“When we founded Tribepad we were guided by a simple philosophy; focus on people first, product second and profits third. And this philosophy has seen us right. Tribepad was born of a desire to better serve both the recruitment industry and job seekers and we genuinely care about the people at the heart of that. And that’s why we won’t rest on our laurels when issues like ghosting arise.
The whole planet has been upended in the past 18 months and it’s inevitable that the impact of that is far reaching. Our industry continues to be put under huge pressure as the job market contracts and expands at an incredible pace. Nonetheless, it’s disheartening that, as a result, the ghosting of talent applying for jobs, people at potentially one of the most stressful times of their lives, seems to be on the rise.
We’ve taken a deep dive into the impact of ghosting on both job candidates and brands, and posed questions around why this is happening. What can we, as an industry, do to prevent it from happening in the future? How can we help ease the strain on HR professionals while taking care of high volume candidates at the same time?
We know it’s possible. At the campaign website, end-ghosting.com, you can read about how companies have handled a huge spike in job applications. In one example retail giant Tesco saw an unimaginable surge of applicants as the pandemic really took hold. At the height of the outbreak, after issuing an appeal for more staff to help cope with the demands on their services, they were receiving 300 job applications every minute. How did they do that without ignoring the one million job seekers that reached out to them?
While Tesco did a stellar job, many businesses simply aren’t set up to handle this influx. An influx that doesn’t look set to go away – with disruption expected in the job market long into the foreseeable. Covid, and its implications on the job market, has thrown up huge challenges and it’s evident that our industry is struggling. It’s no surprise that many of us don’t have the time and resources to nurture each individual that applies to work with us. But it’s a vicious cycle. The ghosting of candidates has far reaching implications. It damages brand reputations, is detrimental to the mental health of our talent pool and it puts more pressure on an industry that’s already struggling to cope.
We know that AI and automation can be a part of the solution and, in an increasingly digital world, finding effective, automated processes is important to help ease the demands on recruiters and hiring managers. That’s why we’ve included a best practice guide to tech tools in this whitepaper. It’s not the whole story though. We also need to find ways to continue nurturing our talent, to find and develop the next generation of leaders, all while managing and maintaining the reputations of the companies we work for.
Tech is undoubtedly part of the solution, and yet it’s also more crucial now than ever to put people first.”
Dean Sadler, Tribepad CEO
Check out our infographic to see some of the impacts of ghosting:
