According to an analysis by Arthur Hunt Romania, in recent years, most large companies have faced problems when hiring staff. Basically, despite having the right skills for the job they’re applying for and going through several rounds of recruitment, many candidates are suddenly cut off without any explanation.

The percentage is rising alarmingly, approaching 10% of all applicants, Arthur Hunt estimates, and this behavior is most common among young people between the ages of 20 and 40.

In recent years, most large companies have faced problems during recruitment

In recent years, most large companies have faced a ghostly experience in their recruitment processes, which is a major indicator of the emergence of new social phenomena that will have serious consequences in the coming years, according to an analysis by Arthur Hunt in Romania.

Basically, even though they have the right skills for the position they are applying for and successfully pass through several stages of recruitment, a huge number of candidates suddenly stop communicating with recruiters without any explanation.

This percentage is approximately 10% of all candidates, and this behavior is most common among young people between the ages of 20 and 40 and is a mechanism of avoidance, lack of commitment or fear of moving on to new experiences.

The phenomenon of ghosting is borrowed from social networks

The phenomenon of ghosting has increased in recent years in the labor market and borrowed from social media, respectively, with the expansion of the popularity of dating apps, and the period of the pandemic, characterized by social distancing and communication through various social platforms, has reinforced the phenomenon.

In other European countries, such as France, Poland or Slovakia, this phenomenon is already felt among people over 50 and can also take the form of a breach of a firm promise made to employers, without any signs that herald this break. According to Arthur Hunt International, 1 in 3 candidates abandon the job change process in the final stages after signing a job offer or contract. Thus, the phenomenon of ghosting has a tendency to spread in the future to other age categories and in Romania, note the Romanian specialists of the Arthur Hunt company.

“At the moment, we are talking about a socially dangerous state of normality in this age segment – and we are talking about middle management positions, that is, candidates who have some experience. We observe the interaction with the different sides of the candidates’ personalities, in apparent disharmony, which do not seem to communicate with each other. At the beginning of the process, we experience the excited side of the candidate, motivated by the development opportunities and future bidder. At this stage, the candidate makes an effort to seduce the prospective employer in order to be selected. This aspect is suddenly replaced by the aspect of harsh reality, in which the candidate understands the cost of the transition, the risks to which he is exposed, the price he must pay to gain access to the previously imagined state of well-being, and then the process freezes and disappears,” says psychologist Alina Syrbu , partner of Arthur Hunt in Romania and one of the most experienced HR consultants on the local market.

Borrowed from social networks, the mechanism of avoiding the consequences of actions and the selective presentation of certain aspects of the personality gives a false sense of security and discourages initiative, speculation and, in a broad sense, everyday life, the representative of the company adds.

Ghosting varies by industry, but has been common in all middle management recruitment projects in recent years.

The percentage in which the phenomenon of ghosting is registered varies depending on the industry, but in general it has been found in recent years in all recruitment projects for the middle management segment, according to the company’s experts. In the field of finance and IT, it is the highest (28%), in other technical positions – 22%, and in general – 10%. This is in conditions where, at the level of 2019, the halo phenomenon was registered only in exceptional cases, without statistical impact.

Ghostly behavior has serious consequences for candidates. As such, their profiles remain flagged in recruiters’ records, eliminating them from possible future hiring processes.