A turbocharged economy has drastically reduced unemployment and created a buyer’s market for jobs. This state of affairs has given rise to a new phenomenon in recruiting, and a new word has entered the recruiting lexicon to describe it: ghosting.
It happens when a job candidate – or even someone who’s accepted your job offer – simply drops from sight. They’ve become a ghost.
It can happen at any stage of the recruiting process.
- The recruiter may try to get in touch with the person without any response. No return call. Nothing.
- Or the person may be scheduled for a job interview and not show up. No notice, no explanation. Again, simply dropping from sight.
- Or the person may actually be hired but fail to show up for their first day of work. Here again, there is no warning, no communication. The person just disappears.
It’s happening more often because there is such a labor crunch. Employers are struggling more than ever to find qualified people. As a result, top people are often receiving more than one offer. They have options. And, although it may not be the most professional approach, some have a cavalier attitude toward employers, dropping them without a second thought if something better comes along.
If you are an employer, what can you do so that you don’t fall victim to ghosting? Simply put, you need to take care of your job candidates. They need to feel that the company values them and their time. They need to be treated well, just like a customer.
Communication is important. The company needs to stay in contact with candidates and keep them up to date on status status – where they stand in relation to other applicants, what comes next in the process and when, how long the whole thing is expected to take.
Companies can no longer afford to keep candidates in the dark or impose on their time by dragging out the hiring process. If a firm does this, top prospects will simply go elsewhere. It’s all about giving job candidates a good experience.
To begin with, you need to reexamine every step of the hiring process, from the time a job candidate makes first contact, through the interviewing process and onboarding.
- Recruiting
To prevent ghosting, you need to attract candidates who are a good fit for the job. So you need to make sure your job descriptions are current and accurately describe the kinds of skills and experience needed to be successful. Skip the boilerplate and describe what is really involved in the job.
- Interviewing
Hiring managers need to prepare for the interview just like candidates. First of all, hiring managers need to be clear exactly what skills, knowledge and experience they’re looking for and interview questions should reflect that so that they produce the information needed. All of the candidates should answer the same questions to provide a basis for comparison.
Hiring managers also need to ask questions about company culture and soft skills, the person’s ability to communicate, collaborate, their work ethic, and resilience.
Doing all of this will help ensure that you find candidates who are a good fit for the job and the culture, which will make it less likely that they’ll ghost you.
- Onboarding
The onboarding process should give new hires the orientation they need to make a good start at the company. That means welcoming them, introducing them to people in their department, reviewing the duties and expectations of the job, preparing their workspace with everything they will need, and being available to answer questions or concerns they may have.
- Employee engagement
Ghosting also occurs after an employee has been working with you for awhile. If you have employees who are engaged and excited about their work, there is little chance they will leave without notice (ghost). To cultivate engaged employees, you need to show you value them and their work. Younger workers, especially millennials, want frequent feedback on how they are doing and what they need to work on.
To improve employee engagement, you need to recognize employees for their work and reward it, provide opportunities for growth in their careers and offer training opportunities, such as mentoring.
All of these things will make for employees who enjoy their work, thus helping you retain them.
Have you just been ghosted? Need to “bust” that departure quickly? Then call Helpmates! We can have one of our associates with the skills you need at your location quickly….and ready to get to work! Contact the Helpmates branch nearest you for more information.
