Is Recruitment Agency Ghosting Here to Stay?

Why is the term ‘ghosting’ becoming more and more common amongst Recruitment Agencies?

Applying for a job is tough. Its more than just applying for a job, it’s securing your future career, and your income. Finding a job that provides perfect harmony with work and home life balance. It is a huge decision to make. So why are Recruitment Agencies taking a candidate’s bold leap of faith on face value, when ghosting them is so common?

At MCF Recruitment we try to be different. Our custom-built CRM and ATS (Applicant Tracking System) allows us to automate and blend telephone calls, text messages and email updates to reassure Candidates throughout the process as should be the norm for all Recruitment Agencies, right? We already know that finding a job can be stressful, difficult, awkward. So why does ghosting make it that much worse?

You’re probably wondering what that term actually means, below is the definition for the term ‘ghosting’. Put very simply in a Recruitment context, it involves abruptly withdrawing from all communication with a Client, Recruiter, or Candidate, and thereby ending the relationship. No courtesy, no professionalism or class!

So why do we think Recruitment Agencies do this?

Many of you reading this will probably assume they are super busy, or maybe the candidate really just wasn’t what they were looking for? Maybe even to go as far as saying they (the company) are too big to care? They are all valid reasons not to hire someone, but they certainly aren’t valid reasons to ghost a Candidate. Ghosting can feel personal, it can make you feel like a failure, and like you aren’t worth anyone’s time, but this couldn’t be any further from the truth here at MCF Recruitment. We value each and every relationship that we are fortunate to have, and a reputation that we have built around the quality of service that we provide.

The Real Reason why recruiters ‘ghost’.

Recruiters are great, they help companies find candidates and help candidates find companies. Sometimes Recruitment staff can be diamonds in the rough, they can be supportive and help you fulfil your career goals, which is what you would expect given the job title. What most people tend to forget is that huge companies are very fast paced, and they forget the challenges that come with being a big dot on the map. Many things can occur behind the scenes, so we have compiled some of the most common reasons why Recruiters ghost candidates.

Some Recruitment Agencies have a lot of employees, and with a large number of employees comes a large number of candidates per Recruiter, sometimes Candidates just slip through the net. This tends to be due to poor time management, poor communication, and poor Recruitment. We would advise you to call and email the Recruitment Agency to hear a definite confirmation that they have your correct contact details and follow up multiple times until an outcome or feedback is offered.

Recruitment Agencies can be Godsends, but it doesn’t mean they are perfect. Sometimes Recruiters just aren’t trained proficiently in giving feedback or simply don’t have the tools or interpersonal skills to be able to provide this. In this case we would recommend that you send an email asking if the Recruiter could respond with some short bullet points as to what you can improve on and what you excelled at.

We all love holidays but that being said, we don’t enjoy permanent holidays. Yes, we mean the big S word. Sacked, Fired, Let go of, or on a permanent holiday as I prefer to call it. Sometimes Recruiters are handed your account without previous ownership, without notes and are asked if they can just “pick this up please” by a manager. That is setting up failure on multiple levels – the Candidate, the Client, and the Recruitment Agency. This scenario has no winner.

Dealing with circumstances out of their control. Things happen we can sympathise with that and understand it. Sometimes the Recruiter simply just doesn’t have all of the information so they can’t make you promises or commitments that they have zero knowledge on. Again, improving communication and organisational skills is key to avoiding this happening and future-proofing internal processes.

Ghosting can happen for any number of reasons, but you should never take poor etiquette and translate it into being your fault. Ghosting is unacceptable, unprofessional, and outright rude. It does, however, allow poor practice to be highlighted, allowing further extensive training opportunities and to really understand how they could avoid the breakdown in communications. Communication is king, it is the glue that sticks the Recruitment process together and is needed to help us all improve.

In our next Blog post, we are flipping this topic a full 180 and discussing Candidates Ghosting Recruitment Agencies. This one will be fun to write...