#EndGhosting in recruitment

I had five back-to-back interviews. Starting at 10am and finished at 5pm. After the long process, they said they’d be back in touch by the end of the week – I never heard back from them, despite following up four times. The senior employee who had headhunted me and gave me all the encouraging noises disappeared is no longer a connection on my Linkedin. I also contacted him by email and got ignored.

I got in such a state with it all. What is wrong with me? Did I say something incredibly thick? Will I ever work again? It triggers a trail of thought that makes you question everything. I nearly gave up, I didn’t want to go outside.

The HR department asked me to come in for the first interview with them, and it went really well. For the second interview, I went to meet the owner of the company who asked if I could set up a project management function at the company. He offered me the job on the spot. He followed up with an email and asked about my availability for starting. It was very positive.

When I followed up the owner stopped replying to my emails. The HR team got back to me asking for a brief on how I’d set up a project management function for the company. I put a half day into producing this and showcased to them – then, I never heard from them again.

In the first week, I rang once to follow up. The week after that, I rang twice, and in the third week, I rang three times – and then I gave up. Don’t put yourself down like I did.

We had a phone call and then I met them twice. The first time was just with the hiring manager, and the second time also included a person from its communications department. The conversations had been very positive and it was going really well.

It wasn’t a ‘maybe’, it was we ‘will’ be in contact. While I was away I contacted them three times to arrange the third interview – and I never heard from them ever again. They just completely ghosted me.

It really affected my mental health – had I done something wrong? I just didn’t understand. It knocked my confidence and also made me think poorly of the company. It really tarnished the brand for me. It really knocked my confidence for future interviews as well – what if it happens again?

My first interview was with the UK manager in the London office. The second interview was a round with my peers and would-be equivalents in different regions across the world. I got the green light, and it was very exciting to proceed to the next stage. They were really positive and were talking to me like I already had the job. For the third interview I had to travel to the hotel they were staying at and meet them at 7am before their flight. It went really well and I was told: “they absolutely loved you”.

I never heard anything again. I followed up the day after the interview. Neither of them wrote back. I emailed the UK Manager – heard nothing. I waited another week and followed up again.

I wasn’t sure what to do; what if they come back to me? I was in total limbo. People advised me that I needed to move on. It was very hard to do that mentally because I hadn't received a response.

I got headhunted for a job at an international well-known food company. I went for the first interview and really loved the team and the people who interviewed me – the job sounded good and I was excited about it.

I got down to the last two people, so for my fourth interview, I met the CEO. It took a lot of my time. I got positive feedback after each stage and I had all the skills suitable – everything had been going well.

They said they’d be in touch. Then I heard nothing. The job was through a recruitment agency and I asked them what was happening – they didn’t even know. The recruitment agency didn’t want to chase them too much because they didn’t want to damage their relationship. I never heard anything again.

It was stressful enough anyway but then never to hear anything made it worse. I had really invested in the company. It really made me lose faith in the business, really disappointed. You wonder how they treat their staff. I have warned many people against applying to this company.