Why Ghosting Is Killing Your Employer Brand (And Talent Pipeline)

Ghosting candidates damages your employer brand and weakens your talent pipeline. Here’s why mining employers are starting to feel the heat.

It happens with almost every mining employer. 

A job goes live. Applications roll in. Interviews start happening. Then things get busy. Really busy. 

And somewhere along the line, communication drops off. 

No update for the job applicant. 
No closure. 
Just silence. 

That silence has a name. Recruitment ghosting.  

And while it might feel harmless in the moment, it’s quietly damaging your employer brand, your candidate experience, and ultimately your talent pipeline. 

And whether you like it or not, your bottom line. 

Ghosting doesn’t end the hiring process. It follows it. 

In the Australian mining sector, word travels fast. 
Site to site. Crew to crew. Even state to state. 

When candidates are ghosted during the hiring process, they don’t just shrug and move on. They talk. To colleagues, supervisors, and other employers. 

That’s how employer reputation is shaped. 
Not by what you say. But by what you do, and what candidates experience. 

A negative candidate experience, particularly one driven by poor hiring communication, becomes a story. And stories stick. 

Ask yourself this: If a candidate never hears back, what assumptions are they making about your company and what do they tell others? 

Ghosting is shrinking your talent pipeline…quietly 

Mining employers across Australia are already dealing with talent shortages, skills gaps, and longer time-to-hire. So when employer ghosting candidates becomes normalised, the impact compounds. 

Strong candidates opt out early. 
Referrals dry up. 
Future applicants hesitate. 

That’s the real impact of ghosting on employer brand. 
It narrows your options before you even know it’s happening. 

And here’s the kicker. Most candidates don’t expect good news. They expect honesty. 

Silence feels worse. 

Candidate experience and employer brand are joined at the hip 

There was a time when employer brand lived on careers pages and in job ads. That time has passed. 

Today, candidate experience is a reflection of the brand. 

Every email unanswered. 
Every interview without feedback. 
Every delayed response. 

These moments define how your business is talked about in the mining community. Especially when you’re trying to attract experienced operators, engineers, and leaders who have options. Lots of options. 

In a sector where trust and reputation matter, ghosting candidates throughout the recruitment process sends the wrong signal. It suggests disorganisation. Or worse, indifference. 

As for championing inclusion and equality, how does this silence back up your DEI strategy?  

It’s a huge spoke in your wheel when you’re focused on attracting talent in mining. 

Why does ghosting happen in the first place? 

Most employers don’t do it intentionally. 

Hiring managers get stretched. Priorities shift. Roles change or pause. 

But from the candidate’s side, context doesn’t matter. Only experience does. 

That’s why simple candidate communication best practices, i.e. short updates, clear next steps, and timely closures supports your employer brand.  

It doesn’t need to be perfect. A follow-through is enough. 

 

The cost isn’t just reputational. It’s operational. 

When candidates disengage due to silence, recruitment cycles stretch. 
Re-advertising costs increase. Hiring teams start again from scratch. Pressure (whether you like it or not) is applied to the operational team/s, which can lead to further recruitment requirements. 

Over time, recruitment ghosting doesn’t just hurt feelings. It erodes efficiency, perceived culture, machinery availability and profitability, to name a few. 

And in a market where mining recruitment challenges are already intense, that’s a cost most employers can’t afford. 

 

Next time you’re experiencing a drop off in applicant quality, or one of your positions lies open for 2-3 months, ask yourself these questions.  

1. If candidates only experience silence from your hiring process, what story are they telling others about working for you?  
2. How long can your talent pipeline survive that story before something must change? 

Then act on your answers.  

Have you been impacted by ghosting? Get in touch.

Stay tuned for further articles on this subject 

*Clients Ghosting Recruitment Agencies – Why engage in the first place? 

*Be wary of the Recruitment Agent that doesn’t future pace your recruitment timeline  

*How engagement lifts the quality of hire  

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