Hiring managers are ghosting job candidates as labor market cools. It could come back to bite them, says Greenhouse’s chief people officer

In many industries, power dynamics have swung back in favor of employers, leading to an increasingly poor candidate experience. Sixty-seven percent of job applicants say they have been ghosted by employers after a job interview, according to a recent survey from recruiting software company Greenhouse. And for historically underrepresented candidates, the numbers are even higher. 

Underrepresented candidates face an almost 25% higher chance of being ghosted in the interview process, according to the findings. It’s something that Donald Knight, chief people officer at Greenhouse, is trying to eradicate at his own company. He spoke with Fortune about how hiring teams can avoid such blunders and what a positive hiring process entails.

This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.

Fortune: What does the high percentage of ghosted applicants tell you about the current talent market? Does this trend surprise you?

Donald Knight: Does it surprise me? No, because you have more supply in the market today. If you rewind six months, 12 months, 18 months ago, a ton of people were looking for roles because they missed that whole 2020 employment turnover cycle, but you equally had roles for them to go to. Companies, including tech companies and SaaS companies, were still hiring at a higher clip. Today, most companies have wound down the number of jobs they post, especially for external purposes. 

Unfortunately, companies are still not realizing the importance of the employer brand and the candidate experience because there will be a time when the economic forecast changes and there’ll be growth opportunities. I am concerned that those companies would have already damaged their reputation with some of these amazing people in the market looking to join companies. Even during this tumultuous time, companies should be extremely focused on the candidate experience. 

What set of actions should hiring managers take when passing on applicants?

There are three things. The first is when a person goes through an interview process, there’s high anticipation. Companies that don’t respond turn high anticipation into high anxiety. For a company that has discussed the importance of mental health and well-being, no company should want to be the trigger point for someone’s high excitement turning to high anxiety. 

The second thing is what happens when you give a generic response. The problem with the generic response is that while the anxiety may be lower because there’s a response that has occurred, the last impression is a terrible one. Here you have someone who has invested time and talent applying to an organization and going through multiple rounds of interviews, or they apply to the organization and put a lot of thought into their résumés and their responses to whatever take-home assignment or questionnaire a company may have. Now they’re forced to walk away with that last impression.

The third thing to remember is that the last impression is more important than the first one. We have found that, at least at our organization, there are so many people who work here now that did not land at Greenhouse the first time they applied or interviewed. So to me, that last impression will be even more important. Companies talk about onboarding employees and then offboarding them. How do you offboard a candidate from the hiring experience? What does that look and feel like?

Why do you think ghosting is higher among BIPOC respondents?

It speaks toward the varied experiences that we have in the workplace. And unfortunately, for people of color, we have to wonder why that is a varied experience. Is it because we did not perform? Is it because we never had a shot in the first place? Is it because the employer actually found a better candidate? Is it because the role will no longer be filled? Or, unfortunately, is it because of who we are?

What best practices do you use to train hiring managers at Greenhouse to ensure good candidate experiences no matter the outcome?

The biggest thing we try to tell people is to shepherd the process. When you shepherd the process, you have a vested interest in making sure that people exit as gracefully as they arrive. The other thing we’ve done is start our alumni newsletter for Greenhouse, which lets people know that even if you’re no longer directly contributing to the organization’s success, you still are valued by the organization (even if you voluntarily choose to leave). We help those people find jobs. So our hiring managers know we offer outplacement services, offer people résumé writing, and offer guidance on revising LinkedIn profiles. 

As employers lean more on third-party vendors and A.I. for recruiting, how can they make sure they stay on top of the hiring process?

Greenhouse’s leadership team has agreed we will not use A.I. to make decisions. Instead, we use it to cast a wider net with sourcing automation and getting more diverse candidates. I am the first executive member ever sourced using Greenhouse’s sourcing automation. I also happen to be the first person of color on our executive leadership team. I’m not the only person on that leadership team now because, of course, I have embraced the opportunity to bring others from different organizations and backgrounds to our org, but I was the first one hired leveraging sourcing automation. So for me, it’s a personal story.

Amber Burton
amber.burton@fortune.com
@amberbburton

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