Ghosted by successful job applicant

I mean, she may never have thought her employer would have given in. I'm at a cross roads where my much-loved job is becoming intolerable due to various factors. No one is listening to me and they probably think I wouldn't dream of leaving. Who is to say that if I handed my notice in, they then believe me and make my job lovable again? I'd stay.

It's not shitty on the potential new employer if the only reason they were looking to leave in the first place is suddenly fixable.

He must have been hungover or something and later regretted it 😆

Maybe died?

Over the years, I've had a 25% drop out rate in various roles I've interviewed people for. In conversation with colleagues, that seems about right.

In my last role, when I was in the office I could see candidates being escorted to HR for interviews. Because I was IT manager I would start the process to assign kit, create accounts etc. And the person that did that would wager with me whether it would be a waste of time.

It's why I always like to have a spare when I made the initial offer.

I know someone whose hobby was attending interviews.

Whatever field is this, that puts “charming” ahead of flakey. I assume her flakiness would have been noted in references.

Tit for tat. It's so common for employers to ghost candidates he probably didn't think it was a big deal.

That’s a low bar for job hunting - feeling fortunate to be informed of a rejection.

Sounds like you had a lucky escape. He probably would’ve been a nightmare to work with.

Yes, I've worked a couple of places where people just didn't show up on the first day and were never heard from again.

LinkedIn isn’t used in my line of work, so didn’t occur to me! That would also show in Google though? As well as an accident or death etc, which LinkedIn wouldn’t show

One of my friends is very charming and always gets offered jobs at interview. She is also super flakey and has done things like this quite often. She was offered a great opportunity in a very coveted profession once but then her sister suggested they go for a one week holiday in Spain so she went to Spain instead of starting the job.

We had this... Applicant wanted flexibility, we were able to offer that but her old workplace wasn't, ours would have been a slight drop in pay but worth it for the flexibility with children. Said in interview she loved her job and didn't want to leave, but had to prioritise herself/ family. Then turns out her old job offered the exact flexibility she'd been offered with us... Asked boss if he thought she'd used us to get her current job to agree to the flexible working request, he said no she didn't come across like that! Maybe I'm just more cynical...

Is that playing you? Or is it going for a job and then being retained - a pretty normal way for things to happen

We’ve had applicants a few times who accepted the job offer then announced that their current employer had offered them a pay rise, so it became clear fairly quickly that they’d been playing us. Shitty thing to do.

I’d assume he was hurt/died tbh. I don’t think a grieving /overwhelmed NOK would think to inform you.

I think we have all become used to ghosting in all areas of life instead of explaining ourselves or having hard conversations. When you make a restaurant booking or get a hospital appointment they remind you to actually tell them if you want to cancel.

I was offered a job in October, had a call to say start date was being pushed back until November and then never heard from them again. Annoyance and rejection is part of life so we should face it politely instead of inconveniencing people more through silence

Kidnapped by aliens 👽🛸👾

I’ve worked in payroll for a large company with a lot of employees. You’d be surprised how often first day no shows occur.

I think they just changed their mind or had another offer.

I've noticed the last 10 years or so that many people don't feel obligated to inform people of their change of heart or that they can't do what they were intending to.

I accepted a job, turned up on my first day, the job wasn't what was advertised, the person doing the handover even told me that when I started asking questions.
I turned up the next day, spoke in private to tell them I wouldn't be continuing, they couldn't believe I turned up to tell them and the company owners why I wouldn't be coming back.
Just said they would have just not turned up., and not got in touch.

It’s awful OP, they are just crap people. I had a cleaner who did this to me. She had got a great new job and I would have been delighted for her all she had to do was tell me but she just went radio silence. Really impacted me at the time as I would have classified her as a friend also.

I remember this happening in a former workplace. There was quite a rigorous process for applicants including a full day assessment centre. The guy was offered the role, accepted, completed all the paperwork required, provided references, agreed a start date but didn't turn up. Initially his intended manager and HR were concerned. Telephoned him at home (this was before mobiles were commonplace) and his mother said he was still in bed, he would not come to the phone and she had no idea he was supposed to be starting a job that day.

He never called back to explain but - this is the really odd thing - when the role was readvertised he applied again (and was swiftly rejected).

I've also in more recent times experienced candidates accepting a role and then informing us close to the start date that they would not be taking up the position for various reasons, usually that their employer had raised their salary and "beaten our offer" or they had secured another role in the meantime. I don't think that's unusual. Just not turning up is really not a good look.

I work in an area that’s hard to recruit, not that well paid and anti-social hours. We get ghosted constantly! Basically people need a job, we offer then they get a better offer. People deal with this pretty often by ghosting, as opposed to telling us.
I’m guessing, from experience, this happened.
The nature of the job makes it more pronounced for us, but I think it is a way people deal with it. We’ve become fairly relaxed and factor it in.

I would have thought you'd have more success looking on LinkedIn!