by Mary C. Morton, CPC | Director of Recruiting & Business Development
I hear some version of this all the time:
“I had a great initial interview with Talent Acquisition. They seemed interested. They told me about the next steps. And now I haven’t heard anything. I’ve. Been, Ghosted.”
Maybe.
But maybe not.
Ghosting is unquestionably part of today's hiring landscape. Lack of communication and follow-up was the number one negative theme in the 2025 Candidate Experience Benchmark research, and 56% of candidates who were rejected during screening or interviewing said they received no feedback.
At the same time, hiring teams are dealing with enormous candidate volume. Indeed recently reported that applications per job doubled between 2022 and 2025 while the number of internal recruiters on staff at these companies dropped significantly. I know for a fact that a couple of my clients reduced the size of their internal recruiting team in 2023 and 2024 and have only just begun to re-expand.
None of that should excuse leaving someone hanging after an interview. Once a company has asked you to spend your time talking with them, I think they owe you an answer.
And when you're in an active job search, you're already in your feelings in a more uncomfortable and daunting way than you're used to, anyway.
But if you’re the candidate sitting on the other end of the silence, deciding that you’ve been ghosted too quickly can create a whole lot of frustration that may not be warranted.
So before declaring the relationship dead, here are three questions worth asking.
1. Am I actually being ghosted?
There is a difference between being ghosted and the hiring process moving more slowly than you expected.
After an initial Talent Acquisition interview, there may be quite a bit happening that you can't see.
(*For the purposes of this blog, when I say "recruiter," I am referring to an internal talent acquisition recruiter, not an agency recruiter)
The recruiter may be waiting for the hiring manager to review candidates. Interviews may still be underway. The hiring manager may be traveling. Someone may have gone on vacation. The company may suddenly be reconsidering headcount. The job description may be changing. An internal candidate may have appeared. The team may be debating whether the territory needs to be redrawn.
And sometimes the recruiter simply doesn't have anything useful to tell you yet.
This is particularly common in Medical Affairs hiring because one hiring decision can involve Talent Acquisition, Medical Affairs leadership, HR, compensation, and sometimes several additional stakeholders. A process that looked pretty typical and predictable on Monday can become surprisingly complicated by Friday.
That doesn't mean candidates should tolerate endless silence.
But I wouldn't call it “ghosting" if it's only been 3-4 business days since an initial TA conversation.
If the recruiter gave you a timeline, start there. If they said, “I should know something by Friday,” give them until Friday. If Monday afternoon arrives with no update, following up is completely reasonable.
If they gave you no timeline, I think about five business days is a reasonable first check-in.
The important distinction is this:
Silence doesn't necessarily mean no. But prolonged silence is still information.
2. Is there anything I can do to keep myself from disappearing?
Yes, within reason.
Your goal is to make it easy for the recruiter to remember exactly who you are and why you they found you interesting in the first place.
Sending an email asking, “Any updates?” is not the move.
First, send a brief thank-you after the initial conversation. It doesn't need to be a dissertation about how excited you are to join a company you've spoken with for 30 minutes.
Just reinforce your interest and, more importantly, your fit for the role, the culture, and the team.
For example, if this is an MSL role in rare disease and you spent part of the conversation discussing your experience building relationships with difficult-to-access specialists, mention that. If it's a pre-launch role and you've supported two launches, remind them.
Give the recruiter a useful mental Post-it note:
Mary = strong launch experience + existing KOL relationships + understands this disease state.
That will make more valuable impression than another generic “I'm very excited about the opportunity.”
Then pay attention to the timing they gave you.
If the date passes, send one concise follow-up.
If another five to seven business days pass without an answer, one more follow-up is reasonable.
After that, I would stop chasing them.
There is one exception, though, and that is if something genuinely relevant changes in your job search, you should tell them.
If you've received another offer and now have a looming deadline, that's an update worth sharing. And this is especially important when the delays in response have absolutely nothing to do with their interest in you as a candidate. Just be diplomatic about it, not demanding. "Hey, if you guys want me, you better get moving" is not a great idea. “I wanted to check in again” for the fourth time also isn't. I would go with "I know there may be some unexpected delays on your end. As you may be aware, I'm in an active job search, and I've just received another offer. While this other opportunity is very attractive, my interest is much higher in [your company]. I would always regret it if I accept this other offer without knowing my status with [your company]. If there is continued interest in my candidacy, and there is a way to make the timing work, please let me know."
There's another habit I recommend during this period that has nothing to do with the employer:
Keep looking.
One of the biggest mistakes candidates make is mentally accepting a job they haven't been offered.
They have one terrific interview and suddenly stop applying elsewhere. They start checking LinkedIn to see who works on the team. They picture themselves in the territory. They calculate the compensation increase.
Meanwhile, the company is still interviewing six people.
Until you have an offer, this is an opportunity, not your next job.
Treat it accordingly.
3. What if I really have been ghosted?
At some point, silence becomes the answer.
You can argue about whether that point is two weeks or three weeks, but if you've followed up professionally more than once and nobody is responding, I would assume the process isn't moving forward for you unless you hear otherwise.
And this is where candidates sometimes make a bad situation worse.
They're angry, understandably.
So they send the email.
You know the one.
“I find it incredibly unprofessional that after investing my time in your interview process, nobody has had the courtesy to respond…”
Everything after that may be completely true.
I still wouldn't send it.
Not because the company deserves a pass.
Because it doesn't help you. Mentally, emotionally, tactically. Not at all.
Medical Affairs is a relatively small world. Recruiters change companies. Hiring managers change companies. The person who didn't move you forward for this MSL job may be hiring for a completely different position two years from now.
You don't need to thank someone for treating you poorly. You also don't need to burn the bridge on your way out.
If you want closure, send one final short note:
“I wanted to follow up one last time regarding the position. I remain interested, but I assume the team has decided to move forward in another direction. I enjoyed learning more about the opportunity and would welcome the chance to reconnect if circumstances change.”
And then you're done.
No “I noticed the job was reposted yesterday.”
No trying to figure out whether another candidate accepted the position.
Take the information you actually have and move forward.
The part I think candidates underestimate
How a company communicates during the hiring process tells you something.
Not everything, but something.
A recruiter who says, “I don't have an update yet, but I didn't want to leave you wondering” has just told you something about that organization.
So has a company that asks you to prepare extensively for multiple interviews and then disappears.
Candidate experience matters, and employers should pay attention to it. Research continues to show that poor communication affects how people perceive companies long after an individual application ends. (And this will be the subject of the Part 2 of the ghosting topic)
But as a candidate, you have very little control over whether a company runs a good recruiting process.
You have tremendous control over how you run your job search. So, take the high road. Always.
Follow up professionally.
Make your communication useful.
Stay visible without becoming a pest.
Keep pursuing other opportunities.
Don't interpret every delay as rejection.
And when someone's behavior finally tells you it's time to move on, believe them and move on.
That's probably the most useful definition of “rebounding” from ghosting I can offer.
Not pretending it doesn't bother you.
Not convincing yourself that "I didn't want to work for that company anyway."
Just refusing to let someone else's poor communication take up more space in your job search than it deserves.