We’ll Be In Touch”: How HR Ghosting Hurts Candidates and Companies

It’s more than an annoyance. Ghosting wastes candidates’ time, erodes trust in employers, and signals avoidable breakdowns in hiring culture and process. Worryingly, it’s common. The 2024 Greenhouse Candidate Experience Report included a survey which found 61% of job seekers had been ghosted after an interview, with even higher rates reported by historically under-represented candidates. That’s not just a bad experience – that’s a reputational risk.

Why is Ghosting Happening?

Ghosting is rarely the result of one bad actor. It’s typically a convergence of pressures and gaps:

• High volumes and fragmented accountability. When requisitions balloon and interview loops span multiple managers, no one “owns” closing the loop, especially for non-finalists. Without clear service levels and workflow prompts, silence becomes the default.
• Risk aversion and legal misconceptions. Some managers avoid communicating a rejection because they worry about saying the “wrong” thing. Ironically, silence often creates more risk, driving complaints, negative reviews, and public criticism.
• Process debt in tools. Applicant tracking systems (ATS) are powerful, but if templates, rejection reasons, and automated nudges aren’t configured, it’s easy for candidates to fall through cracks particularly after multi-round interviews.
• Over-reliance on automation. Screening and comms tools using AI can scale outreach but they can also normalize non-responses if not governed by human-in-the-loop checkpoints and clear accountability.
• A culture signal. Where hiring leaders model fast, respectful updates, recruiters follow. Where leaders “go quiet,” the silence cascades. The candidate’s experience mirrors the manager’s priorities.

The downstream effects are measurable. Candidate-experience research shows that delays and non-responses materially hurt the employer brand and a candidate’s willingness to re-apply. This reputation spills over onto public platforms (ex. Glassdoor, Reddit, LinkedIn) and personal networks. A takeaway from the 2024 Candidate Experience Benchmark Research which surveyed over 230,000 candidates found 29% of candidates hadn’t heard back 1–2+ months after applying - a delay strongly correlated with negative sentiment and future application drop-off.

The Brand and Pipeline Impact

In an age when every applicant is also a potential customer, referrer, or future hire, ghosting is costly. Poor candidate experiences are linked to negative reviews, lower re-apply rates, and reduced offer acceptance from referred talent. Separate research and market reports show that candidates increasingly share both positive and negative experiences online so silence after interviews is a leading driver of negative word-of-mouth.

The Accountability Shift: What’s Changing in Canada

Policy is catching up with practice. Several Canadian jurisdictions have moved to make hiring more transparent and accountable, implementing changes that intended to help curb ghosting:

• Ontario’s “duty to inform” after interviews (in force Jan 1, 2026). Ontario amended the Employment Standards Act, 2000 to require employers who interview applicants for publicly advertised roles to inform them within 45 days whether a hiring decision has been made (and to keep records of this communication). The timing and details are set out in regulation. This is a practical anti-ghosting rule: interviewed candidates must get closure, even if the decision is “not yet made.”
• AI and Job-Posting Transparency (Ontario). Employers that use AI to screen, assess, or select applicants for publicly advertised jobs must disclose that fact in the posting; postings must also state whether there’s an existing vacancy and comply with new record-keeping rules. These provisions are part of Ontario’s broader “Working for Workers” reforms.
• Pay Transparency (British Columbia). Since November 1, 2023, provincially regulated employers in B.C. must include pay information in job ads. Clear ranges discourage “ghost jobs” and improve candidate trust in the process.
• Automated Decision-Making (Québec Law 25). If hiring decisions are made exclusively through automated processing, Québec’s privacy law requires transparency and a mechanism for human review. This is another nudge away from opaque, non-responsive processes.

Together, these measures set the bar for communication and transparency. Even where a company operates outside these jurisdictions, they provide a de facto standard for respectful hiring in Canada.

What Accountable Hiring Looks Like (A Practical Playbook)

Set Service Levels You Can Measure. Publish internal SLAs, for example, “application receipt within 24–48 hours,” “post-screen response within 7–10 days,” and “post-interview update within 5 business days, with a definitive status within 30–45 days.” Configure ATS automations to flag overdue updates and auto-send acknowledged receipts. (In Ontario, your SLA must meet the 45-day legal requirement once it’s in force.)

Make Someone the Owner. Assign explicit responsibility for candidate closure at each stage: a recruiter for early stages; a hiring manager for post-panel outcomes, with calendar holds to send updates. Tie compliance to performance metrics for both HR and managers.

Default to Clarity and Kindness. Use plain-language templates that thank candidates, state outcomes, and (where possible) give brief, criteria-based feedback linked to the job requirements, not personal attributes. Train managers on lawful feedback.

Design for Accessibility. Ensure communications and interview formats accommodate disabilities and neurodivergent candidates by offering alternative formats, extra processing time, and clear instructions. Following Canada’s national accessibility standard for employment is a solid blueprint.

Govern Your Tools. Inventory where AI appears in your recruiting stack (screening, scheduling, assessments). Disclose AI use where required; add human review checkpoints and bias monitoring. Keep an audit trail of posting content, communications, and interview outcomes, as Ontario’s record-keeping rules will require.

Close Every Loop. For finalists, offer a short call. For non-finalists, send a clear update with an invitation to join a talent community or consider future roles. Automate the “we haven’t decided yet” message at day 30 to avoid silence, followed by a definitive outcome no later than day 45 in Ontario.

Measure and Publish the Basics. Track time-to-first-response, time-to-decision, and percentage of candidates who receive closure. Candidate-experience benchmarks consistently show that timeliness drives sentiment and willingness to re-apply.

The Manager’s Role

Recruiters can’t fix ghosting alone. Managers shape the experience more than any template can. When leaders prioritize timely decisions, show up to interviews prepared, and commit to same-week feedback, ghosting fades. When they don’t, it spreads, hurting brand, diversity goals, and the talent pipeline.

Bottom Line

Ghosting is a symptom of process debt and misaligned incentives, not a foregone conclusion. With clearer accountability, accessible processes, AI governance, and transparent communications (now reinforced by law in parts of Canada) organizations can treat every candidate with respect and strengthen their reputation in the market.

Sources & Additional Reading

• Ontario’s “duty to inform” and related requirements: Employment Standards Act, 2000 s. 8.6; O. Reg. 476/24 (45-day timeline); legal summaries
• Ontario AI disclosure in postings / vacancy disclosure: Working for Workers Four (Bill 149) and guidance.
• British Columbia Pay Transparency Act: Government overview and guidance.
• Québec Law 25 (automated decisions transparency & human review): Statute and legal explainers.
• Candidate-experience data: Greenhouse 2024 State of Job Hunting; ERE/Talent Board article; Talent Board report.
• https://www.ontario.ca/laws/statute/s24019
• https://www.ola.org/en/legislative-business/bills/parliament-43/session-1/bill-149
• https://www.hrpa.ca/hr-insights/navigating-ontarios-new-employment-regulations-key-insights-for-hr-professionals/
• https://www.bennettjones.com/Blogs-Section/New-Regulations-Regarding-the-Hiring-Process-Key-Dates-and-Information-for-Ontario-Employers
• https://www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/gender-equity/pay-transparency-in-bc
• https://www.legisquebec.gouv.qc.ca/en/document/cs/p-39.1