A lot has been said recently about how the ERP market is currently a candidate-led market (including some great thoughts from my colleague), but one thing that’s standing out to me is something I never would have expected to become a trend before it became more common this year; candidates ghosting interviews.
How Ghosting Can Affect Your Reputation
With companies competing for the best candidates, it’s possible that the reason this has become more common is that candidates are receiving and accepting job offers and any other interview processes they might be involved in seem irrelevant.
In that first rush of euphoria, I can understand how this happens; there’s plenty to concentrate on with the job you have, without worrying about interviews for a job you can’t accept. And I’m not going to argue that you should take up your time and your interviewer’s time going for an interview elsewhere once you’ve accepted a confirmed offer.
All the same, though, I will point out that if the interviewer believes you’re still booked in, you’re wasting their time – and the next time you’re looking for work and your CV goes to that company, the odds are very good that you won’t be asked for interview; there will definitely be a note on your file.
If your interviewer has moved on to another company – and they may well; HR personnel move as much as anyone else – that makes two companies where your name will not be put forward.
And, of course, if you got that interview through a recruiter, you make it very difficult for that recruiter to put you forward to a client again. That means it’s not just two or three companies associated with the first time you ghosted that might not look at you again – any client that recruiter works with may never get the chance to see you.
That isn’t anything personal; when we send over CVs we do it knowing the client probably has a maximum number of candidates to interview in mind. We can’t justify spending one of those ‘slots’ on someone who might not show up, at least under normal circumstances.
I won’t say I’d never put a candidate forward who I knew had ghosted, but it’s a lot less likely.
Take the time to let the interviewer (and recruiter, if you have one) know you won’t be attending, and even why – I can promise you nobody will be upset when we find out why, and it saves us wondering if something about the situation is sending up red flags.
If you’re looking for a new role, or you have an urgent requirement to fill, please get in touch – I’ll be happy to help.
