Legislative changes have been proposed in Ontario that would ban ghosting by employers.fizkes/AFP/Getty Images
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Ask Women and Work
Question: I’m job searching and I’ve become frustrated with organizations ghosting me. On more than one occasion, I’ve done several interviews and then have heard nothing back. Isn’t this bad practice?
We asked Shena Mistry, career coach and founder of Own What’s Next, to tackle this one:
Ghosting is bad practice. It’s unprofessional. But based on my recruitment background and what my clients say, it’s not uncommon. There are reasons why it might be happening. I won’t justify it, because no matter what, there should be open communication channels between recruiters and candidates, but I can give some perspectives on how staffing agencies and recruiters might be thinking.
Firstly, there could be internal changes in the organization. That’s happening a lot in the job market right now – hiring freezes, budget cuts, mass layoffs. It could be that the company put a sudden pause on hiring when recruiters are in the middle of final interviews. It could be that there’s an uncertainty in a final decision because the hiring team is debating a couple of candidates.
A recruitment team might be overloaded by too many roles and too few people to manage them. A lot of recruiters are overworked and burnt out right now. It could be human error or miscommunication. Or it could be that the recruiter or hiring manager has a lack of training in managing rejections professionally.
If you’ve been ghosted by a potential employer, I would suggest a polite follow-up e-mail asking about the status of your application and saying that you would appreciate any updates that could be provided. I’d suggest following up two, possibly three times, in a reasonable time frame and then after that, you have to be okay with just moving on.
Legislative changes have been proposed in Ontario that would ban this sort of ghosting by employers. These changes to the Employment Standards Act (ESA) would require larger employers to respond to job applicants they’ve interviewed, which would be a first in Canada. That’s really interesting and I’m keeping an eye out to see what happens with that.
From my perspective, employers should treat their candidates the same way they treat their customers. We’re in an age of social media and the ripple effect of unprofessional behaviour is so much more than we’ve ever seen before. Trust and transparency are also important if you’ve made a commitment to diversity, equity and inclusion.
For recruiters or hiring managers, updating anyone who’s been interviewed within a week is not only about putting it on your to-do list – it’s about upholding basic human decency. After all, you don’t know when you may want to interact with this person again.
Submit your own questions to Ask Women and Work by e-mailing us at GWC@globeandmail.com.
This week’s must-read stories on women and work
How to improve your day, 10 minutes at a time
You started today with 100 10-minute blocks of time. Are you using them effectively?
The notion comes from blogger Tim Urban, who points out that after sleep most people have 16 to 17 hours at their disposal, or roughly 1,000 minutes. You spend 10 minutes of your life on each of the 100 blocks – that one-hour meeting is six blocks, for example – until you eventually run out of blocks and it’s time to go to sleep.
He suggests imagining those blocks laid out on a page in a 10x10 grid. That’s your day before you, ready to be filled in. How would you label each block with its purpose?
Read more time-blocking tips from productivity experts.
It’s not just Gen Z who seek jobs that allow for better work-life balance
Some people might think that the quest for a better balance between work and the demands of daily life is just a Generation Z issue, but employers like Danielle Gagner are discovering that work flexibility is on everyone’s mind these days.
“I started my business more than six years ago with the goal of having a better work-life balance for both me and my employees,” says Ms. Gagner, president of Anchor Marketing, a Vancouver communications agency that specializes in not-for-profit clients.
“My youngest employee is 24 and my oldest is 49, and they’re all interested in flexible working conditions.”
Read what employees are demanding and how some organizations are responding.
At work, we constantly have opportunities to advocate for ourselves. Tap into your personal power
When we use our competence, confidence and ethical behaviour to inspire others and influence outcomes, we are using our personal power. This is both a skill and an art. Every interaction, decision and relationship in our professional lives offers us an opportunity to advocate for ourselves, shape outcomes positively and navigate the complex dynamics that define our careers.
Yet, harnessing this power requires more than just ambition; it demands a proficiency in assertive yet respectful advocacy – an optimum combination of open, honest communication and an awareness of where professional boundaries lie.
Read three ways to tap into your “personal power.”
In case you missed it
Talking politics at work: What to do when discussions become heated
We asked Sumana Jeddy, chief executive officer of Jeddy Wellness, how to handle it when discussions of hot-button issues are causing animosity between team members.
“This is a great question because there’s been a lot of discussion in the past few years about wanting people to show up to work as their authentic selves and express who they are,” she says. “But there is a fine line between expressing yourself and what’s acceptable in the workplace.
“Firstly, managers need to create and maintain a foundation of psychological safety so that everybody on the team is aware of how a conversation could be triggering for a co-worker and how they can express themselves without causing harm or risking retribution.”
Read the full article.
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