Ghosting is common in the dating realm and now has infiltrated career networks too.
- 93% of those who responded to a LinkedIn poll indicated they had been ghosted by an employer during a job search interview process.
- 40% (at the time of writing this newsletter) responding to my poll on LinkedIn indicate they have ghosted a potential employer.
Boo! Why are we being spooked by common courtesy, instead choosing silence to sever the connection? ?
To borrow from Letitia Baldrige’s “The New Manners For The ’90s” (a gem of a book):
Our relationships with everyone are important. I remember asking a question of a simply wonderful woman who was greatly loved by every single person who came to know her: “Don’t you get tired being nice to everyone?”
Her answer: “It’s much more exhausting going back and forth, being nice to some people, and not nice to others.”
Back to ghosting…
Wouldn’t it be easier to make responding to all job applicants standard practice (and for job applicants to respond to employer inquiries) — than avoiding, blocking emails, dreading your email inbox, carrying around the anger, hurt, frustration of being ghosted? THINK of the PR! Imagine the goodwill and morale boost, and referrals! I’m not being a Pollyanna: I truly believe that being courteous pays bigger networking dividends — ’cause you never know who will talk to who (or post/tweet/update as the case may be).
Courtesy may be in short supply, but memories are long.
New #BYDN Podcast “Ghosting and Being Ghosted During A Job Search“.
