A young graduate in Delhi refreshed his inbox for the tenth time that day. He has sent over a hundred petitions in a matter of weeks, each one carefully edited, each one containing a measure of hope. Nothing comes. No rejection, no acknowledgment, just silence that grows longer with each passing day. His experience is now no exception. This is fast becoming the norm.A recent report by a pre-employment testing firm Criterion, cited by Fortune.confirms what job seekers are suffering in silence: employers are increasingly failing to respond, and the trend is getting worse year after year.
When silence replaces denial.
Data is hard. According to the qualitative findings, more than half of job seekers, 53%, reported being ghosted in the past year. The increase has been steady and alarming, rising from 38 percent in 2024 to 48 percent in 2025. At what point does confession itself become too much to ask?
A system full of its own performance.
At first glance, it’s easy to blame irresponsible recruiters or overworked teams. But the truth goes deeper than that.The recruitment process has been reshaped by technology. With the help of artificial intelligence, candidates can build their resumes and apply for jobs on an unprecedented scale. Thousands of candidates can apply for a single job posting within hours.Performance on one side of the equation creates a greater burden on the other side of the equation. Recruiting teams are left to sort through a mountain of applications, often struggling to find meaningful differentiation between candidates. The more applications they get, the less meaningful they can engage with each one.And thus, reactions become slower. In many cases, they stop altogether.
When every resume looks perfect.
The resume, once a personal and painstakingly crafted document, is becoming less effective as technology continues to improve language, structure, and keyword content, and all applicants seem to have the same level of polish.On paper, all is a good match. Everyone has a good fit. But what happens when everyone is a good match, and everyone is a good fit? This raises an important question: If everyone seems to be the right fit, how does one get selected?
Illusion of Chance: AscensionPast Jobs ‘
Silence is only part of the problem. The second is more disturbing. A 2024 report by MyPerfectResume revealed that 81% of recruiters recognized roles in their organizations that were either already filled or never existed.The reasons vary. Some companies aim to maintain visibility on job platforms. Others test how listings perform or gather insights about competitors and the market.For employers, these can be calculated decisions. For job seekers, they represent wasted time and false hope.Applications are written, forms are filled out, sometimes interviews are held—all for opportunities that were never open.How does this affect the credibility of the recruitment process?
Bilateral, a broken system
The narrative is often framed as employers’ failure to respond. But the system itself is under pressure. Candidates apply in large numbers because they expect silence. Employers respond less because they are overwhelmed by the volume. This, in turn, encourages the other party to respond in kind, creating a cycle that is difficult to reverse.Somewhere along the way, the purpose of recruitment, which is to connect people with meaningful work, has become secondary to the process itself.
The emotional cost of being ignored
Behind every figure is a person. Silence, repeated over time, erodes one’s confidence. It fills one’s mind with doubt, where before there was clarity.Job candidates begin to wonder if they are good enough, if they made the right decisions, if they are valuable in the job market. Without feedback, they don’t know how to improve, they don’t know what they did wrong.As a result, some are going to extreme lengths to get attention: contacting hiring managers directly, visiting offices, building an online reputation.But does visibility require this level of persistence?
A moment of reckoning for recruiting practices
The questions now are difficult but important: Should companies be held accountable for failing to respond to applicants? Is it ethical to advertise roles that are not genuinely open? And in an era where AI shapes every application, what will replace the resume as a measure of merit? Until these questions are addressed, silence will continue to define the job search. And for millions of applicants, the hardest part won’t be rejection, it won’t be seen at all.
