You’ve found the perfect candidate. She is highly experienced, has experience in your industry, and is a perfect fit for the company culture. You’re preparing the job offer and your team is excited about the candidate’s potential. Just when everything seems perfect, she stops responding to your emails and messages. Days turn into weeks and you never hear from the candidate again. You have, in effect, been ghosted. Unfortunately, “ghosting” is not a new phenomenon for hiring managers. In fact, according to a survey by Indeed, 83% of employers have been ghosted by candidates. How can you avoid being ghosted?

Top candidates aren’t only interviewing with you, they have other options. The best way to avoid being ghosted by them is to streamline your hiring process. Reduce the time between scheduling interviews and hold fewer interviews. Once you have decided on the candidate, don’t keep them waiting. Make an offer quickly to your top candidate.

As a hiring manager, you are very busy. During your hectic schedule, establish a process that allows you to be highly responsive to a candidate. If they email you with questions or concerns, be quick to respond. If you leave them waiting, the chances of them losing interest increase. Educate them about timelines and establish expectations of how long the hiring process will take. Find out what communication channels are best for the candidate; whether they prefer emailing, calls, texts, etc.

This may seem obvious, but make them an attractive offer that matches their expectations and makes sense for your company. You should already know what kind of compensation/job title they are expecting, so don’t let them down. Sometimes you’ll need to negotiate the finer details, but don’t make an offer that will be lower than their expectations. If you do, don’t be surprised when the candidate ghosts you. 

It’s pivotal to develop a relationship with the candidate throughout the hiring process. Get to know their goals and hobbies. Understand their doubts and their concerns. Help them understand that they can be transparent with you. When they understand that they are a priority for you, they will feel less inclined to ghost you. 

Asking for feedback should be a constant part of your hiring process. Ask the candidate for input through the process and how you can improve. When you learn how you can improve after each hire, you’ll understand where you are losing candidates in the process. You can then adjust and decrease the likelihood that you will be ghosted in the future.