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Could Ghosting An Interview Jeopardise Your Career?

• February 21, 2022

The current UK job market is swinging in the candidate’s favour… But it won’t always be the case.

Currently there are more jobs than there are workers to fill the roles, holding professionals in a great position to get all that they can from their career.

From an increase in pay to more holidays to flexible working conditions, workers at the moment can currently negotiate a lot in their contract as companies are more and more desperate for these skilled workers and do not want them to go to their competition.

As a result, these requests are usually filled in order to keep and to attain a high skilled workforce for the company.

So workers are currently holding the best cards, utilising their skills in a way that will get them what they want.

However, some workers seem to be taking this current position of power to a more disrespectful level.

A lot of candidates are opting to not turn up to their interviews as a result of this power - they see themselves as having all the choice in the working world right now and so are beginning to take advantage of their situations.

The working world is always changing and though the advantage is in the hand of the candidates at the moment, they need to remember that this will not always be the case and so there will come a day wherein the employer has more control again and will remember how their company was treated.

It is important then for candidates to not burn all of their bridges by treating the working world as though it is dispensable. Actions like this could come back to haunt the candidate later on.

Though the current attitude of candidates standing up for themselves and taking more control over their work life is a huge positive and great progression in the world, candidates should also be considerate in their expectations.

Nobody likes it when companies ‘ghost’ candidates and never get back to them after an interview or CV etc, so why are candidates doing this to the employers by not turning up to interviews?

It is best for candidates to stay on the high ground here, going lower could result in being caught out and hindered at a later point.

This kind of action can also seriously hinder your relationship with your recruiter if you are using one. They will see that you are not taking the job hunting process seriously and are making them look bad as well as yourself.

It is best to always be mindful of everyone involved in the process of you finding your new job, you do not want to ruin these relationships nor make anybody else look bad as a result of your actions.

If you simply no longer want to go to the interview this is fine! Just make everyone aware of this fact before the day of. Politely explain that you will no longer be interested in the position and so are withdrawing yourself from the process.

However, if something beyond your control happens on the day and you do have to cancel last minute, tell the company as soon as possible and ask them if it can be rescheduled. If you express genuine concern about this then the company will see that you are being truthful and will likely try to rearrange your interview if it is possible.

Either way, not telling a company that you are not going to the interview is extremely unprofessional and can have dire consequences for you later on in your career, making you appear much less professional than you would like to be perceived by employers.