Gen Z and the Rise of “Career Catfishing” in Hiring
Photo by Magnet.me on Unsplash
Career catfishing refers to job candidates accepting an offer, even signing contracts, then disappearing without ever showing up for the job. In essence, it’s ghosting the employer on Day One. This trend has surged recently, especially among Gen Z workers, shaking up traditional hiring norms. Surveys indicate that about one-third of Gen Z job seekers have engaged in this practice (and if you want a funnier take on their work habits, Gen Z at Work is in our generations book collection). Gen Z isn't just ghosting because they’re frustrated, they’re also changing how the job market works around them. Instead of waiting for recruiters to come knocking, they’re building professional brands on their own. For many, TikTok is becoming the new LinkedIn, giving them a direct line to opportunities without the slow grind of traditional hiring.
In a UK-based poll of 1,000 workers, 34% of Gen Z respondents admitted to “career catfishing” an employer, far higher than the 24% of Millennials, 11% of Gen X, and 7% of Baby Boomers who said the same. In other words, younger candidates are over four times as likely as Boomers to accept a job offer and then ghost the employer.
A Silent Protest or Just Playing the Field? Why would someone invest weeks in interviews and offer negotiations only to vanish on start date? Researchers suggest it’s often a reaction to a frustrating job market. Gen Z candidates have endured long, “labyrinthine, opaque and time-consuming” hiring processes, often facing dozens of applications and multiple interview rounds just to land one offer.
By the time an offer finally comes, they may have lost interest, received a better offer elsewhere, or simply become fed up. Rather than politely declining, many choose to cut off contact entirely. In one survey, the top reasons young job seekers ghosted employers included lengthy hiring timelines, poor communication, misleading job descriptions, or disappointment with the offered role.
Notably, a 2023 Indeed survey found three in four UK employees have ghosted a potential employer, often citing rude interviewer behavior or drawn-out responses as justification. 70% of U.S. job seekers now feel it’s “fair” to ghost companies if they’ve been treated poorly, a stark indicator that many candidates see it as reciprocating the discourtesy they’ve experienced from employers.
Ghosting Goes Both Ways: Indeed, the practice can be viewed as a symptom of eroding trust on both sides of the hiring equation. Candidates report frequent “professional ghosting” by employers, being left with no reply after final interviews or even after job offers. Surveys confirm this imbalance: 77% of job seekers say a prospective employer has ghosted them at some point after an interview. Employers also post “ghost jobs”. These are roles that aren’t actually hiring, leaving applicants feeling misled.
Gen Z, having grown up with these experiences, may feel little obligation to inform an employer that “thanks, but I’ve moved on.” As one report put it, young professionals are using career catfishing as “a form of silent protest” against drawn-out hiring processes and broken promises. The dynamic is reminiscent of dating culture: ghost them before they ghost you. A 2025 academic review on workplace ghosting notes that the phenomenon “originates from the dating sector” and has entered the job market “due to power shifts within labour markets”. In a tight labor market where good talent is in demand, candidates have felt increasingly empowered to exert control, even if that means vanishing without notice.
Evidence the Trend Is Real
Multiple data points show that candidate ghosting is not just anecdotal, but it’s widespread and rising. A late-2022 survey by Indeed of thousands of job seekers across the U.S., UK, and Canada found staggering results:
Majority have ghosted: 61% of U.S. job seekers admitted they had ghosted at least 2–4 employers in the prior 12 months. In Canada, 37% had done so, and in the UK 36%. Other surveys in Britain put the figure even higher, with roughly 75% of workers in the UK saying they have ghosted an employer at least once. This suggests ghosting is common across age groups – though Gen Z leads the pack, older generations are not innocent bystanders.
On the rise: The propensity to ghost employers has climbed sharply in recent years. As of 2023, 62% of job seekers globally say they plan to ghost during future job searches, up from 56% who said so in 2022 and just 37% back in 2019. In other words, the share of candidates open to ghosting nearly doubled in four years. This correlates with the hot job market of the early 2020s, when low unemployment gave candidates more leverage. Notably, even as the economy cooled in 2023–2024, many job seekers (especially younger ones) still “feel confident enough to ditch job opportunities” despite uncertainty.
Sometimes it’s cavalier: While frustration with employers is the main driver, some young people treat it almost like a prank. In one recent poll of Gen Z and young Millennials, 21% of those who career-catfished said they did it on a dare. Others admitted they “just weren’t feeling it” after accepting the job. Such responses, however niche, underline that the stigma around ghosting a job is eroding. What was once seen as unprofessional is now, to some, practically a joke or a form of taking back control.
This generation entered the workforce amid pandemic disruptions and has been outspoken about valuing well-being and respect over old-school corporate loyalty. If a company’s culture or offer doesn’t meet their expectations, Gen Z workers are inclined to walk away quickly, or disengage from tasks they view as unnecessary or tedious. In fact, surveys show Gen Z works to live, not lives to work as they prioritize personal fulfillment, mental health, and alignment with their values. For example, 56% of Gen Z workers say they would not even accept a job offer from a company whose leadership lacks diversity, reflecting how strongly they weigh their principles. Likewise, 35% of young employees cite poor work-life balance or burnout as a top reason they’d quit their employer. This mindset helps explain career catfishing: if they sense early on that a new job won’t provide the conditions they value (be it flexible hours, growth opportunities, or an inclusive culture), they may decide it’s not worth even starting.
Additionally, Gen Zers are constantly surveying their options. One global study found 62% of Gen Z workers are actively or passively looking for other jobs at any given time. They are a generation of consummate job-seekers, always networking and ready to leap to a better opportunity. So if a more attractive offer comes in after they’ve accepted yours, there’s a good chance the Gen Z hire may ghost and grab the other gig.
The rise of career catfishing underscores a broader power shift in the labor market. When jobs are plentiful, candidates feel freer to abandon one offer for another. The World Economic Forum’s Future of Jobs Report 2023 noted that in late 2022, 1 in 5 employees worldwide intended to switch jobs within a year. That churn is led by younger workers. In the same report, data from ManpowerGroup highlighted that 68% of Gen Z workers are dissatisfied with their employers’ progress on issues like diversity and 57% of all workers pursue training outside their job because they feel their employers’ upskilling efforts fall short.
Impact on Employers and Risks for Candidates
For companies, being ghosted by new hires can be costly and disruptive. When an expected hire fails to appear, the employer loses time, money, and sometimes other good candidates who were turned down. According to Indeed’s research, 89% of employers say candidate ghosting, including no-shows on the first day, is a problem for their business. Managers cited wasted productivity (having invested hours in interviews and onboarding prep) and the need to restart the recruitment process from scratch. There are also morale and logistical issues: teams who expected a new member might be left short-staffed, and HR departments have to explain the vanishing act internally.
Companies are not taking this trend lightly. Some have started maintaining records of candidates who ghost. Indeed found 62% of large employers now keep track of job seekers who accept an offer or interview but then disappear, potentially blacklisting them from future openings. In practice, this means if a candidate ghosts a big firm today, they may find themselves quietly barred if they apply to that same firm later on – a risk many Gen Z ghosters might not fully realize in the moment. Recruiters advise that word can travel: industries like tech or finance are often tight-knit, and habitually ghosting employers could damage one’s reputation.
Hiring managers increasingly perceive Gen Z as a challenging cohort to work with, an image reinforced by incidents like offer ghosting. In a 2023 ResumeBuilder survey of 1,300 managers, 74% said Gen Z workers were harder to work with than other generations, often citing traits like entitlement, lack of accountability, and poor work ethic. While those are broad stereotypes, a highly publicized pattern of ghosting certainly doesn’t help Gen Z’s case in the eyes of older managers.
And as economic conditions change, the power dynamic could swing back. Several indicators suggest the job market is tightening in 2024–2025, meaning fewer options for job seekers. Fortune magazine notes that the graduating class of 2025 faces a tougher market, job applications were already up 24% vs. the prior year, a sign of more competition per opening.
On the other hand, Gen Z knows how to navigate change and is likely more informed and confident about their decisions, and about finding jobs that are the right fit for them, than any generation before. Even as economic and employment conditions shift, they aren’t necessarily becoming more challenging for Gen Z. After all, there are more opportunities to succeed today than ever before. At New Stardom, we track workplace trends and job market shifts to bring you the latest insights.
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