The damage of professional ghosting

Published date: July 24, 2020

Ghosting candidates might seem easier than perhaps giving bad news and you may feel a sense of relief when you consciously walk away from difficult conversations. Of course people don’t like being turned down, but they will respect you for doing it with professional kindness instead of just ghosting them.

 

Many people can’t believe that professionals would simply stop communicating without reason and immediately think that something has happened. Once they realise that all is well and they have been ghosted, that sense of worry quickly turns into frustration and it won’t be easy for them to forget this feeling any time soon. Moreover, ghosting can be even more hurtful to people who have low self-esteem in the first place, not to mention the time and frustration included in continuing to follow up with no response.

 

You certainly won’t hire everyone you interview, but that doesn’t mean all of those people won’t be the right fit for your company forever or they can’t refer someone they know for a vacancy you are recruiting for.

 

Ghosting is a negative behaviour, it is hard to stop and it will hurt you and the company you work for in the long run.

 

Whilst you may not realise, ghosting can cause damage in a number of ways including:

                                                                                                               

  • Bad professional reputation for you and the company you work for
  • Limitations of hiring choices if your first-choice candidate won’t take the role
  • Lack of referrals
  • Weakened network as it burns bridges
  • Bad reviews on social media
  • Limitations on your career prospects, personal growth and development. Remember that people talk!

 

Anonymity and complete privacy don’t exist anymore, so keeping reputation intact, both for your company and yourself as you go from job to job, employer to employer, is even more important today.

 

You might not be doing it on purpose, you might just be extremely busy and have no time.

One of the reasons many clients use our service is to take the pressure away from them while they are looking to add valuable professionals to their teams.

Get in touch and let us know how we can help you!