Recently trending is the phenomenon of candidates in the final stages of joining a new employer transforming into ghosts: either disappearing just prior to an offer, accepting the position and then never showing up for work or starting the job and then after a few weeks deciding to stop going to work, in a copy of Office Space (1988).
These folks do not respond to calls or emails from the hiring manager asking for an explanation, even when the new employer fears the worst. Has there been an accident? Family emergency?
As senior-level, retained recruiters we don’t see this.
Is this because our candidates are professional, experienced executives who are invested in the search process and possess a deeper understanding the value of a professional reputation? Perhaps it is because we work with some of the world’s leading public and privately held companies that enjoy the reputation of being known as a great place to work.
If your company has experienced this phenomenon, we challenge you to look at your current recruitment processes and follow-up procedures. How much times passes between your or your recruiter’s contact with the target candidates with each step in the process? If that time is measured in weeks, it’s far too long. In this market, keeping candidates warm is an every-couple-of days process.
Once your organization makes a selection for the finalist candidate, does someone call, not email, the contenders on the semi-finalist / short-list to give them honest and timely feedback? Does the runner up ever hear from your organization or the recruiter again?
Sadly, many companies have been “ghosting” potential candidates for years.
Candidates take note as well: The golden rule applies. In the Experience Age, driven by the remarkable power of big data, memories are long. Ghost a potential employer once, and the memory of that disrespect will remain, and might be shared.
At Industrial Search Partners, we pride ourselves on taking the time to provide our clients AND our candidates with a hands-on, personal recruiting experience to ensure timely communication at all levels of the search process.
Consider a retained executive recruiter your reliable ghostbusters.
Who ya gonna call?