Let’s talk about what Candidate Ghosting says about the direction of today’s broken hiring process and then three steps to reduce Candidate Ghosting.

The term Candidate Ghosting simply means that candidates who have somehow expressed interest in a job have disappeared without any explanation. In some cases, the candidate was offered and accepted a new job but never showed up.

Candidate Ghosting is a validation that today's hiring process is broken and changes are needed.

Let’s remember that the most complicated and most complex aspect of all business is the people who work for your business and, for that matter, the people who you want to work for your business. Due to the complexity and the emotional aspect that we as people possess, the hiring process requires MORE human involvement with qualified candidates versus more use of electronic interview tools like robots.

After all, if you don’t make a human connection with talented candidates, you do not give the talent a reason to feel connected to your organization and to your interviewing process. Can you blame them for ghosting you or just disconnecting from the interview?

Prioritizing the People Aspect is exactly what’s needed to reduce Candidate Ghosting. Here are three steps that can reduce candidates from ghosting your hiring efforts.

Step 1 to Reduce Candidate Ghosting

This may be the hardest step, but it is also the simplest. It requires the employer to view hiring as being different than any other thing their business does. Hiring must be separated outside of commodity acquisitions. Everything a business buys or sells has the component of being a commodity. Hiring people is not a commodity experience. No future employee wants to be thought of as a widget or a unit or "human capital".  

Step 2 to Reduce Candidate Ghosting

Understand your company's hiring process from the candidate's perspective. Why would a talented individual want to work for your organization? What is in it for them? Have you, the business leader, CEO, or hiring manager audited your hiring process recently to really understand what the candidate experience feels like? Do you ask candidates for their comments about your company's hiring process?

Businesses frequently post on their website statements describing how important their people are. Then they automate their hiring process with robots. Robots can do a lot for businesses today. But using robots for hiring says the hiring process has been developed to hire with the most amount of shortcuts and the least amount of human interaction.

Step 3 to Reduce Candidate Ghosting

Remember that your company is adding people to work with the existing members of your organization to ideally deliver a higher collective-group output than the theoretical sum of the individual's output.

Simply put, it has been proven that chemistry and cultural fit are critical to hiring great talent. As the employer, what are you doing to personally connect with qualified candidates? How are you making them feel involved in the process of joining your organization? Are you asking for their questions? Are you having them meet with several members of your organization? Is the hiring manager (the candidate's future boss) taking an active role to connect with the candidates?

Summary

All of us are trying to find a better, faster way to conduct business. Technology has delivered terrific tools. But they are merely tools. Unlike everything else in business, people have feelings and emotions as part of their complex make-up. If qualified candidates don't feel there has been any type of connection during their hiring discussion, then it shouldn't be a surprise when they evaporate.

Successful hiring requires a process and the dedication to give the necessary time to make the personal connection with qualified candidates.

Good Hunting!