What to do when a candidate ghosts the interview

Q. A candidate just ghosted us. We were going to offer him a job. I didn’t realize ghosting is still a thing, but here we are. Should we officially reject him in the system?

A. Ghosting is definitely still a thing on both sides, unfortunately. As we can all agree, it never feels good to be on the receiving end of the disappearing act.

I would make a note of it in the applicant tracking system that an offer was imminent and the candidate is MIA. This way, other recruiters who have access to the system will know about the situation. Consider it a blessing: If he’s doing this now, he would not be the best new hire.

When I worked in recruiting, one candidate took it too far and was a no show — yes, he ghosted us — for his first day! We had ordered the laptop and technology, set him up on payroll, the works. Although ghosting right before an offer when you’ve spent time and energy isn’t fun, at least it’s before the first day. So there’s that?

Keep recruiting, stay focused and keep your eye on the prize in finding top talent.

Q. I’m new to my job and my company doesn’t have a performance review system. Relief! I asked how raises get determined and they said based on participation. (I’m in sales.) This seems weird. My last job had metrics and annual increases and bonuses were based on numbers. Should I get additional details?

A. Go with your gut. Yes, this seems a bit off. While many companies no longer have a formal review process, it is helpful to at least have specific goals written down somewhere and discussed with your boss with a timeline of how you can achieve them. The more quantifiable they are, the better. So, for participation I would ask specific questions: Does that mean landing a certain number of clients each quarter? If so, how many? Or does it mean regardless of the number of new clients, it’s the number of cold calls?

Dive deeper and if answers still seem vague, ask more questions. This is your compensation and you don’t want to find out at year-end that you could have tweaked performance along the way to yield different results that would have boosted your pay.

Even if vague answers are fine with everyone else, if that were me, I would want specific answers with tangible numbers and potential salary increases tied to each goal.

It’s important that you’re asking these questions now. And even though your company doesn’t have a formal system, you may want to be proactive with your boss and create an informal system like jotting them down in an email and casually discussing them monthly. If you speak to your boss regularly such as weekly check-ins, be proactive, and mention you’re open to feedback as well as resources to tap into that you may not know about to help you get to the next level in your career.

Vicki Salemi is a career expert, former corporate recruiter, author, consultant, speaker, and career coach./Tribune News Service