4 minSociety
Surveys Find Two-Way Ghosting Between Gen Z Applicants and Employers
U.S. data show candidates disappearing from hiring processes, including after offers, while a majority of surveyed workers also report being ghosted by employers.
Ghosting in hiring is no longer limited to employers who fail to send rejection notices. Candidates are also dropping out without explanation, sometimes after a company believes the search is over. Two U.S. surveys published in 2025 show how widespread the perception has become, but they also require care because their headline statistics measure different things.
Resumeorg surveyed 1,115 U.S. hiring managers in June 2025. Fifty-four percent said they had been ghosted by a Gen Z candidate after extending a job offer. The result is frequently paraphrased as if 54% of Gen Z candidates ghost offers. That is not what the survey says. The 54% is the share of managers who reported at least one experience.
The survey also identified several ways the breakdown can occur after an offer. Some candidates accepted but never completed the paperwork. Others did not report for the first day, while some began work and then stopped communicating without notice. Those cases can force employers to restart recruiting after other candidates have already been dismissed from consideration.
A second survey from NumberBarn provides a self-reported view from workers. In January 2025, the company surveyed 1,510 people living in the 30 largest U.S. metropolitan areas. Forty-one percent of Gen Z respondents said they had ghosted a prospective employer during a hiring or interview process. That figure covers the entire process and is not limited to people who had already received offers.
The same survey found substantial employer ghosting. Sixty-one percent of all respondents said they had been ghosted by a prospective employer. Thirty-five percent acknowledged ghosting an employer themselves. Among candidates who disappeared, 49% cited receiving another job offer and 28% said they had simply lost interest in the role.
Those results suggest a hiring environment shaped by parallel searches and low confidence that any single conversation will lead to a decision. Indeed’s 2023 survey research offers a related clue. Among U.S. employers, 54% said improved communication and transparency could help prevent candidate ghosting and 43% cited shorter hiring processes. Job seekers said higher compensation, pay transparency and better benefits would make them more likely to stay in contact.
It is tempting to describe candidate ghosting as retaliation for years of employer silence. The available surveys do not establish that causal chain. They do establish that both sides experience the same behavior. Business Insider has reported on Gen Z job seekers submitting hundreds of applications and sometimes completing multiple interview rounds without receiving a clear rejection, a pattern that can erode trust in formal hiring etiquette.
The immediate policy for employers does not require a new technology. Set a timeline, communicate delays, disclose compensation early and close the loop with rejected candidates. Candidates can do the same with a short withdrawal message. In a hiring market where both parties can disappear, reliability itself becomes a competitive signal.
