Bucks man struggling to find work due to pandemic makes bold stand against employers for 'ghosting' job seekers

Shahab Saiyed said the 'last straw' came after a three-month saga of broken promises and ignored emails from one employer.

The Bucks resident, with 20 years experience in his field of IT sales and distribution, says the 'mental torture' provoked him to write a bold post on business networking site LinkedIn on Sunday (February 21).

Shahab posted on LinkedIn for the first time with an impassioned message to HR staff and recruiters who suddenly stop replying to emails and leave candidates in the lurch.

Shahab was contacted by one hiring manager about a potential opportunity within IT sales in November.

After a successful one-hour interview over Microsoft Teams, Shahab, was told after a three-week wait he would be contacted for a second interview in the first week of January.

So as you would expect, Shahab poured time and effort into preparing for this second interview in a three stage process over Christmas, leaving no stone unturned.

"I prepared a presentation, even though it wasn't required, as I thought that would be a nice touch," Shahab said.

"He loved the presentation and was desperate for me to send it to him to show to his boss. We discussed two jobs and I was asked which one I'd prefer, I was told I'd definitely be getting a third interview. He asked me whether I'd want my commission at the start of the year or later. He told me how much he earned. Things that would never normally be discussed."

A third interview was organised for three days later on January 7. The meeting notification for the interview was never sent, Shahab requested it on January 6. The next notification he received was explaining its cancellation on January 7, at the last minute.

From there, he says the ghosting began. Emails were ignored and a month passed, despite the strong rapport between the interviewee and interviewer across two separate hour-long conversations.

Even calls on the number left on the recruiter's email were ignored and text messages went unanswered as well. Then Shahab found out from a mutual friend the job he applied for had been filled a month earlier.

Some research showed the new employee had quit her job and been hired - from another continent - in December. Meaning the hiring manager, ostensibly, was capable of organising travel from a foreign country during a pandemic, but not capable of sending a two-minute update via email.

Eventually, Shahab did receive a response from the recruiter, but the email didn't acknowledge any wrongdoing and was 'arrogant' in tone.

Shahab further explained his thoughts on LinkedIn, saying: "Once you have personally engaged with a prospective candidate and spoken with them at length over a period of weeks/months, built up a relationship/rapport, set certain expectations and raised their hopes, then you have a moral and a professional duty to confront them in a timely manner and update them on the status regardless of the nature of the news."

Shahab's popular LinkedIn callout wasn't solely aimed at this employer, but rather a growing trend among businesses and recruiters during the IT professional's 13-month search for work after completing a masters degree. He believes that with the pandemic causing economic problems across businesses around the world, simply not replying to people has become more common.

His gripe isn't with automated responses to job applications that haven't been shortlisted, but rather incidents where employers "have personally engaged with a prospective candidate and spoken with them at length over a period of weeks/months, built up a relationship/rapport, set certain expectations and raised their hopes, then you have a moral and a professional duty to confront them in a timely manner and update them on the status regardless of the nature of the news."

Shahab believes employers have a duty to do better. Especially, during a pandemic where many people are dealing with the worst aspects of Covid and the mental strains that has put on people's lives.

He added: "Get over it, move on, there are more important things in life’ – Yes there are and I for one don’t need to be reminded of that having lost four relatives to COVID in the last eight months including a 35-year-old cousin a few days ago. To be ‘ghosted’ against this backdrop exacerbates the sense of pain, hopelessness, and helplessness. It becomes a form of mental torture. I will definitely move on but please consider that others might be more fragile."

He also called out what he believes is a hypocrisy that exists among a lot of these employers. More and more focus is being placed on mental health with the importance of thinking of others being constantly promoted on social media.

"The irony is that many of those guilty of ‘ghosting’ are the very same people who eagerly jump on the ‘be kind’ bandwagon on social media," he added.

"Practice what you preach! If you really want to ‘be kind’, then you can certainly start by ending this phenomenon of ‘ghosting’ in business and leave it to the world of online dating or that of Patrick Swayze."