30 per cent of employers say Gen Z are ghosting job interviews – but Gen Z says it’s mutual

Zoomers are giving recruiters the silent treatment – but are they just getting their own back? Nina Poulsom Toral, 22, reveals what it’s really like on the job hunt.

More than a third of all South Australian Gen Z job hunters are ghosting potential employers, a survey shows – but young people are saying it’s a two-way street.

A survey of 250 Gen Zs this year by Edge Recruitment showed 34 per cent had ghosted an employer multiple times, 15 per cent did so once and half had never ghosted.

Meanwhile, Australia-wide data from 2022 showed about 30 per cent of more than 1050 hiring managers said candidate ghosting – or ending all contact without explanation – was a “significant” challenge when recruiting Gen Zs.

Gen Zs, also known as Zoomers, are those born between 1997 and 2012.

Nina Poulsom Toral, 22, landed her most recent role at an employment agency three weeks ago and said the ghosting went both ways.

She submitted 200 job applications within a month during her most recent employment hunt – and heard back from only two.

“I find it very frustrating that (employers) don’t text you back, even if you haven’t successfully gotten the role,” Ms Toral said.

“Sometimes an interview will go really well, and you believe you’ve been short-listed and then you never hear from them again.”

Gen Z worker Nina Poulsom Toral says ghosting is a two-way process, and that employer do it to employees as well. Picture: Brenton Edwards

Recruitment consultant Kelly Armstrong said ghosting was “symptomatic of a larger issue” but warned prospective employees against the practice.

“South Australia is a small world … such actions will remain on record and may affect their future applications with those same organisations,” Ms Armstrong said.

Ms Toral said she had ignored prospective employers only after winning a position, feeling too “overwhelmed” to respond.

“I applied to multiple positions because I was applying every day … I got this position and then got offered another one,” Ms Toral said.

“I felt too overwhelmed to respond with the negative news that ‘I had already taken a job, sorry’.”

Employment platform SEEK conducted a study of 403 job seekers in 2023 and found 66 per cent of prospective candidates had been ghosted about their application with a company.

The study found the most common time to be ghosted was after the application, with 37 per cent experiencing it post application, while 23 per cent experienced it after both application and interview stages.

Co-director for the UniSA Centre of Workplace Excellence, Associate Professor Connie Zheng, said ghosting stemmed from relationship issues – and the recruitment process was the beginning of a relationship.

“Attraction and retention of employees is about managing the relationship … it’s about how you meet each other’s expectations,” Dr Zheng said.

“If expectations are not met, people can let you know kindly, or keep distant and keep silent.

“Ghosting is not healthy for the relationship … employee wellbeing is important, and I think wellbeing is determined by the relationship.”

Originally published as 30 per cent of employers say Gen Z are ghosting job interviews – but Gen Z says it’s mutual