# Ghosting in hiring

Ghosting in hiring is going silent instead of sending a formal rejection, withdrawal, or update, cutting off communication with no explanation. It happens from both directions: an employer who never follows up after a final interview, and a candidate who stops responding after accepting an offer or scheduling an interview.

Neither side has a monopoly on doing it.

**Ghosting in hiring** — Employer-side ghosting is an application or interview that simply goes silent, with no rejection email and no update, leaving a candidate to guess whether they're still in consideration. Candidate-side ghosting is a candidate who stops responding after scheduling an interview, receiving an offer, or even after starting a job, without formally declining or resigning.

Employer-side ghosting is common enough that many candidates now expect it after a certain stage, particularly following an initial application with no interview granted. It's more disruptive later in a process, when a candidate has invested real time across multiple rounds. Candidate-side ghosting has become more visible as a topic in its own right, often tied to slow or unresponsive employer processes: a candidate who's been left waiting without an update is more likely to quietly disengage rather than send a formal withdrawal.

## Frequently asked questions

### Is ghosting only something employers do to candidates?

No. It runs both directions. Candidates increasingly disengage silently too, sometimes after accepting another offer, sometimes in response to a slow or unresponsive hiring process on the employer's side.

### Why has candidate-side ghosting become more common?

It's often tied to how candidates are treated during the process. A candidate left without updates for weeks is more likely to quietly disengage than to send a formal message declining.

### What should a candidate do if an employer stops responding?

One follow-up email checking on status is reasonable. Beyond that, most candidates are better served treating the silence as an answer and continuing to look elsewhere rather than waiting indefinitely.

## Related pages

- [Interview follow-up email](/glossary/follow-up-email)
- [Browse open roles](/jobs)

## Keep your options moving

Browse open roles on Intervieux and keep applying with real AI screening interviews while you wait to hear back elsewhere.

Start practicing free: https://www.intervieux.ai/register · Hire with Intervieux: https://www.intervieux.ai/employers/signup