Imagine looking for a job, finding one, getting hired, but not showing up for your first day. That’s what a lot of jobseekers have been doing recently. That’s because at the job market is so strong that opportunities are plentiful. That means people aren’t forced to take the first job offered to them anymore. No, they get to choose, and in a lot of cases, they find a better job before they even start the first one was offered to them.
“People are getting multiple offers in a market like today, and they are not showing up on their first day of work,” said Paul McDonald, senior executive director at staffing firm Robert Half. Steve Lindner is the CEO of another employment firm called the WorkPlace Group. He recalls the ghosting that has been happening as of late, even as he hires people for his own business.
“We had already shared the name with our support team and had a training program in place. Everything was ready to go,” said Lindner. “They just never arrived. It was complete job abandonment.” They never heard from the person at all. Even trying to follow up with them, sending emails and texts and not hearing a single word back. Eventually they had to send a termination letter.
This can be quite common when the job markets are so strong. People who are looking for work have more power in this instance. You don’t have to settle for jobs when it’s looking good that you’ll get multiple offers. This also has the impact of forcing those companies to offer more to attract good workers to the company.
Improving Opportunities
Jeremy Tolley hires people CareHere, a health and wellness company. He says that back in 2016, he started noticing that many people they were trying to hire never even showed up for their first day of work. That really force them to look at the types of employment opportunities they were offering. They decided to upgrade their website and improve contact relations with candidates to build a better relationship with them before they start their first day.
“We are creating a sense of obligation to this person,” he said. “That way it’s not just some company they don’t know much about, they start to think: ‘If I don’t show up, I will let them down, I know they are expecting and preparing for me.'”
Businesses are forced to make a move when workers simply stop showing up. Looking for good people to come and is a very expensive and time-consuming process for most companies. It takes time to weed through the resumes and have multiple interviews to choose the right candidates for the job. It’s even worse when they find someone and offer them the job, only for them to duck out on their first day and never hear from them again.
“It causes a lot of internal issues. The employer was counting on them and it could be embarrassing if customers and clients were also waiting for the arrival,” said Lindner.
Burning Bridges
Lindner warns that ghosting companies is not the best way to handle a situation. It might come back to bite you later on. What happens if the job market turns sour? As a new employee, you might be one of the first ones who gets axed. You’ve already burned bridges with other companies that you might be considered a good candidate for. What will you do then when the hiring power switches hands and the bosses have the upper hand?
“When the job market turns… applicants who ghosted are going to have fewer job opportunities available to them,” warned Lindner. “Own your decision,” said Lindner. “Most prudent people will understand. I may be disappointed as an employer that you initially accepted my job and are turning me away, but I respect the call.”
By ghosting the company, you might also be turning away from a better opportunity. The business you ghosted might have been willing to counter the offer they made.
“We understand the industry we are in and what the market is like,” said Tolley. “Sometimes this gives us an opportunity to counter the offer or figure out why you accepted another position. Maybe there is something we can do about that.”
