Job seekers and employers are regularly ghosting each other, highlighting an Australian recruitment market that is failing both sides, according to new research.

A survey of more than 1,500 Australians by HR software company Employment Hero found job hunters are regularly being ignored after applying for roles, while many are also guilty of ghosting prospective employers.

Three-quarters of respondents said they had experienced at least one recruitment “horror story”.

A third said they had spent hours preparing a job application, only to be completely ghosted by the potential employer.

Nearly a quarter identified being ghosted altogether as their biggest frustration during the recruitment process.

Being ignored

Younger workers are particularly likely to experience recruitment ghosting, with 32 per cent of those aged under 35 reporting it had happened to them, compared with 20 per cent of those aged over 35.

“Behind every ghosted application is a person trying to get a job and behind every slow process is a business trying to grow,” Employment Hero managing director of talent solutions David Holland said.

“When recruitment breaks down, nobody wins. Jobseekers miss out on work they’d thrive in, and businesses lose the people they need.

“For young Australians especially, being ignored…isn’t just frustrating. It knocks their confidence at the very start of their working lives.”

Research published last year found that young workers were ghosting employers themselves, sometimes after accepting a job offer or working just a handful of days.

Another report found that more than half of surveyed job seekers had been ghosted during the application process, either by never hearing back from a recruiter or receiving no response from the company.

Some of this behaviour may be linked to job hunters juggling multiple opportunities at once.

Research earlier this year found that nearly two-thirds of Australian job seekers had three interview processes underway simultaneously, although they were becoming more cautious about accepting new roles.

Not working for employers either

The Employment Hero research also found that more than 40 per cent of those surveyed said their biggest complaint about the recruitment process was receiving little or no feedback after being rejected for a role.

Younger workers were also more likely to have applied for a fake job advertisement or a role that was never genuinely available.

Employers, meanwhile, are experiencing their own frustrations.

More than half of those surveyed said they had lost top talent because their internal recruitment processes were too slow, while nearly 60 per cent said they were weighed down by manual administration.

Research published last year found that Australian companies were taking three times as long to hire someone as job seekers expected, resulting in employers losing their preferred candidates.

AI and business futurist Kim Seeling Smith said the recruitment process was no longer working for either side.

“Somewhere along the way, we’ve lost the human connection in the job search process,” Smith said.

“For candidates and hiring managers alike, recruitment has become time-consuming, frustrating and often unreliable.

“The research shows that even when candidates make it through the hiring process, the experiences can still fall short.

“Too many are left waiting for responses or wondering where they stand.”