Contrary to what job seekers think, you aren’t the only ones who suffer from being ghosted. News flash, we experience it just as much as you do.

“We can’t count how many people have used a ‘family emergency’ or ‘death’ to get out of their first day. Talk about coincidences.”

…some people go to great lengths to disappear; it’s commitment on an entirely different level.

Let’s just admit it; we’ve all been ghosted before. But we’re not perfect; we’ve all ghosted someone before, too… and so the cycle continues. As much as we validate our reasoning behind ghosting someone but when it’s done to us, we think it’s offensive. How dare they! Sounds hypocritical, right? But no, that’s humans for you. Even though it ruffles our feathers when a candidate ghosts us, sh!t happens.

We like to lighten up each situation—otherwise, we’ll cry. Take it from one of our recruiters, “I’ve been ghosted by candidates more than men… and that’s a lot” (we won’t mention names, ahem Sophie)

If you think about it, being ghosted is really similar to the world of dating. You know, connecting with someone you think might lead to something special and then like that *poof* they’re gone. You think everything’s going great, and then they use an excuse—if you’re lucky enough to get that—and then they disappear into the abyss.

We can’t count how many people have used a ‘family emergency’ or ‘death’ to get out of their first day or interview. And for those who are genuine, we truly apologise for not believing you, but as one consultant at JDP said, “I know someone whose wife died on at least six occasions”.

Indeed recently conducted a survey that shows both job seekers and employers are ghosting one another more than ever before, with a 10% jump in ghosting over the last three years, so get used to the new norm.

For your entertainment, here’s some of our team’s ghosting stories:

“I had a candidate sign their contract and confirm the start date only to tell me on the morning of their first day that they had a family emergency and couldn’t start. The following week they put an entirely new role on their LinkedIn account.”

“A few years ago, a candidate I was working with ghosted me after I got him an offer after getting him exactly what he wanted. He applied for a role of mine sometime after; he mentioned to me that he remembers vaguely working with me last time and can’t remember what happened. When I addressed his ghosting and my concerns, he hung up on me straight away.”

At Just Digital People, we try not to take ourselves too seriously and understand this is the new norm, with one of our recruiters saying, “I’ve been ghosted twice by candidates recently… not to brag.”

Let’s face it, as recruiters and candidates, we’re all guilty of ghosting and being the ghostee. Why do we all do it? We’ll never really know. What we do know is that ghosting is here to stay, and we will always feel that we are the hard done by. Rant over.