Ghosting is common when it comes to dating, but its rise in recruiting can be jarring for even the most seasoned recruiters. It’s frustrating when a candidate ghosts you. While you can’t stop every candidate from disappearing into thin air, there are certain things you can do to try and prevent candidate ghosting.

Here are three surefire ways you can reduce the chance that a candidate ghosts your hiring team.

1. Establish Consistent Communication Parameters

Consistent communication is the opposite of ghosting. In a realm where a lack of communication almost seems commonplace, it’s up to the recruiter to break the trend.

Set clear SLAs for all communication with candidates. Make sure you block off time in your schedule to respond in a timely manner. Whether it’s answering questions or sending a quick “good luck” note before an interview, keeping up communication is important for building a close candidate relationship.

This communication should also be continued after the candidate receives their offer. To recruiters, it can feel like a no-brainer for candidates to accept. However, most candidates juggle multiple offers from different companies. If you’re offering to an engineer, that becomes even more difficult.

If you built a close relationship with the candidate beforehand, you’re far less likely to experience candidate ghosting. Go out and start building those connections!

2. Keep the Process Candidate-driven

A lot of recruiting is company-focused. There are long wait times to hear back about a submitted application, interviewers tend to ask the same questions, and it can take weeks to hear back about an offer (or rejection).

Put the candidate in the driver’s seat and make sure you’re giving them the best experience possible. Make an effort to get to know the candidate outside of interviewing—which means building a personal relationship with them.

As a recruiter, you’re the first real touchpoint that candidates have with the company. You’re who candidates will imagine working alongside.

3. Use Candidate Relationship Intelligence

At the end of the day, there will always be candidates who ghost. However, creating a strong candidate relationship from the beginning and fostering consistent communication are great ways to prevent it. Candidates are less likely to ghost when they feel like their time is valued and they have a great connection with their recruiter.

Want to give your anti-candidate-ghosting efforts an extra boost? Enlist the help of the right recruitment tech—like GoodTime Hire.

Hire’s Candidate Relationship Intelligence enables candidates to drive the interview process, from scheduling their interview all the way to showcasing their skills in front of confident, trained interviewers.

Interested in learning more about how Hire can give your talent acquisition process an edge? Come right this way.

About the Author

Rachel Heller

Rachel is passionate about creating and distributing powerful, engaging, and expert-vetted content. As the former Content Specialist at GoodTime, she covered the latest trends, insights, and expert recommendations for all things talent acquisition and recruiting.