Weeks of radio silence after job interviews are no longer an isolated case. Mawave CEO Jason Modemann thinks: Job ghosting has nothing to do with overworked HR teams – everything to do with a lack of respect. How recruiting can work better.
Job ghosting is disrespectful and a disgrace to leadership, says Jason Modemann, CEO of Mawave. He explains what respectful recruiting means.
Ghosting is something we know from dating. Even though – fortunately – I’ve been out of there for a long time. What I see more and more often: job ghosting. And unfortunately it happens in a frighteningly similar way: first intensive exchange, then a lot of effort. You open yourself up, invest time, make an effort. In between, nice signals like “We hear each other.” But then: radio silence. Waiting for weeks, asking multiple times. Until at the end there is either a carelessly copied standard rejection – or nothing at all.
No matter whether in private or work life: This is disrespectful! But unfortunately not an isolated case. A survey by karriere.at from October 2025 shows how widespread the problem is: 77 percent of those surveyed have not received any response to applications several times. Another 7 percent at least once. This means: 84 percent of all applicants have already been ignored by an employer. In my opinion, this is no longer a normal recruiting problem, this is a power play.
Of course, I know how complex hiring processes can be. The people team, the department and maybe even the management – everyone needs to talk to each other. Team decisions need coordination and delays happen. But: silence is not delay. Silence is an attitude.
4000 applications per year
We receive around 4,000 applications per year at our agency. Nevertheless, we don’t make anyone wait for weeks. I don’t mean to say that we are better than other employers, but we have consciously decided to approach things differently.
Read too
We take the following three things into account in the recruiting process:
1. Mindset: Applicants are not supplicants
Many companies still behave as if applicants should be grateful for being invited at all. In my opinion, this attitude is completely outdated: applicants invest time, energy and often emotions in the process. You prepare, conduct interviews, work on case studies – all without any guarantee of being hired.
If you take it seriously, the term “application process” is actually misleading. Because what happens there is not a one-way street, but rather a mutual getting to know each other. Not only the employer decides, but also the applicant. It examines culture, leadership, communication and attitude. He decides whether he wants to entrust his expertise and a large part of his time to this environment.
2. Employer branding happens in the process, not on the career page
Companies invest a lot of budget in employer branding and recruiting campaigns. A poor application process ruins the marketing investment. Anyone who stalls candidates for weeks, ghosts them or fobs them off with standard emails shows very clearly how appreciation is probably practiced internally… not at all.
You have to look at it this way: recruiting is not just a prelude to the job – it is already corporate culture in action.
Clear, transparent and rapid communication is not a nice-to-have, but rather the core of a good candidate experience. A short update such as “We are still voting, unfortunately it will take a little longer” costs two minutes. But it shows: there is a person here, not a ticket in the system.
3. Clear deadlines out of respect
Anyone who makes applicants wait sends a clear message: your time is worth less than mine.
This feeling often arises not from bad intentions, but from a lack of commitment. Clear deadlines are therefore extremely important – for both sides. Applicants know where they stand, can plan, compare and make decisions. And companies force themselves to structure processes clearly and not to put off decisions endlessly.
That’s why no application stays with us for long. As a rule, we will contact you within a few hours, or at the latest after two to three days. Our internal guideline is a maximum of one week – but we almost always fall well short of that. Not necessarily because we are in a hurry, but simply because commitment is part of our recruiting mindset.
Read too
We deliberately keep the entire application process lean and transparent: After the application, you will either receive an invitation to get to know us or an honest rejection. If the first impression is correct, a case study follows with clear expectations and a realistic time frame, which the applicant helps determine. Then an in-depth discussion with the department team and then a decision. All of this takes a maximum of three to four weeks. No endless loops, no radio silence, no guesswork.
Appreciation is everything
My conclusion? Appreciation begins long before the first day of work with the very first contact. What many managers underestimate: If respect, clarity and reliability are missing during the recruiting process, trust will not develop later. If you want to attract talent, you don’t have to impress them, you have to take them seriously.
*Jason Modemann is the founder and managing director of the social media agency Mawave Marketing. At 27, he manages 150 employees. Mawave’s customers include Red Bull, Nike and Lidl. He is also the author of the book “Always hungry, never greedy.”