It’s getting worse,” said Amanda, an internal recruiter for a large software company. “We can have long conversations with people. We can have great interviews. We can even reach employment agreements with some, and then, they just disappear into thin air. There’s no warning. And, we never hear from them again. They’re ghosts.”

While most of us are familiar with the term “ghosting” in personal life—when someone just stops responding to texts and phone calls or leaves a gathering without saying goodbye. Apparently, now employers are also witnessing a terrifying increase in “Ghosting” by potential hires.

Recruiters at Robert Half, a global staffing firm, report a 10 to 20% increase in ghosting by new recruits in the past couple years. And, while many leaders are blaming a strong economy and low unemployment for the new trend of disappearing, others, like Amanda, are saying, “It’s just plain rude.”

Is the new “ghosting” trend a contagious symptom that is bleeding over from new social habits based on technology—texting, social media networking, and online dating apps—where it seems to be the norm to digitally move forward without any explanation? Is it now just a cultural exception? Or, is there something else at play?

We all live in world of constant change. And, while our culture may be changing rapidly—even to a place where we can actually appreciate the fact that a new recruit chose not to waste any more of our time as a hiring manager—as leaders, there might be more to ghosting than we want to admit. Yes, it could be a combination of culture, mixed with a competitive marketplace for talent, mixed with something you’re doing wrong.

Source - Read More at: www.forbes.com