Job ghosting

Job ghosting is when a company stops responding in the middle of a hiring process: you went through interviews, they said they'd get back to you, and silence became the answer. The term comes from dating "ghosting", and in recruiting it's so common that most job seekers in the region have experienced it at least once.

Why it happens (and why it's not personal)

It's almost never about you: the opening was frozen or filled internally, the budget changed, the recruiter is juggling dozens of processes at once, or the company simply has no habit of closing the loop with candidates it passes on. Understanding this matters because prolonged silence hits your morale, and a job search runs on morale.

How to follow up without burning bridges

• Ask for timelines at the end of every interview: a "when should I expect news?" gives you a legitimate date to write afterwards.
• Wait 5 to 7 business days past that date before your first message.
• Keep it short and reproach-free: restate your interest and ask if there's any news; two or three lines are enough.
• Two follow-ups maximum: if there's no reply, the silence is the reply; log the process as closed and don't chase it.
• Don't pause your search for an "almost certain" process: ghosting hurts twice as much when you bet everything on a single door.

How Ingenium works on this

Ingenium's Job Tracker logs every application with its status and dates, so following up becomes a data point instead of a source of anxiety. The search plan you build in the Career Accelerator spreads your effort across several processes and your network, and your Career Coach helps you write follow-ups that open doors instead of closing them.