Recruiter Ghosting in Singapore: Why Candidates Face Silence and What Can Change

When a promising interview ends in silence

A LinkedIn poll conducted by recruitment agency Robert Walters Singapore found that 88% of respondents had been ghosted by recruiters during their job search. For candidates, that can mean a promising conversation, a detailed screening or an interview followed by silence, with no explanation of whether the opportunity is still open.

As of June 30, 2025, the problem has become a familiar frustration in Singapore's competitive job market. Candidates describe spending time preparing applications and attending interviews, then waiting for updates that never arrive. Discussions on forums and social media show frustration among job seekers and recruitment professionals alike.

The poll measures the experience of its respondents. Its sample size and polling dates were not given. Beyond that figure, the experiences described by recruiters and applicants show how high application volumes, hiring deadlines and poor communication can leave people uncertain about their next step.

Recruiter ghosting generally means communication stops after some form of contact, such as a phone call, an email exchange or an interview. An unanswered application without any previous conversation is a different experience: disappointing, but without the same expectation created by a recruiter who has already engaged with a candidate.

Singapore's hiring process also faces a related problem: advertisements for jobs that do not actually exist. Together, unanswered conversations and such listings can consume applicants' time, weaken confidence and damage trust in employers. The practical challenge is to keep candidates informed even when recruiters cannot give every person a detailed response.

Why applications can overwhelm recruiters

Dr. Chong Sinhui, an assistant professor in management at Nanyang Technological University, links the growth in applications to digital recruitment systems. Features such as easy apply and recommendations generated by algorithms make it possible to submit dozens of applications with little effort. Algorithms are systems that use information to decide which jobs or candidates to recommend.

Job seekers gain convenience, but recruiters can receive hundreds or even thousands of resumes for a single role. Tools using artificial intelligence, or AI, can also help candidates apply in large numbers, adding to the volume employers must review.

Mr. Loh, a recruiter handling several job advertisements at once, describes reviewing at least 30 applicants for each opening before selecting a small group to present to clients. The time available varies sharply: an urgent position may need to be filled in as little as two weeks, while a difficult search can take up to nine months.

Recruiters working across several vacancies therefore face competing tasks: reading applications, contacting candidates, arranging interviews and meeting clients' deadlines. Providing a personal response to everyone becomes difficult when those tasks accumulate.

A banking recruiter, describing candidate treatment in banking, argued that workload still leaves room for a brief rejection message:

Ghosting candidates seems to have become the norm in the banking industry... I always made sure to go back to the rejected candidates and drop an email to say they didn't fit—even if just a one-liner. It's not difficult.

The central difference is between giving every applicant personal feedback and telling someone who has already been interviewed that the process has ended. A short update can provide that answer without requiring a lengthy explanation.

Hundreds of applicants, few replies

Singapore job seekers describe applying for hundreds of positions and hearing back from only a handful. On Reddit and other forums, candidates recount detailed initial screenings and promises of updates that were never followed by another message.

One forum user described being approached by four recruiters within two weeks. Each promised to follow up, but all four conversations ended without the expected update. For candidates in that position, the uncertainty begins after the recruiter has already expressed interest.

A post on the Complaint Singapore Facebook page highlighted a Procurement Executive listing at SingTel that attracted 725 applicants. Some roles reportedly receive more than 1,000 applications, illustrating the scale of competition facing both candidates and the people reviewing them.

A social media commenter summed up the frustration surrounding those numbers:

The chances of getting the job are like winning a lottery.

Several pressures contribute to the crowded applicant pool:

• Layoffs and career changes have brought more people into the job market.
• Economic uncertainty and pressure to reduce costs have made employers less active in recruiting.
• Job portals and AI tools make it easier to submit applications in large numbers.

These pressures meet at the same point: more applications competing for recruiters' attention while employers are cautious about hiring. Candidates may spend more time waiting, and recruiters may have less time to communicate with each person.

Candidates also disappear from the process

A 2021 survey by Indeed found that 28% of job seekers admitted ghosting employers. That included missing interviews or failing to turn up for their first day at work.

Employers facing such behaviour may arrange more than one interview for the same slot or continue recruitment because they expect some candidates to disappear. Those responses can leave other applicants waiting longer for a decision, creating a cycle in which both sides become less confident that the other will follow through.

Dr. Paul Lim, a senior lecturer at Singapore Management University, connects ghosting to the balance of power in the labour market. When employers have many suitable applicants, companies feel less pressure to respond to unsuccessful candidates. When candidates have more choices, some may ignore an employer after finding a better opportunity.

Dr. Lim compared the uncertainty to waiting for contact in online dating:

If the person doesn't contact you, do you wait day and night for the person to contact you?

For job seekers, the practical point is to keep searching while an application is unresolved. For employers, it is that communication problems can run in both directions, with consequences for interview schedules, recruitment work and the candidates still awaiting an answer.

When the advertised job does not exist

Ghost jobs add another difficulty. These are advertisements for positions that do not actually exist, leaving applicants to spend time on opportunities that cannot lead to employment.

Concerns about ghost job postings include companies using listings to create an impression of growth, collect details of possible future recruits or meet regulatory requirements. A talent pipeline, as recruiters call it, is a pool of people a company might consider for later vacancies.

Applicants can struggle to tell whether a listing represents a current opening. Warning signs described in these concerns include:

• Advertisements that remain online for months without updates.
• Offers that appear too good to be true.
• Vague descriptions that leave out important details about the role.
• Repeated advertisements with identical requirements.

Job seekers can use those signs as reasons to check the role and employer more carefully before investing further time. A candidate already speaking to a recruiter can ask about the vacancy's status and the expected hiring timetable.

Ghost job advertisements also make the market harder to understand. Listings for nonexistent positions inflate the apparent number of available roles, while applicants spend longer searching and applying without a genuine opportunity at the end of the process.

The personal cost of an unanswered interview

Candidates who receive no answer can be left questioning their abilities and replaying interviews in their minds. Without a decision, there is no clear point at which to stop waiting or understand what happened.

A discussion of the effects of job ghosting describes how unresolved interactions can remain on a person's mind. For someone looking for work, that uncertainty comes alongside the effort of preparing the next application and managing disappointment from the last.

Employers also face a cost. Candidates can share negative experiences with friends, professional contacts and people online. Those accounts may discourage others from applying, making future recruitment more difficult.

A recruiter described the opportunity companies have to build their reputation through the way they treat applicants:

The hiring process is an opportunity to build your brand organically, and candidates with a positive experience are likely to speak highly of the company to others.

A rejection can still leave a candidate with a clear answer and a professional impression of the organisation. Silence leaves the same person with uncertainty and a less favourable experience to share.

What a reasonable response looks like

Recruiters may be handling dozens of vacancies and thousands of resumes. Alongside that workload, the absence of standard communication procedures and, sometimes, a lack of empathy can help explain why updates stop.

Applicants who have reached an interview have already invested more time than someone who has only submitted a resume. Recruitment advice from Jobs-Me, addressing recruiter ghosting, sets out a straightforward expectation:

If you've had an interview, you deserve an update—whether it's a yes or no.

A generic rejection email can close the process even when individual feedback is impractical. A status message can also tell candidates that hiring is continuing, rather than leaving them to guess whether the vacancy has been filled.

Employers can make those messages part of their recruitment process, with an agreed point at which candidates receive an update. Automated acknowledgements, rejection emails and progress messages can reduce the amount of manual work while preserving basic communication.

Some recruitment professionals favour greater regulation or standard procedures to prevent candidates being left without answers. Others place more weight on using technology thoughtfully to manage communication. Both approaches address the same practical need: someone must be responsible for telling applicants where they stand.

Can hiring platforms make communication more visible?

LinkedIn, Indeed and Greenhouse are introducing or testing tools intended to make employers' communication practices easier for applicants to see. These tools aim to help candidates identify organisations that respond and encourage employers to improve the recruitment experience.

LinkedIn is testing responsiveness insights that show applicants which companies are actively reviewing applications. Indeed has introduced responsive employer badges and labels showing median response times. The median is the middle response time when the times are arranged in order.

Greenhouse is piloting badges that verify whether employers meet standards for respectful, communicative, prepared and fair hiring. These signals give applicants information about the process alongside the job description itself.

Technology nevertheless has two roles in this problem. It helps candidates send applications in large numbers, increasing recruiters' workload, while also giving employers tools to send updates and make their responsiveness more visible.

A talent acquisition manager described how difficult the workload can remain even with a person dedicated to reviewing applications:

If I could have a person literally just go through all the resumes and that is everything that they did, I don't even know if we'd still be able to respond to everyone within some of the criteria.

Employers still need to decide how to use those tools, which stages require an update and who will send it. A platform feature can support communication, while the organisation remains responsible for carrying it out.

How candidates can manage the waiting

Job seekers cannot control whether a recruiter responds, but they can give their own search more structure. Asking for an expected decision date and a preferred way to follow up makes the next step easier to judge.

A reasonable approach after an interview or meaningful conversation is usually to wait about two weeks before sending a polite follow-up message. Repeated messages are unlikely to make the process more useful and can add to the strain of waiting.

• Set expectations: an application without any contact may receive no reply.
• Keep records of applications, conversations, promised updates and follow-up messages.
• Ask recruiters about the timetable and how they prefer to be contacted.
• Tailor applications to roles that match relevant skills and experience rather than applying to every opening.
• Build relationships with recruiters and people in the industry before a job search becomes urgent.
• Check questionable advertisements and confirm that a role is genuine before committing more time.

Networking can help an applicant get noticed, while focused applications make the connection between the candidate's experience and the employer's needs easier to see. Neither removes the uncertainty of waiting, but both give candidates something practical to work on.

Graduate careers adviser Gradsingapore, in guidance on recruiters leaving candidates waiting, encourages applicants to acknowledge disappointment and return their attention to the search:

Give yourself time to grieve, but focus on your next step and put your energy back into your job search. As long as you keep at it with your head held high, you'll eventually find the job you're best suited for.

Closing the loop protects trust

Employers and recruitment agencies can balance efficiency with consideration for candidates by making updates a routine part of hiring. A short message can end uncertainty, preserve professionalism and leave an applicant willing to consider the organisation again.

Companies that make the candidate experience a priority can also protect their reputation and their ability to attract talent over time. The interview process is one of the first direct experiences a prospective employee has of an organisation.

Ms. Joan Yip, a consultant at Hays, described closing the loop as a small action with lasting value:

Some may fall through the cracks unintentionally, but we genuinely do our best. It is a small but important gesture that helps maintain trust and professionalism—which goes a long way.

Recruiters face real limits on their time, and candidates face real costs when communication stops. Clear timelines, brief updates and direct answers give both sides a more workable process, even when the final answer is a rejection.

Key Points

• A Robert Walters Singapore LinkedIn poll found that 88% of respondents had experienced recruiter ghosting.
• Large application volumes, cautious hiring and gaps in communication procedures contribute to candidates being left waiting.
• A SingTel Procurement Executive listing highlighted on social media attracted 725 applicants; some roles reportedly attract more than 1,000.
• An Indeed survey in 2021 found that 28% of job seekers admitted ghosting employers.
• Ghost job advertisements waste applicants' time and inflate the apparent number of available roles.
• LinkedIn, Indeed and Greenhouse are using or testing features intended to make hiring responsiveness more visible.
• Candidates can request timelines, track conversations, follow up politely and continue searching.
• Employers can provide closure through brief status updates and rejection messages, including automated communication.