If you’ve ever waited for your phone to ring or refreshed your inbox hoping to hear about a job, only to be met with silence, you’ll know how disheartening it can feel to be ‘ghosted’.
When you’re being considered for a job, sometimes you’ll communicate with that business directly, and deal with a hiring manager or HR professional. In that case, read about what to do if you’re not hearing back.
But other times, you’ll be in touch with a recruiter the business has hired to fill the role. So, if you’re dealing with a recruiter who goes silent, what can you do?
Here’s why it happens, how to encourage a response and how to boost your confidence to move forward.
While it doesn’t make it right, unfortunately being ghosted by a recruiter can be common during a job search. HR Professional Tanya Southey and Career Coach and founder of Careerists Thai Ngo explain some of the reasons a recruiter may go silent:
There’s no denying that being ghosted for a job you were interested in can be frustrating – and it can dent your confidence. Acknowledging that you got this far is just one small way to help you build confidence again before moving forward. Ngo points out most jobs have many, many applicants, so if you’ve made to the interview stage, this is something to pat yourself on the back for.
Southey suggests making use of your networks here. “If you have a great mentor, or former colleagues that can remind you of your strengths and help you identify areas to work on, make use of them and ask for feedback and support.”
And if it’s happened one time too many, consider these 10 ways to boost your job search or some one-on-one time with a career coach. Ngo says the relevant experience and education is your step in the door, but it’s what you uniquely bring to the table that gets most successful people over the line, and many of us don’t always know what this is. A career coach can help you identify it.
The most important thing to remember if you have been ghosted is that it doesn’t necessarily mean you weren’t a great applicant; it could be that the job changed or that you missed out by a sliver. Once you’ve looked for answers, shifting your focus to how you can best stand out for the next opportunity can help you to move forward and get closer to landing the right role for you.