Why Top Candidates Are Disappearing On You

Picture this:

You finally get the attention of a top-tier job candidate. They’re everything you hoped for and more, plus they sounded genuinely excited on the phone and over email. But then they vanish – no explanation, no reason, no nothing.

Unfortunately, as an employer, chances are this has already happened to you numerous times. No imagination necessary.

You’ll tell your colleagues the usual excuses like “they had a better offer” or “the job market is nuts right now”, but in reality, that candidate had options and your hiring process turned them off well before they ghosted you.

In this article, we’re exploring the different reasons why top candidates ghost during, and at which point within, the hiring process.

When Do Candidates Lose Interest?

Although it may feel like you’ve been ghosted at random, this is hardly the case. These are not split second decisions. More likely, a candidate lost interest during one of these moments:

After the Application

The submission of an application is the employer’s first opportunity to lose a candidate. The candidate has shown interest in the role, gathered the necessary documents, and submitted an application with high hopes.

On average, employer’s take 3-5+ business days to respond to applications. By the time a candidate hears back, they may still be available, but their enthusiasm has waned. They might’ve even forgotten about you entirely.

During Scheduling Mayhem

We’re all familiar with the song and dance required to get someone on the phone or video call. An email, then a reply, then a back-and-forth about the time, then the calendar link, then a follow-up, then the acceptance, then the wait. It’s taxing to manage one of these situations, let alone 3 or 4 with different organizations.

After the First Call

The first call is typically between a recruiter and the candidate. The stakes are high here. A recruiter that is inexperienced, unprepared or generally unexcited could ruin the opportunity. Often, the job description won’t match what the candidate hears from the recruiter – which is a big red flag, but if the call feels like a transaction the candidate’s interest could deteriorate quickly.

During Rounds of Repetition

It’s common for a candidate to jump through several hoops of phone calls or in person interviews during the hiring process. First there’s the recruiter, then a hiring manager, then a panel of colleagues. Notes about the candidate are either not taken or not shared, resulting in repetitive questions that indicates disorganization and misalignment.

By the time the second or third call or meeting has been booked, your candidate has been actively engaged by competitors that may have already sent an offer.

Why Do Candidates Ghost?

If a candidate stops replying, their decision has already been made. And they didn’t arrive at their decision because your hiring process wasn’t perfect, but rather because it wasn’t as smooth, as fast or as honest as another hiring processes they’re currently experiencing.

Here are some of the reasons why a candidate will disappear:

Speed

If one company responds within the same day while another company takes a full week just to acknowledge the application has been received, it’s easy to see where a candidate’s energy will be spent.

Silence between stages in the hiring process will produce the same effect. If a candidate doesn’t hear anything for days, they have no choice but to fill that silence with their own assumptions and second guesses.

Speed is important in the hiring process, but it certainly isn’t everything.

Doubts

When a candidate is plugging away through your hiring process, they’re actively gauging what life would be like with your company. This includes how people work together, communication tendencies, and what their day to day could look like. If the hiring process is slow, filled with mixed messages and surprises, or generally chaotic, a candidate will start to have doubts about working for you.

A hiring process that’s incohesive, surprising and frustrating will prompt candidates to question:

• Is this how things are done around here?
• Is leadership aligned with the rest of the organization?
• How do people work together?
• What happens when work gets extra busy?
• How will I be supported when I need it most?

Counteroffers

The best candidates will almost always have multiple opportunities lined up. It should be expected that your offer won’t be the only one on the table. A lot is out of your control as the employer, but don’t lose out on candidates because your sluggish decision making process failed to deliver an offer before your competition.

Being open and upfront about salary expectations is another way to avoid constantly losing out to better offers. If your salary and benefits package is competitive, sharing this information in the early stages will avoid surprises down the road.

Surprises

Transparency is key to avoiding surprises. All too often, a candidate hears one set of expectations from one person before hearing something different from another interviewer. Maybe additional interviews are thrown into the process without previous warning. Or maybe new requirements come out of nowhere. These kinds of surprises will hurt your hiring process, especially if there’s misalignment around the role’s expectations or salary.

When communication is clear and consistent throughout the process, you’ll begin to develop trust with the candidate. This trust can help the candidate endure a longer hiring process. Short updates, honesty and clear next steps are far preferred over silence and a false sense of urgency.

 

If you’re looking for help attracting top candidates in tech, accounting and finance, corporate administration or manufacturing and operations, reach out to STRIVE Recruitment today. We’ve been providing top talent to Fortune 500s, public organizations and companies of all sizes since 2008. Learn more about our secret sauce: The STRIVE Difference.