Ghosting in the Workplace: Is It Really a Thing? - a podcast by UCF College of Business

Featured Guests:

Stefanie Hill - Career Coach, UCF College of Business Office of Professional DevelopmentLina Pabon - Campus Talent Acquisition Business Partner, ADP"Ellen"- Student"Casper"- Student
Vera - Robot InterviewerEpisode Transcription:
 Paul Jarley:                         Russian hackers aren't just messing with our elections, they're disrupting the job application process, too. Companies like IKEA and Pepsi are hoping artificial intelligence will help cut hiring costs, but all this new technology may just be leading to more incivility in the job market. Prepare to be ghosted, my friends.

Paul Jarley:                         This show is all about separating hype from fundamental change. I'm Paul Jarley, dean of the College of Business here at UCF. I've got lots of questions. To get answers, I'm talking to people with interesting insights into the future of business. Have you ever wondered,"Is this really a thing?"On to our show.

Paul Jarley:                         To a graduating senior, the job market can be a scary place. If you think a 4% unemployment rate has eased these concerns, think again. Just pray that this horror story doesn't happen to you.

“Ellen”:                                I got three interviews. I did all of them and I got called back for one from a local firm. I went to the second interview. They told me that, it was maybe on a Monday, and they told me they would reach out to me again by Friday. They even gave me the employment paperwork, and then they never reached out to me ever again.Paul Jarley:                         Let's just call her"Ellen."But an incident like this?

“Ellen”:                                Nothing. Just completely ghosted me.Paul Jarley:                         It's a bit of shock to the ego.

“Ellen”:                                I figured that if they didn't want me, they would at least tell me they didn't want me.

Paul Jarley:                         What has that experience done to you?“Ellen”:                                It was really frustrating because I put a lot into preparing for it. I was really excited about it. It's discouraging.

Paul Jarley:                         Discouraging, but hardly new.Stefanie Hill:                     I think with technology, there are so many platforms now and, depending on the business, you're not paying for every single platform.

Paul Jarley:                         That's Stefanie Hill, a Career Coach in our Office of Professional Development. She's explaining how greater use of technology in the applicant screening process is leading to more ghosting by employers.

Stefanie Hill:                     An applicant tracking system is what employers use to track all of the applicants that come through and apply on their website. If you're using that ATS, that's great, but you have to drive traffic to you website, which a lot of employers don't pay for extra marketing to do that. You're gonna go on CareerBuilder, you're gonna go on Indeed. If your organization doesn't shell out thousands of dollars to pay for these different platforms, then they're not communicating with your ATS. In that instance, you're going on three different platforms. You would have to send rejection letters to all three different platforms, depending on who applied on which, and a lot of times with all of those applicants it's hard for employers and recruiters, especially, to keep track of all of that

Paul Jarley:                         It's just too much work to contact everybody.

Stefanie Hill:                     I believe so. I also think it depends on the means of how you're communicating with somebody.

Paul Jarley:                         Sometimes when the employer calls, no one's home. Given the pressures of time, the employer just moves on.

Stefanie Hill:                     If you're doing that through a phone call or voicemail,

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