Recruiting Trauma: Ghosting at Work

You met a great agent you would like to recruit or a potential home seller that you really like. For both of you, business and personal values align. You have a few great phone calls and face-to-face meetings. Suddenly, your colleague disappears and falls off the map. They don't return your calls and may even miss a scheduled meeting with no heads-up. Silence. Just a big echo chamber that leaves you wondering what you did wrong. We have all been there.

What happened? You were ghosted.

It's happening in dating relationships, companies looking to hire new employees, and yes, in real estate, with both potential recruits and potential home sellers. Unanswered texts and phone calls that are not returned. It hurts. You have invested time, money and emotional energy into the relationship only to find it come to a very hard and dead end.

What is ghosting?

Ghosting refers to when someone in a relationship disappears without any warning sign. The term is a common one in our online world with the advent of dating apps, but we are hearing about it more and more in the professional world as well. We understand it might happen in potentially shorter term personal relationships, but in long term professional relationships?

"Dude, that candidate ghosted you? I can't believe that. I thought for sure she would accept your offer."

What are the signs you might be ghosted?

This isn't our first rodeo here at MoxiWorks. We still get ghosted by candidates we are looking to recruit, but we know some of the signs to look out for. We are not surprised we are dropped like a hot potato when:

• There is a lack of engagement between MoxiWorks (the hiring company) and the candidate.
• When email exchanges contain slow responses. When we email, we look for timely responses and hope to see a response by the end of the day.
• We look for courteous follow-ups and a thank you. If we took the time to interview someone or show them around our office, we take a follow-up thank you as a sign our candidate is engaged.

Why does it happen?

We have a number of theories, but these are just theories and ours alone.

Bad Communication/Unreal Expectations

We believe that ghosting happens when the communication and expectations between two parties doesn't match up. Most of us would take the time and effort to talk these differences through, but in an age of immediate gratification, for some it is easier to just walk away.

Your Compass is our Amazon

We are competing for tech talent in a town where there is a shortage of talent. Every brokerage out there is living in fear of Compass. They have deep pockets, endless perks, and are the shiny object right now in the real estate industry. What's our version? Amazon. We know what it's like competing against a giant with endless amounts of cash. When candidates feel like they have opportunity, they can act very differently. There are more tech jobs than tech candidates in Seattle. Consequently, the candidate doesn't feel the urgency to respond as quickly or respond at all.

How to avoid being ghosted:

• We explain what our interview process will look like in the very first interaction with a potential candidate. We explain how many interviews there might be, who the candidate will meet with and why we take it so seriously. I literally say the following: "Our process may be a little longer than others, but we want to learn what we can about you as the candidate and we want you the candidate to learn as much as you can about MoxiWorks. Ultimately, we are looking for a great fit for both parties because we want you to be as happy as we are with you."
• Keep the dialogue moving. Nothing creates engagement better than engagement. If your candidate or potential seller has to wait days for a response, they will assume you are not interested in them.
• End your emails with a proposal to continue the dialogue. Give your seller something to respond to.
  • "I'd like to meet next week and talk about talk about X. Coffee is on me."

We mentioned that ghosting happens more in economies where the candidates feel they have choices. The way to overcome this is to make the candidate feel like YOUR SERVICE IS A UNICORN. There may be a lot of agents in town, but YOUR BROKERAGE AND SERVICE IS DIFFERENT. THERE IS ONLY ONE OF YOU IN THIS TOWN!

Benefits of being ghosted:

Believe it or not, there are benefits of being ghosted. You know the candidate's true colors earlier vs. later and you didn't find this out after investing in them for six months of training or showing half a dozen homes. Time is money, and they just saved you a lot of it.

To view the original article, visit the MoxiWorks blog.