Thoughts About Professional Ghosting.
No, not the type of serial ghosting you're thinking. I am talking ghosting in the professional world.
Dear readers,
I hope you are enjoying summer and hearing my voice rather than reading it! The collaboration with Prince.s Des Villes still has a few episodes to go but they are under construction, therefore we are skipping a week and resuming with the podcast next Wednesday.
I would love to know what everybody thinks of the conversations as I had never hosted a podcast before this project and, from my side, it turned out to be quite fun!
Anyways, what you are receiving today are thoughts that I put down on paper a few weeks before going off the grid and concentrating on detoxing from work and regular life. Not a light-hearted read but surely something relatable for those like me who have been navigating the high waters of freelancing for years. Mwah!
As my last day as Consulting Marketing Director at Sunnei approached* — and the word of my departure spread across borders like wildfire — various companies started reaching out to me to employ my services and embed my name within their company structure.
While I am still not particularly looking to find a permanent, full-time position — as I want to focus on my editorial endeavors and continuing to strengthen my consulting portfolio — I have been keeping doors open, especially when it comes to industries I had never considered joining before. You never know where a conversation may lead you, and overall, it is always great to get yourself in different rooms. If not for you, maybe you know somebody who could thrive in that particular environment.
As a consequence, over the course of July, I accepted calls with recruiters, founders and HR directors who were interested in learning more about my background and – most importantly – future aspirations.
The process of being screened for a potential opportunity can quickly become jarring and exhausting as it requires back-work and preparation even if you are confident in your skills and your CV speaks for itself.
Usually, if these companies reach out to you with eagerness to get you on a call, it means they took the time to research your expertise and know that you would make for a great addition to their roster, especially when the role in question requires seniority.
However, partaking in introductory calls can easily feel like a test; something you need to study and put your best foot forward for.
Afterall, the interviewer is indeed surveying you with the goal to test the waters and bring out your personality under pressure. Ultimately they hold the power to decide whether you are qualified for the position even if they sought you out in the first place. For the person on the receiving end, it is no pleasant feat.
But if the journey between the first call and the actual job offer can be daunting, there is something worse that can happen and make you feel like a total loser: being ghosted professionally.
How many times has it happened that a recruiter hits you up, asks you to participate in a screening call because they believe you are the perfect match for a vacancy they are trying to fill in, they then pass you onto a senior person on the team, then onto the hiring manager just to completely vanish after that last conversation?
It has happened plenty of times to me, leaving me to wonder if it was a political tweet I sent out, or the too many “uhm” I uttered during that last call, or the fact that I mentioned I require flexibility in the workplace. What was it?! Why am I not worthy of feedback after they were the ones who courted me with all the fantastic benefits their company offers?
There is no amount of busy-ness that should prevent a HR employee from letting a candidate know that they decided to freeze the position, hire somebody else or just put a pause on the process for the summer.
I think it’s a fundamental right of the recruit to know what the hell is going on.
What if I had different plans and was waiting for an answer before giving into something else? What if I have spent weeks doing mental gymnastics to prepare for a potential career change? Does this not matter to the employer? This gets even worse when the company is based elsewhere.
How am I going to get ready to move to another country if you leave me suspended in a limbo of questions I have no answers to? It is a truly fascinating phenomenon.
I was reading this article on It’s Nice That – a platform which I religiously follow because of their thorough research and transparent take on the creative industry – about how to spot red flags in clients. On their bingo card of the worst traits a client can have, ghosting charted 4th on the list.
I don’t know if this directory was designed to embody the level of toxicity for each one of the characteristics, but professional ghosting definitely sits in my top three alongside fake friendliness and bad prioritization.
While I am not shy of adamantly following up every few weeks – up to two times if they seemed eager to onboard me – I feel like it shouldn’t be my job to try and keep up with these companies if they reached out to me in the first place.
What appalls me the most is the fact that most times it is young managers that take this approach to hiring.
Have we not learned anything from our previous jobs? How are we going to build a better, more sustainable industry if even the new generation of bosses act the same way as the previous one?
One thing I have learned from my last round of professional ghosting is that I am done wasting my time waiting around for these people to hit me up.
If you are interested in working with me, come with set intentions and serious follow ups. As you expect me to deliver proposals in a timely manner and to be available at your mercy, I require the same type of respect when receiving feedback and answers. My time is precious and I do not have any spare minutes to waste.
*I officially left the world of fashion on July 29th 2022.