Candidate Experience

Candidate Ghosting: How to Recover the 30% You Quietly Lose

November 27, 2025 · 7 min read

Ghosting works both ways. Recovering even a quarter of your ghosted candidates is worth more than any new sourcing channel. Here's the playbook.

Why candidates ghost

Three causes dominate: slow response (over 72 hours), unclear next steps, and competing offers in-hand. Two of those three are 100% within your control.

The 7-day recovery window

A polite re-engagement message within 7 days recovers 18-25% of ghosted candidates on our customer base. Past 14 days, the recovery rate drops below 5% — the candidate has already taken something else.

What the message should say

Reference the specific role and last conversation. Acknowledge the gap without apologising profusely. Offer one concrete next step (a 20-minute call, a written assignment, a final-round invite). Don't ask 'are you still interested?' — ask for the next action directly.

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