Being ghosted by HR

We’ve all been ghosted at some point in our lives. And usually, when we think of ghosting we think of the dating scene. Yeah, that hurts. You find the person you think is the one. You guys talk and text for days in a row and then poof! Like Cosmo and Wanda, they’re gone. Without a trace. YOU’VE BEEN GHOSTED.

And it hurts. You vent to your friends of how you were sure this was going to be it. You guys were going to elope to Bora Bora, have ten babies and live happily ever after.

But have you ever been ghosted by a company?

Imagine scrolling on Indeed. You come across a job posting and every word in the job description sounds just like you. Right hours, right salary, interesting duties… you’re immediately sold! You spend days on end polishing your resume and cover letter to ensure you’re selling yourself in the best way possible.

Finally, you upload your documents and complete the application.

You get the generic e-mail that they’ve received your application and if you meet the criteria, someone from the recruitment team will reach out to you.

And then you wait.

Every time you see a notification from Gmail pop up on your phone, you quickly unlock your phone to read it… only to see an email from Bath and Body Works about their upcoming sale.

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I recently had such an experience. I found what I thought would be the perfect job. I completed the application. Then I got an email with a link to a psychometric assessment I was required to take. I cleared my schedule and took my time doing the psychometric assessment which was a series of games. A series of mind-boggling, stressful, easy but hard games.

But I did it. After completing the test, I got another e-mail. I was asked to complete a digital interview. By this time, I was hyped. I was like yasssss, time to slay on HR.

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I made sure my lighting was good. Brows were fleeky. I had an interview prep session with myself. I was readyyyy!

My interview went pretty well. There were a few tough questions. And I have to say, these were no ordinary questions. Not the usual, “Tell us about yourself.” “What would you say is your greatest weakness?” Nah, screw all that. I had to propose solutions to fix real business challenges. I was like

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But I survived.

The next day, I got an email. They told me congratulations for completing the digital interview. They gave me such detailed feedback on all my responses. I was shook. This was actually the best feedback I had ever gotten from a recruiter. They told me what I did really well with and how I could improve. I was actually quite impressed.

And that’s the last time I heard from them.

No updates. Nothing. No email saying “well, we’re sorry but we’re moving forward with another candidate at this time”. No email saying they picked me either.

I was just GHOSTED.

And I was just sitting looking at my email like:

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That ish hurts. I love HR personnel who have the common decency to take the time to give me an update on my job application. Yes, I understand HR sees millions of applications and it is impossible to write them all, but…

Something. Anything. Especially when I’ve passed several levels and gotten to an interview.

Candidates take their time to formulate resumes and cover letters that they hope will wow the trousers off recruiters. It’s only fair if you let them know if they made the cut or not. I think those are the best recruiters. The ones who give feedback. Don’t you think?