My husband has interviewed with more than 25 companies for high level (senior management or director) positions. He makes it through all the rounds of hiring every single time, and then nothing. They all love him, think he’s the perfect guy, full panel interviews, etc. And then they’re gone. Every time he follows up they just say “oh, so and so is traveling, but we’ll make a decision soon.” And then they don’t. No response, no “we hired someone else.” Radio silence. I have no idea what’s going on but it’s awful for everyone on both sides I think.

At least you sorted through the applicants and didn't let AI for for you.

What? No political grinds, no fools writing tropes on education? AI, who is that?

I'm a recruiter. No shows to interviews are entirely common. Somewhere around 20% on average show up to their interview. As others have indicated, this comes from a now longstanding culture of emnity between employers and the employed. It extends beyond interviews. Most employees feel their employer does not care about them or actively means them harm. This makes them feel very little guilt for no showing an interview with a potential employer as they view the employer as an exploiter primarily. I can also say from applying, it is equally possible an applicant is ghosted by an employer at an interview or that a job posting does not correspond to any real job. Some hiring teams are now making applicants do work during their interview in order to get free labor before denying all applicants. The dissolution of trust feeds the corresponding social apathy. A.I. has only made this worse, because A.I. denies an infinite amount of qualified applicants (we no longer use it because of how bad it is at very, very simple resume filtering instructions) and most employees now can expect that even if they get an interview their interviewer to never see their resume or have any knowledge about their skillset even going into the interview. The whole environment is very bad and very much harms employers trying to do things the right way or even just a normal way.

It's just as frustrating on the other side. I've submitted 15 thoughtful, researched resumes for positions for which I am qualified. I have had 3 automatic rejections that are all AI screened and 12 ghosts.... It's all relative to your experience but the job market sucks on both sides of the coin. 😔 I miss the days I could walk in and get a job just based on my award winning personality. 🥴😜

I shared this with my husband and sundry adult children as we've seen similar so many times with farms at the market we manage as well as our own farm. Now our 22 year-old son is searching to see if you are still taking applications.

It's wild because as someone that was recently job hunting, it feels like you run into the same issues as a candidate - you spend all this time and then hear absolutely nothing. (Unrelated, is the job remote? 👀)

It’s not just hiring, apparently. The assistant dean at the college where I teach part-time was lamenting last night that he had 5 people ghost him for appointments they had scheduled last week.

You may have already thought of this but when I was applying for jobs I signed up with the AARP job program. It was to give encouragement and help to seniors getting back into the workforce. It helped me. Perhaps there is a way to connect with them. That way you may have better luck with candidates.

Oh I know someone perfect this job! Is the advertisement still up? I’ll send it to him! He’s just down the road from you and a very hard worker.

This is crazy frustrating ! Also I think in your last full paragraph you meant “somehow”, not “someone” - sorry I have proofreading compulsions lol

Can I still apply, lol. I’m a nurse, but I love what you’re doing out there and am seriously considering a change!

Im available!!!🙋🏻‍♀️

How old are they?

Could it possibly be bots responding?

I wonder how much of this is how much it's changed as a prospective employee as well. A huge portion of listed jobs are just phishing scams and they've become very sophisticated at every level. I think a lot of people are finding they have to put out hundreds of queries and schedule every interview, etc. in order to figure out what's even real or what they might want to take. So from the applicant end, I think there's an assumption that a lot of it is slop and they have to put out slop applications in turn to combat it. It's a mess.

In some states you have to show that you are scheduling interviews in order to keep receiving state benefits.

Dear Susan, if you still have the job posting, feel free to post it here (or send privately)…many of us have wonderful contacts that might provide the right person for the job! I’m sorry this was your experience…

This has always been my experience with hiring through Indeed. I think it’s just done to say they applied for an interview? There’s definitely a ratio of success for Indeed that must be somewhere around 1 out of every 150, although that feels generous.

Yes. This is what hiring is like now. 😕

I wonder if any of the interviews were set up by bots?

Ghosting seems to be the new not-returning-phone-calls. We were on the other side recently, trying to hire contractors for a really big project, had a great initial meeting with one guy who was so excited at the prospect but then just…ghosted us completely? He wasn’t young either, actually older among all the ones we interviewed.

Interesting perspective - considering I just read the attached article on the perspective from the other side. The commonalities I think are how technology can both help with the hiring process and be a barrier to communication and respect for the real people on the other side of the transaction. I’ve also heard as a pastor from many congregants job hunting that they also experience last minute cancellations or even no shows by employers on virtual interviews. And often they are never even given notice of a final decision - not even a note saying “thanks for interviewing, we’ve chosen someone else.” Some of my academic friends have bemoaned this as a soul crushing reality in job searches in that arena too. I think the reality of a job search where so much of the initial search process occurs solely online - devoid of any personal interaction or even the obligations that come from networking - produces a lack of respect or care for the human on the other side - a faceless voiceless entity who generates no care or sympathy. Both prospective employers and employees are conditioned to view the other side as a commodity or a transaction that is either profitable or not, rather than a human being owed care and respect. www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/10/28/style/gen-z-job-market.html?unlocked_article_code=1.MVE.R8...

I’m curious if you’ve noticed a trend in the age of those applicants? My husband said his company prefers to hire those over 30 because they stick around more

It is also a somewhat similar landscape for job seekers. My 15-year-old is starting to try to find his first job. He applied for a concession job at the pool owned by our local school district. I dropped him off only to have the front desk inform him the manager had decided not to come in since he was the only appointment that day. She never contacted him regarding the cancellation nor did she reschedule. I’ve been applying for jobs, too. My two most recent interviews included: 1.) a vice chancellor at a public college who did not ask me much about my experience, but told me all about how he is living separately from his wife and then indicated he would “pray on” the hiring decision that night, 2.) a virtual interview where I logged in and sat and stared at a blank wall for 5 minutes because they had forgotten about the interview in their end. (They were still interested in hiring me, but it turns out they wanted me to work as a 1099 even though they would provide all training and materials, dictate who and when I taught m, etc.)