Why do recruiters ghost and waste time during a job search?
Job seekers face unprofessional behavior like ghosting after weeks of preparation, unfulfilled outreach, and insulting demands such as working interviews for senior roles. This constant silence and lack of follow-through leaves candidates feeling ignored and makes the hiring process feel like screaming into the void.
What people tried
Every workaround mentioned in the threads below. We haven’t tested any of them — and nobody here is claiming they worked.
- 1declining working interviews
- 2offering a 4-day coverage arrangement
- 3pivoting to recruiting or building a coaching business
- 4Ask recruiters for a specific role, salary range, and hiring timeline before sharing updated details.
- 5Block recruitment agencies aggressively and route all hiring through internal company HR departments.
In their words
Unedited, grouped by where they were said, most upvoted first within each place, each linked to the thread it came from.
“I declined that as I find it insulting and offensive.”source ↗
“the ghosting after interviews is the worst part though. spent months tailoring resumes and prepping just to get silence. feels like screaming into the void most days”source ↗
“Has anyone had good experience with Anderson Frank and actually got hired? Based on my experience, they just keep on asking for my experience/info every other year or so and then nothing. I maybe just got 1 interview within 10 years”source ↗
“Yeah I got approached by them but it was just sone kid scouting for them and it was not very professional and nothing became of it.”source ↗
Where this came up
People with this problem also raised
- 7How to stop getting irrelevant job offers from recruiters
- 5Why do hiring managers reject qualified candidates over superficial things?
- 5Is it legal for interviewers to ask about family planning or kids?
- 2Is leaving a job after one year too early?
- 2Why is the government accounting hiring process so hard and unresponsive?
- 3Why do I keep losing final round interviews to more experienced candidates?