Attention ‘ghosts’: managers are making lists, holding grudges

Ghosts.

Mark White is Editor of The News Journal.

Historically they come in many forms.

You have the Headless Horseman from ‘The Legend of Sleepy Hollow,” who is often portrayed as a rider on horseback, who, as one would naturally surmise, has no head.

You’ve got ‘Casper the Friendly Ghost,’ which is the fun and friendly ghost of a young boy, who died. Casper and his not so friendly trio of ghostly uncles were brought to the big screen in 1995’s Casper, which was a fun little flick starring Christina Ricci.

Let’s not forget Slimmer and the spooks, spirits and specters that Bill Murray, Dan Aykroyd, Harold Ramis and Ernie Hudson chased in the iconic 1984 classic “Ghostbusters.” (Roasted marshmallows anyone…LOL.)

Then you have the modern day “ghosts.” I’m not talking ghostly apparitions, which go through walls.

I’m talking about would-be job seekers or supposed job seekers.

These are the people that apply for jobs but never return phone calls or e-mails. They are the people, who show up for an interview but won’t answer the phone for a call back for a second interview. In some cases, they are folks, who have accepted positions, but you never hear from them again.

In other cases, we are talking about people, who have accepted positions, have completed all of the necessary background checks, have a start date, and then are never heard from again.

I mean not a phone call, not an e-mail, not a text.

Not cool people! Not cool!

It doesn’t take much effort at all to make a phone call or send a text and say, “I appreciate the offer but I have decided to take a position elsewhere,” or “Sorry, but I got a better offer.”

I mean hiring people won’t necessarily be happy to get this message, but they realize these kinds of things happen. Chances are if you are professional enough to at least politely get back to them in a timely manner, then they would consider hiring you at a future date if another job opening came up.

We had a couple of openings last spring here at the News Journal and interviewed a young lady getting ready to graduate from college. We interviewed her twice, first over the phone and then in-person a second time. She was good and had a ton of potential.

We offered her the job.

We knew she had an interview at another paper after us. About one and one-half weeks later, she sent us a message saying that she had accepted a position closer to home. We understood. It wasn’t a big deal.

This was the professional way of handling the situation. If we had an opening and she applied again, then I suspect we would probably offer her a job again.

This is the way things should be done, but it isn’t necessarily the case these days as more and more job seekers are “ghosting” would-be employers.

I’ve had conversations with a lot of managers over the last few months and this is happening increasingly often.

Managers are frustrated.

They are mad.

They are ticked off.

Be warned, managers are also keeping track, making lists and planning to hold grudges against “ghosts.”

They also talk to their counterparts at other businesses, including competitors, in small areas like ours.

In the Charles Dickens’ novel, “A Christmas Carol,” Ebenezer Scrooge is haunted by the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, and is warned to change his ways, which he does after being visited by the ghosts of Christmases past, present and future.

Be warned, modern day “ghosts,” and change your ways because if you don’t your future employment prospects might soon be disappearing.