professional 'ghosting' - is this happening everywhere?

[sparklelala]

I side-stepped into a new area of work a few years ago. Creative industry where people in my role are freelance - but we work collaboratively with various companies and are hired by them on a contract by contract basis.

Lots of people who do the same thing as me have noticed that the levels of emails simply never being replied to, even by people you've previously worked with/had a good professional relationship with, are increasing.

My industry (media) is well-known for being pretty competitive and not the 'nicest' - but it seems to be becoming a real problem. I had a meeting last Friday - all seemed to go well and the 'client' requested follow up information. I sent an email after that and it's been utter tumbleweed since then, not even a 'thanks I'll get to this when I can' response.

This is NOT the first time, and I'd be taking this all personally if others I know weren't also complaining about it! It's making me wonder if something has fundamentally shifted in how we communicate with each other, maybe as a result of homeworking/the pandemic etc?

Do you mean Friday as in three days ago?

I just think we have email overload.
I try to respond to all emails but I absolutely don’t worry about the sort of emails that come from loose contacts. These are ones that I eventually respond to (if at all), if I see them accidentally looking through my inbox days later.

@GardenGeorgie - yes Friday as in three days ago. I wouldn't have expected a reply before the weekend necessarily but after a long meeting followed by an email sending through what they'd requested from me, I think it would be good manners to reply today, no?

@SilverBranchGoldenPears - I think we do have email overload. But this flat out ignoring of people seems like it's on the increase and it's such bad manners.

And yes, it's possible that the person simply hasn't replied yet, but it's also possible that they'll just NEVER reply...we are seeing a lot of it and it's not just me. I was wondering if this is simply the landscape now, or particular to my area of work?

I think there's a difference. If someone asked for information, and you sent it, then an acknowledgement is both appropriate and courteous.

If you send unsolicited e-mails, and they don't respond, I think that's okay. I'm no etiquette coach though!

@Zimunya - yes I'm definitely talking about the former!
@theforeverPm - even if I'm not interested or busy, I will reply to people who have emailed me if we already have a professional relationship!

Give them a chance! It’s only Monday; I think you are expecting too much. I can barely reply to half my emails.

They may be out of the office, they may assume that the email you sent was for info rather than required a response.

If you haven’t had contact after a week you could drop them an email to check they got your follow up.

@theforeverPm - not quite sure why you're so aggressive. I was using my experience on Friday as an example...but my main point is this sort of thing seems to be happening a LOT to those in my area of work right now, and I was wondering if this is more common now?

I think you may be on to something. I started a new job last August. A lot of the induction was online rather than face to face and many teams who described their services and expertise on the firm’s intranet included, at the end of the relevant description, the usual line about contacting them - always with an inbox address - if there were any questions. I don’t think I ever got a reply to my queries. Same happened with a secretarial team who couldn’t even respond to let me know I’d messaged the wrong people - and a client relationship manager whom I emailed directly, with a specific question about a named client. Radio silence.

Is it hybrid working and the lack of guaranteed face to face contact that’s encouraging this perhaps?

@theforeverPm - I probably shouldn't have used this recent experience as an example. If this were an isolated incident I wouldn't think anything of it, I would be presuming there could be a whole host of reasons why someone hadn't replied.

My point is that this kind of thing seems to be happening more and more. People taking a crazy long time to reply or in many cases actually failing to respond at all...

Were you pitching for work or providing them with something under contract?

if you’re pitching the honest answer is either it didn’t go as well as you thought and/or someone else is preferred and/or cheaper.

If the latter, they’re likely just absolutely slammed. I couldn’t comply with your expectations re response turnaround.

I don't expect thanks or acknowledgement emails. Lots of people have a policy not to send that kind of email as it contributes to people getting swamped by emails instead of doing their actual job.

I think your expectations are out of kilter rather than people being rude.

Yes, but your example is ridiculous! If it was the Friday before (seven days) ago then I would agree but expecting a response from an email you sent literally one working day ago is a bit stupid. A more reasonable expectation is at least 48 hours.

They are clearly more busy than you.

Exactly this !

I don't get through all my weekends emails by the end of Monday. They're probably just very busy?

I get over 100 emails each day. I have to prioritise the most urgent.

I also don't work in the office full time as my job is very practical. Sometimes I don't get chance to even check my emails for 4/5 hours.

They build up and some slip through the net. There is nothing I can do about it.

This isn't ghosting at all! Are you always this impatient? 3 weeks maybe, but not 3 days and they haven't even been 3 working days! 😆

That's barely even 1 working day!!!

I still have about 30 unread emails from next Thursday-Friday.

Sorry but I think you're being ridiculous.

Yes, this behaviour is endemic now since the pandemic has ended. I've organised 2 separate interviews and for each role, 2 out of the 5 shortlisted candidates ignored the invitation. No response to texts, emails or calls inviting them to interviews.

Really odd, why apply for a job if you can't be bothered turning up for the interview? Furthermore, they're not doing themselves any favours when it comes to being considered future roles.

I'd reply to information I'd requested, but I think a single working day is very quick to be getting cross about no response yet! They could be on holiday, or sick, or in lots of meetings, need to catch up with someone else or just have other priorities today.

I do get a large volume of unsolicited very pushy 'I want to speak to you about x, would you prefer 2pm on 22nd or 2pm on 23rd for our meeting?' type sales emails for stuff that I have absolutely no interest in, and often am not the right audience for.

The pushy 'you will meet with me' approach pisses me right off so they just get deleted and if I get a follow up 'why haven't you responded' email the sender gets blocked.