoothly, with multiple rounds and discussions about the next steps, but suddenly everything comes to a stop, the individual cuts all communication with the candidate and disappears.

How does Ghosting create an Emotional Impact?

Being ghosted can create an impact on the individual’s confidence, motivation, and create a sense of worthlessness and abandonment that can last for a time until the individual gets a job that suits and creates a comfortable place. Some of the impacts are:

Self-doubt:

Being ghosted can lead the individual to question themselves, their judgment, and even their past relationships; repeated experiences of ghosting can diminish the individual’s questioning skills and their worth. It impacts the individual’s overall well-being, and it creates a barrier to achieving future goals.

Emotional Distress:

Emotional distress is the one that affects the individual at first, followed by other impacts. It happens when the individual puts more time and effort into the application, undergoes an interview, and suddenly doesn’t hear anything, leading to frustration and anxiety.

Trust issues:

When the individual gets rejected or ghosted by others, trusting others becomes a major task for them. It affects the individuals from forming new relationships, applying for a job, or attending an interview, etc. It creates an emotional imbalance, which leads to emptiness in the individual.

Health Problems:

When the individual is being ghosted by the employer or the interviewer, it can lead to impacts that affect the candidate’s physical and mental health. Such as anxiety, depression, increased stress levels, sleep issues, appetite changes, and other changes in the routine.

How to handle Ghosting:

Being ghosted by an employer or an individual in a situation in the past might help you handle situations in the future. And some steps can help you to handle being ghosted, they are:

1. Follow up: It is the best way to avoid getting ghosted, as it keeps the individual on the right track. Sending a thoughtful email to the employer can show your gratitude and make you an appealing candidate.
2. Wait a while longer: Usually, the hiring process takes longer than you have experienced before. It can happen due to various reasons, such as a busy schedule, a response from the company manager, etc. Waiting a little longer can make the candidate look more appealing and suited for the job.
3. Reach out by other methods: When the individual is getting emailed for a particular time and doesn’t receive anything afterwards, he/she is can reach out to the employer through other media. Such as phone calls, professional work sites. It allows the individual to get a faster response and avoid getting ghosted.
4. Practice interview: Practising the ways to answer in an interview can help the candidate avoid getting ghosted, as it increases their confidence level. When some candidates don’t have the confidence, they always feel low and doubt the abilities they have. So, practising the interview is very important.
5. Focus on the next job role: When the candidate gets ghosted, he/she shouldn’t feel less and should be able to motivate themselves to be prepared for the upcoming job. This helps the individual boost confidence, motivation, etc.

Many of the individuals, during or after the job interview, get ghosted for various reasons. It creates an emotional impact that affects the well-being of the individual. We should not feel less about it and should prepare ourselves and stay motivated for the future job.

FAQs

1. Is it Common or Uncommon to get ghosted by Interviewers? 

Yes, it is very common for candidates these days to get ghosted by the interviewer or employers, as during the hiring process, some employers feel that the candidate is not suitable for the role and cut all communication with them.

2. Does it happen all over the world or just in India?

The job interview ghosting happens all over the world and in India too, due to the increased applications for a job, lack of communication skills, cultural factors, and so.

3. What are the other factors that create an impact on the candidate after getting ghosted? 

Some of the ways the individual gets affected are physically, mentally and economically too. When the candidate is being ghosted, it affects their memory levels, lack of motivation, and initiative to do things and physically by lack of sleep, Appetite changes, mood changes and economically the candidate faces a financial crisis for the application of the future job.

4. Do the impacts create a long-term effect on the candidate? 

Yes and No for some candidates. For ‘yes’, these candidates find it difficult to move on from the time of getting ghosted, and the ‘No’ candidate finds other ways to improve themselves and overcome it. So, it’s a fifty-fifty chance based on the candidate’s mentality.

5. How to prevent and help the candidates from being ghosted in the future? 

 Some ways the candidates can prevent getting ghosted like improving communication skills, using other technology media, knowing the hiring process, staying motivated, and so on. This helps the candidate to avoid getting ghosted in future jobs they apply.