Ghosted by a Machine

A few years ago, if someone had told me that I would someday interview with artificial intelligence, I probably would have laughed. It sounded like something out of a science fiction movie. Fast forward to today, and not only did I interview with AI, I was ghosted by it.

I wish I were kidding.

The first interview came as a phone call. There wasn’t a recruiter on the other end introducing themselves or asking how my day was going. There wasn’t any small talk. There wasn’t even another human being. It was an artificial intelligence system asking me interview questions, recording my answers, and moving me through the process. I answered every question as professionally as I would have if there had been a hiring manager listening. When it ended, I thanked it. Old habits die hard, I guess.

Then I waited.

Nothing.

No rejection email. No follow up. No update saying they had decided to move in another direction. Just silence.

At first I actually laughed. It struck me as absurd that we’ve reached a point where technology is sophisticated enough to conduct interviews, yet somehow nobody thought to automate the part where candidates are told the outcome.

Then it happened again.

This time it was a video interview. I completed it, and at the end I was told to watch my email because I would be receiving another interview invitation. That sounded encouraging. I assumed I had made it to the next stage.

That email never came.

Another application. Another interview. Another ghost.

What surprised me wasn’t that it happened twice. What surprised me was how little it surprised anyone else.

Afterward I started reading what other job seekers were saying online. Reddit, career forums, hiring communities, comment sections. I wasn’t looking for validation as much as I was trying to answer a simple question.

“Is this normal now?”

The answer, at least from what I found, seems to be yes.

Thousands of people are describing almost identical experiences. Some have completed one-way video interviews where they spend thirty or forty minutes talking into a webcam without another human present. Others describe AI phone interviews, personality assessments, cognitive tests, and multiple rounds of interviews that simply… end. No rejection. No explanation. No acknowledgement that the applicant invested their time in the process.

Some people said they no longer expect to hear back.

Think about that for a moment.

Not that they don’t expect to get the job.

They don’t expect to receive any answer at all.

Somewhere along the way, we collectively lowered the bar so far that basic communication became optional.

I don’t believe AI is the villain in this story.

In fact, I think artificial intelligence has the potential to improve hiring in a lot of ways. Recruiters today receive hundreds, sometimes thousands, of applications for a single position. Anything that helps organize those applications, identify qualified candidates, or reduce repetitive administrative work is probably a good thing.

Technology isn’t the problem.

The problem is what organizations choose to do with it.

We have software capable of scheduling interviews in seconds. Software that sends reminder emails, calendar invitations, text message confirmations, and follow up surveys. Software that can transcribe interviews, summarize responses, and rank applicants before a recruiter ever opens a résumé.

Yet somehow the one email that matters most never gets sent.

“Thank you for applying.”

“We’ve decided to move forward with another candidate.”

“We appreciate your interest.”

That’s it.

Nobody is asking for a handwritten letter or a twenty minute phone call. Most applicants understand they’re competing against dozens or hundreds of other qualified people. Rejection has always been part of looking for work.

Silence shouldn’t be.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized this isn’t really about hiring technology at all. It’s about leadership.

Every company spends time talking about culture. About values. About respect. About employer branding. About creating a great workplace.

Those values don’t begin on an employee’s first day.

They begin the moment someone decides your company is worth applying to.

Behind every application is a person who set aside time to update a résumé. Someone who researched your organization. Someone who adjusted their schedule to interview. Someone who hoped this opportunity might change their career, their finances, or maybe even their family’s future.

That deserves an answer.

It also made me think about something else.

Many of the conversations we’ve been having over the past few years focus on making hiring more efficient. We rarely stop to ask whether we’re making it better.

Those aren’t the same thing.

Efficiency measures how quickly we move people through a process.

Quality measures how people feel after they’ve gone through it.

The irony is that companies spend enormous amounts of money trying to build an employer brand that attracts talent. They create polished career pages. They post videos about company culture. They encourage employees to become brand ambassadors.

Then they ghost the very people they’re trying to impress.

Applicants may not remember every interview question they were asked.

They will remember how they were treated.

Maybe that’s what concerns me the most.

If ghosting has become so common that people simply shrug and say, “That’s just how hiring works now,” we’ve accepted a standard that would have seemed completely unprofessional not that long ago.

Maybe AI will become a permanent part of hiring. I think it probably will.

Maybe interviews will become more automated. Maybe résumés will be screened by algorithms before a recruiter ever sees them.

I’m not opposed to any of that.

I just hope we don’t automate our humanity right out of the process.

Because at the end of every application is still a person.

Not a data point.

Not a résumé.

Not an interview score.

A person.

I’m curious if my experience is becoming the rule rather than the exception.

Have you been interviewed by AI?

Have you completed multiple interviews only to be ghosted?

Or, if you’re on the hiring side, what does this process look like from your perspective?

I’d genuinely like to know whether this is simply the new normal… or whether we’ve forgotten something along the way.