Last fall, I applied for a position with a local radio cluster and was immediately invited to interview with the General Sales Manager. We scheduled a Teams meeting for Thursday at 1:30p, which I joined five minutes early. I waited… but the GSM never showed.
I wasn’t given direct contact information, so I documented my login and reached out to the recruiter.
The next day, I received a text saying there had been a “late conflict” and that I’d receive a call the following morning to reschedule. That call never came. When I followed up, the recruiter responded, “I’m sorry, I just started with this company and I’m not quite sure yet how to do my job.”
I tried again after the holidays, only to be told I had received a rejection “after your in-person interview” – an interview that never happened.
Over the next few weeks, I interviewed with a few more companies, as did a few friends around the country. Employers setting interviews and not showing up was a common theme, as was being told to look for a follow-up in the next week, only to not receive anything from anyone.
One friend had a phone interview with a local car dealership for a business development role. She aced the phone interview with the sales manager, who said that he felt she would be a tremendous addition to the team and that she should expect a call from his colleague either that afternoon or the next day for the second and final interview. Then she could expect to start within a week or two, depending on when her background and drug screens came back.
No one from the dealership ever called her, and when she called, the sales manager she interviewed with said he never remembered talking with her, despite her calling him the next day.
Another friend met with a market sales manager for a communications sales position where the manager said he was, “one of the best interviews they’d ever had” and to expect a call either way on Monday or Tuesday at the latest. They never received a call back from the sales manager they met with. Moreover, the sales manager never provided her contact information, so my friend could send a follow-up email thanking them for the interview.
Instead (and three weeks later), they received the stereotypical “thanks, but no thanks” email advising they chose someone a bit better suited for the position.
In short, don’t get discouraged when employers ghost you. It is ultimately a reflection on who they are as recruiters and managers, not an indication of who you are as a qualified candidate.
Companies: you may not be able to hire every candidate you interview; however, you should communicate with every interviewee as though they are the only one you are interviewing. A personal note takes you a couple of minutes to type, and it could provide a tremendous boost in propelling them toward their next opportunity.
Bottom Line: Show how important communication is to the way you do business by how well you communicate with everyone you deal with.
