In an age of Netflix and chill, Millennial pink and hashtags, it seems ghosting is no longer reserved for the realms of Tinder/Bumble/Grindr (or whatever other dating app you might use).
We might as well start from the beginning.
I applied for the role of Assistant Editor in early January and was contacted by HR a few days later, requesting that I complete a fairly lengthy editorial test. After submitting my work and not hearing back for two weeks, I got in touch with HR and promptly received an enthusiastic email, stating that I had done a great job and the editorial team wanted me to come in for an onsite interview.
Great!
The interview, on a whole, seemed to go well. I learned more about the role and the company. I was told how much everyone loved working at Popsugar and how the company looked after its employees. I even seemed to hit it off with the editor who would have been my direct line manager, which is always a plus. And though I was told, point blank, I was overqualified for the role, I assured them that I didn’t mind. After all, this is Popsugar, and it would be a great opportunity (not to mention I was a long time, avid reader of the site).
During the interview I was informed it would be a few weeks before they got in touch, but that they would definitely be in touch regardless.
So I waited. And waited. And waited some more. After two weeks, I figured I’d give HR a shout, just to see where they were in the recruitment process.
Nothing.
That was a Monday. On the following Friday, I once again followed up. Perhaps it was a busy week and, let’s be honest, sometimes emails fall through the cracks. It’s happened to all of us.
And yet, nothing.
Two weeks later, I decided to get in touch with one of the editors who had interviewed me during my onsite. At this point, it was four weeks on and I just wanted confirmation I hadn’t received the role (let’s be honest - if they’re not getting back to you after four weeks, it’s not looking good). Call it closure.
Still nothing.
In my last ditch attempt, I rang HR. The call went to voicemail and I left a message, asking for someone to please get in touch.
If you guessed that I didn’t hear back, you would be correct.
It’s now a month and a half post-interview and I can only assume the office has been sucked into some kind of email- and phone-less time-warp that makes it impossible to communicate with people in the outside world.
Jokes aside, I have to say how utterly disappointing this entire experience has been, both as a candidate and as a reader. I can take not landing a role. It’s part of the job search process and you’re not always a good fit for a company. What’s frustrating is the blatant lack of professionalism. The irony is also not lost on me that the same company that literally has an entire section dedicated to career advice, can’t be bothered to let candidates know whether they’ve landed a job with them. I wonder how much effort it would have been to send a few lines, explaining I hadn’t been successful?
To management: review your hiring process. How your company interacts with, and treats, potential employees reflects on your brand as a whole. Scrolling back through other Glassdoor reviews, this isn’t the first time HR has failed in its communication with candidates. And rather than send someone from HR to write a short ‘we’re so sorry, we’re working on reviewing our hiring process….’ under this review, which has A. been sent before and B. clearly hasn’t been actioned, actually do something to ensure your current employees aren't wasting the time of prospective employees.
