Today we had a candidate pull a no-show on an interview. Not with my recruiter – with the hiring manager!

Needless to say, it was pretty embarrassing for me and my firm when the hiring manager let us know the candidate had not shown up for the interview.

We called and texted the candidate to find out what had happened, but couldn’t reach her. She ghosted us.

Why would anyone do this?

We had done our due diligence. We had screened the candidate thoroughly through two separate interviews, checked in with the candidate the day before the meeting with our client to make sure she was all set, and to make sure she was interested in the opportunity.

We hadn’t pushed her or cajoled her into going for an interview. She claimed to be interested and excited about the opportunity.

I guess we must have missed something along the way, but I can’t think what it could have been.

The sad thing is, this is not the first time this has happened, nor will it be the last.

No matter how thorough we are, no matter how carefully we match our opportunities with our candidate’s career goals and interests, we still get candidates that don’t show up.

Funny how this only happens with junior level positions. I’ve never had a Director or VP simply not show up to a job interview, it just doesn’t happen.

Why do you think this happens? Any ideas how we can avoid this happening in future? Please let me know in the comments.