Are You Getting Ghosted On Your Job Search?
During my intake calls with job seekers I always ask how their search has been going and in the past week the number 1 response is frustration with employers ghosting them. I can say for myself that I have been ghosted more in the past year than in my entire career combined.
Because I partner on both sides of the hiring equation, I have a unique perspective to what might be happening behind the scenes. Here are the top items we all (me included) need to consider as to why we are getting "ghosted" and maybe take a different mental approach to the situation.
Too much input, too little time. The average amount of emails an office worker receives is 121 per day and sends about 40. I ran the numbers from my own work email account and I receive 160-198 emails and send between 23-52 emails per day.
Companies are running lean. In March of 2020 the unemployment rate was 4.4% and in April of 2020 it was 14.7%. That rate is slowly declining, but in February of 2021 it was still at 6.25% which means people are still being asked to increase output while companies are running leaner.
Even the best laid plans change. With market uncertainty headcount shifts are occurring more fluidly. An open role might change into 5 roles or simply go away. Unless the hiring manager is a top executive, they are typically not the driver of these changes. They are reacting and pivoting to what is the highest need when things change.
Put yourself in the shoes of the person you are trying to connect with. They are dealing with heavier workloads, more information coming at them, uncertain environments, all while they need to prioritize things to keep internal stakeholders happy with what they are tasked with.
If no timeline was set. Your next message should be specific about the timeline you felt was implied and clarify what to expect from here.
IF a timeline was set but missed. This is a feel thing, but sometimes you need to close the loop in order to have people reengage. Make sure this is professional and not a line in the sand, rather appreciative and understanding. For example, Hi John, I really appreciated the opportunity to learn more about your company and the open position. It was my understanding I would know next steps last Thursday, so my guess is you decided to go in a different direction. If things change in the future, I would love to restart the conversation as I felt like there was a good fit. Thanks.