The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
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The Healthy Church Staff Podcast
Why Churches Ghost Candidates (and How to Stop It)
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Hey, if you've ever dropped the ball on following up with a candidate or just went radio silent, can we talk today? Ghosting isn't just rude, it's damaging to your reputation, to your church's credibility, and to the candidates who actually deserve much, much better. Today, maybe a little bit of chiding from somebody who's kind of living in the trenches of the staffing world every day. We're gonna dig into why ghosting happens and how to stop it before it becomes a habit. Hi there, my name's Todd Rhodes, and you're listening to the Healthy Church Staff Podcast today. We're talking about a really kind of delicate subject. I was talking to a candidate just yesterday who said that a church had ghosted him. He had actually done four interviews with a church. They appeared to be quite interested, and then all of a sudden, they stopped returning his messages. They never called him, they didn't text him, nothing. They just ghosted him. And it's just wrong. It's frustrating for the candidate. And maybe this is you. Maybe you've interviewed a person. Maybe you've even said, hey, I'll be in touch. And then you weren't. All right. No email, no phone call, no text, no closure. And today we're talking about a common but rarely confessed issue, and that's churches that ghost candidates. Now, I'll do another episode very soon about candidates that ghost churches, because that's also an issue as well. But this issue of churches ghosting candidates, where you're talking to them, you're dating a little bit, you're maybe doing a first interview, second interview, third interview. Maybe you've even brought them for a site visit for a weekend, and then they go home and you just you ghost them. It's not just a bad habit, man. It's a trust breaker. So I want to dig in today as to why this happens and how to fix it. Okay? Because this is the truth. Ghosting says more than what you think it does. When you ghost a candidate, here's what they think. This isn't with what the person told me yesterday. They don't respect my time. He's like, hey, I've talked to them four times. I've given them a good amount of my time, and it appears they just don't respect it because they're not getting back to me. Second thing is they weren't honest with me. Said the same thing. I'm gonna get back to you, and then they don't. It cuts into your integrity and your honesty. And here's the third thing, and this is how this is the truth, and I don't blame candidates that think this. If this is how they treat candidates, what would it be like to work there? I think it's valid. I think it's valid. Every ghosted candidate becomes a messenger, whether you like it or not, to their friends, to their networks, maybe even to your community. Because your reputation personally and the reputation of your church matters, at least it should. So why do churches do this? Even when they don't mean to. And I think this is a big point. I don't think a lot of churches think about it. The churches notoriously aren't great at communication. And this really shows up in hiring. But why does it happen? Why do churches ghost? One thing is the process takes a lot longer than you expect. And sometimes uh things just get lost because it's taken so long. Maybe, and I've seen this happen, maybe you're just avoiding a hard conversation. If I'm a candidate and I don't hear back from a church, if a church ghosts meet, it's rarely ever a okay. It's probably that they found another person that they've already hired or that they're talking to or they're trying to give themselves some time because they're looking at other options. Usually when somebody ghosts you, it's because they're avoiding having a hard conversation. And that's what I told the candidate yesterday. This is probably what's going on. You don't know for sure. But I also told him, don't let them off the hook. Don't just let them go away. Be persistent with them. Not don't be annoying, but at the same point, uh you give them a lot of your time and they need to at least tell you where they are in the process. That's the honest and the admirable and the Christ-like thing to do. Maybe you don't get back because you're just not sure what to say or how to say it. Maybe you assume somebody else showed up or followed up. Maybe you're just trying to buy some time. You're looking at this candidate that you kind of, but you've got a couple other candidates that you're looking at that you might like better. So you want to get through these processes, the people over here first before you tell this person no, you're kind of using them as a backup, as a backup crutch there. That that's you need to be honest with people, okay? But your silence, if you're silent, the silence is going to equal rejection, whether you mean it or not. And for candidates, like I said, no news is neutral. It's never good. It's very wounded. It's very wounding. So how do you end the silent and start leading? Okay. You need to set up some communication rhythm, some weekly updates, even if it's just, hey, no news yet. But make sure at the end of every conversation you have with a candidate, whether it's an interview, whether it's an email or phone call, tell them what that next step is and then hold yourself to it. And there are times where you just need to practice some kind clarity. Just and believe it or not, candidates are going to be disappointed if you tell them you're not going to get the job. But they're also going to appreciate the clarity. They're going to knowing that they can, okay, this opportunity isn't working out, I can move on to something else. So practice kind clarity. Something like you're no longer in the running, but we're really grateful for your time. You can use templates, pre-written emails to make follow-ups easier. That's there's no harm, no foul in that. But you do need to remember, you always have to be kind, you always have to be clear. People talk, and how you treat candidates is going to reveal your leadership culture and the leadership culture of your church. Here's the bottom line for today. When churches honor candidates, even those that they're not hiring, they build trust, not just one with one person, but across the kingdom. You have to put yourself in the candidate's shoes. They're going through a hard time of discerning what God's will is for this next chapter of their lives, of their career, of their family, of where they're going to live or where their kids are going to go to school. This is some really heavy stuff with candidates, and the best thing we can do is honor them, honor their time, and be honest and communicate well with them. All right, here's the final thought. Silence is a loud message. You need to choose a better one. What's one thing you can do this week to bring clarity to a candidate if you're in the hiring process? Some churches, some people do this extremely well. Other churches take total advantage of candidates. Don't be that church. All right. I hope this has been helpful for you today. As you can tell, something I'm very passionate about. I'll do it, I'll do a podcast in the near future on why candidates ghost churches and what that what that means, because it does happen on both sides. And if there's anything staffing related that I can help you with for your church, hiring, uh, firing, compensation, succession, any of those healthy church staff initiatives, I'd love to be able to uh have a conversation with you, talk with you, partner with you, see if there's a way we can coach or consult you and help you through uh to get you to where you want to be, get you unstuck. All right, you can reach out to me anytime, podcast at chemistrystaff.com. All right, that's it for today's episode of the Healthy Church Staff Podcast. Hope you have a great day. We're back here tomorrow.
