Maya Angelou once said, “At the end of the day, people won't remember what you said or did; they will remember how you made them feel." I wish more recruiters had this quote tattooed on their foreheads—backward, so they could read it every time they look in the mirror. It seems like more and more recruiters are taking a crash course in how to treat candidates with all the grace of a stampeding rhinoceros.

Let’s talk about ghosting—not the kind involving bedsheets and Halloween, but the kind where recruiters vanish into the ether, never to be seen or heard from again. Imagine this: you’re vibing with a recruiter, exchanging emails like it's the start of a beautiful friendship. You give them your availability for an interview, and then... *crickets*. No “Sorry, we went with someone else,” not even a courtesy “We’ve been abducted by aliens; send help.” Just radio silence. It's like the recruiter joined a secret witness protection program mid-conversation. A month later, you’re left wondering if you accidentally said something offensive like “I prefer tea over coffee.”

Then there’s the phenomenon of the “ghost job”—no, not a haunting new role in paranormal investigations, but rather the more sinister type: fake job listings. A recent survey revealed that 40% of companies post these make-believe roles. Why? Apparently, to give the illusion of growth or keep their overworked employees from staging a coup. This is not just fibbing; this is professional-level deception. Meanwhile, applicants are out here perfecting their resumes for jobs that don’t even exist. You might as well spend your time writing love letters to the Tooth Fairy.

Asking candidates to complete a "small" task that mysteriously resembles a week's worth of actual work? Clever. But not really. This isn't a clever way to get free labor; it's a fantastic way to ensure top talent runs for the hills.

And don’t get me started on those application forms. Why is it that even after uploading your meticulously crafted resume, you’re still asked to manually input your entire career history? It’s like handing over a beautifully iced cake only to be told, “Great, now can you bake another one but in tiny little cupcake portions and frost each one individually?” To top it off, some forms will repeatedly ask you if you’re male, female, or a wizard—over and over, as if your gender might change halfway through completing the application.

Job postings often include a friendly nudge like, "Hey, don't be shy! Even if you're not ticking all the boxes, we'd love to hear from you. After all, everyone has hidden superpowers!" It's a nice thought, right? But here's the funny part – sometimes the enthusiastic AI recruiter bot didn't get the memo. It might be a bit overzealous, filtering out applications faster than you can say "skills mismatch." Oops! Looks like the AI missed the 'inclusivity' memo in its inbox.

Finally, there's the classic bait and switch. You know the drill: the job says it’s remote, but after entering pages of information, you find out you need to live within a 2-mile radius of the North Pole. Or worse, you apply for a “remote” job only to discover that, sure, it’s remote—as long as you don’t mind commuting 1,628 miles every few days from Nashville, Tennessee, to Salt Lake City, Utah.

Companies might believe that "manners maketh man" does not apply to corporate behavior. But consider this: candidates who are ghosted, waste time on phantom job postings, or wrestle with clunky application sites will find opportunities elsewhere—and they won’t forget how they were treated. Those former candidates won’t just disappear; they’ll remember when it’s time to choose where to spend their money.

Recruiting often falls under HR, but it’s time to bring in Marketing or PR to ensure the process leaves a positive impression. A company can boast about its great culture all it wants, but if a candidate’s first experience is being mistreated, those claims will seem empty at best and deceitful at worst.