But, I said for years their bad behavior will come back to bite them – and so now it has. The generation that started looking for work during that time has come to think that is the way companies/the working world works. It wasn’t; but, it now become a “norm” so I get why job seekers do it. it was done to them first.

okay, okay, I am sooo cynical!

Thank you! Fixed!

Mr Ghost of Firings-Past you did the right thing given the situation!

As to the article, YES YES YES all around. I wouldn’t ghost an employer, but I have quit a couple of jobs with no notice when they were just awful. One that springs to mind was a second job in a laundromat, doing fluff-and-fold. It was an evening shift, working alone with a lot of very sketchy customers who constantly hit on me, and I never felt safe. I worked there for half a week before I finally called the owner and quit over the phone.

I never expect a reply from just submitting an application. However, if I’ve made the time and effort to interview with a company, I expect follow-up, even if the news is disappointing. I code these things in my job spreadsheet and note which ones ghost me, and they go right on my nope list. Don’t bother recruiting me!

The HR guy from a student loan company in My Fair City called and scheduled a phone screen for Friday afternoon at 4pm. No problem, except he wasn’t there when I called that Friday– nor did he return my voicemails, ever. Oh, HR got around to making an offer to a friend of mine a month later, who promptly declined (it wasn’t good anyways, but I feel better about it).

Finally Taylor Swift ghosted me. Ok, her LinkedIn photo looked a bit like the singer, and her name and age were quite similar. Initially Ms Smith called me about my submitted job application, and said the hiring manager was very interested. However the hiring manager was traveling for a week, but she’d call back when he returned and got his schedule in order. No calls, no return call to my voicemails spaced a week apart. Personally I think Ms Smith has gotten an inflated sense of importance. I’m referring to the HR gal, of course.

I did it. My coworker and I were young, low-echelon, desperately trying to improve our situations– and he told me where he was interviewing. I was about a week behind him in the hiring process.

He got his offer first, and gave two-week notice. Our then-employer immediately ushered him out the door without further pay.

Guess what I did when I got my offer? Yep, I didn’t give notice till Wednesday that I was starting work elsewhere Monday. My then-employer was stunned. Go figure.

The last of 7 questions I teach my students to ask themselves before they even apply to a job (to apply for their first job in the US) is, Can I and will I keep the job at least 6 months, and preferably 12 months? If they cannot answer yes to this question, I advise them to not apply.

Again, solid advice here.