👻 Hiring horrors: scary, spine-chilling stories to surprise and haunt

Recruitment is business-critical, but rarely easy.

It’s time-consuming, vulnerable and unpredictable — like the door to a haunted house. Nothing is a given, assumptions are the enemy and emotions are often in the drivers’ seat.

Over 20 years, I’ve heard a lot of hiring stories. Some good, many bad, and plenty that were Freddy Krueger-ugly.

• dishonest, underhanded tactics between recruiters

• job ads fishing for candidates when the job doesn’t exist

• job ads that read like a laundry list of requirements

• job ads asking for a unicorn (sometimes metaphorically, sometimes literally)

• “we only contact shortlisted candidates” statements

• interviews starting late without apology

• interviewers not reading the candidate’s CV

• people eating during an interview

• radio silence after an interview

• requests for feedback ignored

• offering a part time job when the ad and application were for full time

• a 3-week wait for a written employment offer

• a recruitment process that drags on for months.

These are not fiction stories. They’re real-life nightmares.

The common themes? Communication and engagement.

These things don’t just spook the people experiencing them — they come back to haunt the employer and hiring team, like ghosts of the past.

Candidate experience is part of your brand.

Beyond anecdotal evidence, research shows it’s getting worse. Poor candidate experience is common, and overall, hiring experiences are declining.

A LinkedIn survey in late 2024 reported that 51 percent of job seekers had been ghosted during their job search, left without any communication after engaging with an employer.

👻 40 percent said they’d even been ghosted after second-or third-round interviews.

72 percent of people who report a poor candidate experience will go on to share that story either online or directly with others.

Consider this — the average LinkedIn user has around 1,300 connections.

Now, imagine 100 job seekers.

• 51 of them are ghosted or have a poor experience.

• 37 of them will share their experience.

A negative recruitment experience for a group of 100 candidates has the potential to reach 47,000 people.

That’s a lot of potential customers, clients or supporters.

That’s how small hiring horrors can turn into brand-wide nightmares.

Here’s the truth: good recruitment builds connection and trust.

It reflects your brand and culture. Even if someone doesn’t ultimately get the job, they leave the experience feeling respected.

So this Halloween, instead of scary movies and jump scares, I’m thinking about the real-world horrors that play out in hiring every day — and what good looks like when you flip the script.

Here’s a spine-chilling story that lingers — told from the candidate’s side

Dear hiring team,

I was excited when I saw the job advertised because I love your brand; I’ve been a customer for years. Naturally, I had high hopes for the interview. I really wanted to work with you.

Unfortunately, it wasn’t a great experience. The interviewer was 20 minutes late. No apology, and the entire interview was them talking about how busy the team was. They didn’t ask me any questions.

After the interview, I heard nothing. No phone call, no email, no feedback. It was such a strange experience.

When I buy from you, I get quality and an excellent customer experience. Your brand is known for these things. It’s clear that you really care about your customers and strive to be different, even personal. When I applied for the job, I expected the same.

If your brand promise is built on customer experience, then the candidate experience matters too. It’s all connected. Experience builds trust and loyalty, and when there’s a gap, it leaves a mark. I have started buying other brands since my interview.

Yours sincerely,

Your would-be team member.

Flexible talent support for NFP leaders

I am deeply committed to making recruitment easier for nonprofit leaders.

I support leaders and organisations to attract the right people through:

• traditional recruitment solutions

• flexible unbundled recruitment support

• helping you review and improve your recruitment approach

• helping you understand and articulate your real EVP through employee research

• leveraging this research to develop authentic recruitment content

• building campaigns that reflect culture and the employee experience

• consulting and advisory work to develop talent attraction strategy and capacity.

If you’re curious to know more, send me a message or get in touch for a chat.

As a communications professional and writer turned recruiter, I know modern recruitment is marketing, and I'm on a mission to share this approach with the sector.

Each Friday, I share talent attraction advice and insights. The Nonprofit Talent Edge will help you become more intentional, creative and proactive with your recruitment.

Have a great week.

Cynthia