Why Is Gen Z Career Catfishing Employers?

Career catfishing refers to candidates abruptly disappearing during the hiring process or after accepting a job offer. In many cases, applicants simply stop responding to recruiters or fail to appear on their first day without warning.

The trend is most commonly associated with Gen Z, though it isn’t exclusive to younger workers. In one study, 34% of Gen Z have reported career catfishing, followed by 24% of Millennials, 11% of Gen X, and 7% of Boomers. 1

For employers, the trend has become increasingly frustrating. Hiring managers across industries are dealing with no-shows after investing weeks (or sometimes months) into recruiting and onboarding candidates.

However, for many younger workers, career catfishing is less about laziness and more about distrust in a hiring system they feel has already failed them.

Career catfishing isn’t new

Although the phrase has gained popularity recently, the behavior itself isn’t new.

Workplace blogs and hiring forums were discussing first-day no-shows as far back as the early 2010s, particularly in retail, hospitality, and service jobs. In the tech industry, candidates have long accepted multiple offers simultaneously while waiting for their preferred employer to finalize their paperwork or background checks, then abandoned their backup options later.

What has changed is the scale and visibility of the phenomenon.

Some major employers have publicly acknowledged rising no-show rates among new hires. According to reporting from The Wall Street Journal, Southwest Airlines said roughly 15% to 20% of new hires failed to appear on their first day.

Social media has also amplified frustrations on both sides. Recruiters regularly share stories about candidates disappearing mid-process, while job seekers describe hiring systems as impersonal, exhausting, and unresponsive.

That growing frustration helps explain why Gen Z workers appear to be leading the trend.

There are many reasons a candidate may change their mind about a job, even after accepting a role. They may receive a better offer, decide the salary is too low, or realize the company culture is not the right fit.

The controversy surrounding career catfishing comes less from the phenomenon itself and more from the lack of communication.

Traditionally, declining a job offer involved an uncomfortable but expected conversation with a recruiter or hiring manager. Today, many younger workers no longer feel obligated to extend that courtesy after experiencing what they describe as an “often labyrinthine, opaque and time-consuming” job search, as explained in one article from The Guardian.

Modern recruiting often involves multiple rounds of interviews, automated screening systems, personality tests, delayed responses, and little to no feedback. Some job seekers spend months interviewing for roles only to be ghosted by employers without explanation.

As a result, many workers see employer ghosting and career catfishing as part of the same breakdown in workplace etiquette, but as outlined in one Forbes article, employers let candidates down first.

Employers ghosted candidates first

For years, job seekers have complained about employers disappearing after interviews. Candidates often spend hours tailoring their resumes, preparing presentations, and attending multiple interview rounds only to never hear back. When they don’t, they’re left to assume that they didn’t land the job and move on, as one CNBC article explains.

That has led to a sense of frustration that’s become normalized online.

“To ghost someone after 7 interviews and a 4+ month process is just disgusting and so disheartening,” said one Redditor in the popular subreddit r/recruitinghell. “I deserve a response at a minimum, but ideally some feedback. I’m sick of companies treating people like this.”

Many workers now openly argue that if companies can ghost applicants, applicants should feel free to ghost companies in return.

“Employers ghost us as well,” another Redditor wrote on r/GenZ. “So why should we not ghost them?”

This isn’t a unique sentiment. According to research from Indeed, 70% of US job seekers feel it’s “fair” to ghost employers, and 62% of job seekers say they plan to ghost during their future job searches.2

To many younger workers, career catfishing feels less like rebellion and more like adapting to a hiring culture they already perceive as lopsided and transactional.

Employers and recruiters are catfishing job seekers, too

Job seekers are not only frustrated by ghosting. Many also feel misled by the hiring process itself.

One growing complaint involves ghost jobs, which are online listings for positions that the company is not actively trying to fill or may not currently intend to hire for.

In some cases, companies leave listings active to collect resumes, build talent pipelines, signal growth to investors, or comply with internal hiring policies. Regardless of the reason, the effect on job seekers is the same. Essentially, they waste time tailoring applications and resumes for roles that may not actually exist.

Misleading job ads

Some candidates also accuse recruiters of overselling positions during the hiring process. Surveys suggest many workers have accepted jobs that later failed to match the salary expectations, workload, flexibility, or company culture described during recruitment.

Around 79% of workers say they’ve been “catfished” into a job that didn’t match the recruiter’s description.3

In that sense, many workers argue that career catfishing is part of a broader trend of growing distrust and a lack of transparency between employers and employees.

Career catfishing ties a company up both financially and logistically.

Hiring is an expensive and time-consuming process. Depending on the industry and role, recruiting, interviewing, onboarding, and training new employees can cost companies thousands of dollars per hire. Some experts estimate that the average hiring cost can reach three to four times a position’s salary (i.e., it costs upwards of $180,000 to fill a role with a $60,000 yearly salary).4

When a candidate disappears before their start date, employers may have to restart the hiring process entirely, which can delay projects and increase workloads for existing staff. The disruption may be especially difficult for smaller businesses or teams operating under tight budgets and staffing constraints.

Repeated no-shows can also reinforce growing tensions between employers and younger workers, contributing to resentment and bitterness on both sides of the hiring process.

While career catfishing may feel justified to some applicants, it still carries professional risks.

Industries are often smaller and more interconnected than they appear. Recruiters and hiring managers often move between companies, and reputations can follow candidates. Put another way, a recruiter someone ghosts early in their career could later become a hiring manager at a company they genuinely want to work for.

Some in the hiring process have even recounted instances of candidates bailing on them just to reapply for the same or a different position in the same company later.

“Why do you think I’m giving you any more of our time at that point?” wrote one frustrated online commentator.

A habit of ghosting employers may also prevent younger workers from developing difficult but important workplace skills, such as negotiation, professional communication, and conflict resolution.

In response, many younger workers counter that traditional workplace expectations no longer reflect the realities of the modern labor market. In an economy shaped by layoffs, unstable employment, and automated hiring systems, loyalty between employers and employees increasingly feels temporary on both sides.

Career catfishing is ultimately a symptom of the growing lack of trust between employers and workers.

Candidates feel dehumanized by automated hiring systems, endless interview rounds, and employer ghosting. Employers, meanwhile, are struggling with disengaged applicants and rising hiring costs. Unfortunately, neither side fully trusts the other anymore.

Recruiters who communicate consistently and respect candidates’ time may be more likely to receive that same professionalism in return.

Career catfishing is not simply a sign that Gen Z workers are “lazy” or unwilling to work. Instead, it reflects a hiring culture that many people now see as impersonal and transactional.

Until that changes, the silent no-show is probably unlikely to disappear anytime soon.