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OPINION
The hidden cost of ghosting
Ghosting job candidates damages trust, reputation, and your firm’s future recruitment success.
T hough I’m not a recruiter, I have somehow become a match-maker of sorts – helping to connect people and firms. Finding great people is always a struggle, no matter what market. But recently, I’ve been noticing a disturbing trend with hiring managers. They’re “ghosting”– that phenomenon where your main point of contact at the firm (the recruiter or hiring manager) simply stops returning your correspondences.
Janki DePalma, LEED AP, CPSM
While this practice isn’t rare, I do think that managers need to be aware of the full costs of this behavior, namely the heavy withdrawal this makes to the candidate’s emotional bank account. One of my favorite parts of Steven Covey’s The 7 Habits of Highly Effective People revolves around the concept of the emotional bank account (EBA). Covey explains that every relationship is strengthened by small “deposits” we make into this metaphorical bank account over time. In today’s quest for talent, hiring managers need to know when they are making deposits, withdrawals, or even overdrawing the account. UNDERSTANDING THE IMPACT OF THE EBA. Unlike a traditional bank account, the EBA is tricky. Withdrawals make a big impact while deposits
are taken for granted. A person needs to tend to a relationship constantly to have the EBA grow. As a hiring manager, you are developing a relationship that ideally moves a person from a candidate to a long-term employee. This new hire can even serve as an evangelist for your firm! While you are focusing on benefits and company culture, you may be accidentally slipping your account into the red if you ignore these elements of the EBA. In today’s digital world, the emotional bank account isn’t limited to just people; it extends to brands as well. The trust we have in a brand (a person, store, or firm) is based on how well it keeps its promises, lives up to expectations, and does the little things well over time.
See JANKI DEPALMA, page 4
THE ZWEIG LETTER JUNE 9, 2025, ISSUE 1589
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