Career Builder's CEO: Young people are 'ghosting' employers | Hacker News Reader

Career Builder's CEO: Young people are 'ghosting' employers

yahoo.com

15 pointssmaili22 comments

It’s not ghosting, it’s called quitting.

When you work for a soulless corporate machine, it makes no difference whether you tell your manager. They would take the same actions whether you gave notice or not. Giving them the satisfaction of hearing out your reasoning is kind of like putting in unpaid work.

I fully realize that this is highly cynical, but, on the other hand, not everyone works for a soulless machine. I suspect that those who “ghost” are largely working for the soulless companies who have not even enough common decency to qualify for an explanation.

When a company terminates employment, do they have to provide explanation or notice? Nope! But they sure don’t get accused of “ghosting” in stupid ass PR articles.

It's not called "quitting", it's called "having a weak ethical compass and low personal standard for behavior". And I disagree with the rest of your ideas, too.

I think under reasonable circumstances, it's probably a dick move to bail on a company with no notice that actually treated you well. It seems to me however a perfectly ethical action to not place your mental health or well-being at the behest of what the parent here so accurately described as a soulless corporate machine that treated you like garbage. If you want or need to get out, then get out.

You know this from experience?

Harrumph!

I have never left a job without giving at least two weeks notice. But I have known people who worked for companies that shorted employees' paychecks before shutting down.

I once worked at a place where everyone who did the job I did understood it was shitty, and our superiors understood it was shitty. On a fairly regular basis, a new hire would go out to lunch during their first week and never come back. No one batted an eye.

If you are shocked at a new hire ghosting you, it might be because:

A) You didn't realize their job was shitty

B) You didn't realize your workplace is shitty

C) You knew that their job and/or workplace was shitty but didn't think anyone would have the courage to just fucking leave

D) You knew that their job and/or workplace was shitty but you thought someone you hired into that role/environment anyway owed you the courtesy of giving you a heads up before they just fucking left

On the flip side, not so long ago I gave the asked-for two weeks' notice at a corporate job, and they set an end date at one week. No comp for the second.

Obviously, I'll think long and hard about giving any notice in the future, even at a FAANG-level job.

Set the place on fire and never look back. In retrospect, I totally agree.

If you can't be bothered to treat me like a human being, why should I not treat you the same?

I wish this data was sliced down better into full time and part time work and/or hourly and exempt jobs. I feel there are more 'bad part time' jobs now than in years past that don't allow someone to give appropriate notice without reprisal.

When the friction/anxiety cost of explaining your exit is higher than the cost of ghosting, you get ghosts.

It seems the pressures that used to deter this behavior have fallen away, and ghosting is effectively free at the individual level (I'd guess that it's expensive at the societal level).

Labor and dating markets have bottomed out the cost to try new engagements, and since everyone recognizes this, they invest less in each one.

Feels like a chicken an egg problem. It doesn't make sense to train employees that will ghost you after they're certified, but it doesn't make sense to dedicatee yourself to an employer that treats you like a flight risk. Nobody tries hard because nobody else is trying hard.

Hey there, Ms Career Builder CEO! Want to hear a funny story?

I found an interesting job on your site, so I followed the links and applied directly with the target company.

They finally got back to me: 62 days later.

Cry me a fucking river about ghosting. Clean your own house first.

Any company that's highly upset about "ghosters" (and has had it happen multiple times) should consider how it treats applicants. Does it respond to every single application that's submitted?

Companies could add anti-ghosting clauses, like an employee needs to give at least 1 day written notice even for the trial period. In that case if he starts working at another company on the same day when he was expected, he can be sued for damages.

That leads right down the slippery slope of corporate slavery, and/or indentured servitude. Right to work laws work both ways; by not signing a binding contract either party can quit for any reason.

As I wrote somewhere else, the problem here is not that somebody quits, but that he doesn't take a decision.

He can still lie at the next day that his grandma died (the usual thing that I heared from girls in South America multiple times...the first time I believed it).

I support this, because it's a good indicator of what jobs not to take.

In our non-post-scarcity society, the vast majority of people don't leave jobs simply because they are bad, they leave them because they expect to find something better. So the problem is that better employers exist and you're not one of them.

(Also, give your one-day notice and then take a sick day.)

Ghosting means that the employee goes to another job, because he prefers that, but doesn't tell the first one about it, in case he changes his mind. It's about not making a decision even after signing the contract.

I'm not an employer, but in my dating life I had a girlfriend who was 20 minutes late on her first date. After we got together, a few weeks later she told me that actually she was late because she put another date with another guy at exactly the same time as with me, just she didn't like him in real life.

I had much worse ghosting situations as well, when a girl didn't show up, and didn't even answer my texts/calls.

Be happy if you don't know the meaning of the word.

I'd be interested to know how you would handle a baby sitter (who was very nice before) not showing up and not returning your texts/calls when you have a child and you need to go to a business meeting or to theatre for example.

> I'd be interested to know how you would handle a baby sitter (who was very nice before) not showing up and not returning your texts/calls when you have a child and you need to go to a business meeting or to theatre for example.

Presumably the same way I'd handle a babysitter who called me ten minutes before they're supposed to show up saying they got in a car accident.

Actually, probably differently - I can't meaningfully control car accidents but I can pay my babysitter more / figure out what they need to be happier.

Are employers going to take on the same enforced courtesy for their employees and give them a minimum of one day written notice before firing them?

They have to pay the whole day even if they send the person home as far as I know.

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