For many Kenyan job seekers, ghosting has long meant sending applications and hearing nothing back. That complaint has not gone away, but employers now describe the opposite problem: candidates who go silent after interviews, even after being told they are the preferred choice.
One HR manager describes a typical case. A candidate selected for a supervisory role stopped responding, and after close to two weeks of calls and messages, he finally explained that he had accepted another job with a better salary and a shorter commute.
The trend is part of a wider shift. Ghosting is no longer limited to dating, and some young people now treat would-be employers like bad dates, sometimes skipping interviews altogether. Their reasons are often tied to the hiring process itself. One recent graduate went through three video interviews and a written test for a Nairobi digital agency, which made her feel the employer would be hard to please. Soon after, a PR agency offered her an internship after a single interview and a test. Another young digital marketer went silent after securing a job, because she began to have doubts once the offer set out salary and working hours.
The wider job market helps explain some of this behaviour. Young Kenyans rarely get breathing space after finishing school, and many take whatever opportunity is available. Formal job growth is limited, which means fierce competition for the few formal positions. In that environment, candidates tend to apply widely and keep several options open.
Candidates describe the other side of the silence too. One PR and digital marketing professional based in Kenya called being ghosted exhaustingly disappointing. Ghosting is widely seen as a two-way problem beyond Kenya as well. Both job seekers and employers broadly agree it has become part of the hiring landscape, and surveys of hiring managers elsewhere show that candidates sometimes vanish after an offer is made, though slow processes and unclear expectations are often cited as reasons they disengage.
A related problem is the job advert that leads nowhere. Public agencies and humanitarian organizations have all warned in 2026 about fake recruitment notices circulating online, some of which falsely claim to hire hundreds of people. Experts say scammers exploit high unemployment and desperation among young people, and organisations advise job seekers to verify any advert through the employer’s official website before sharing personal information or making payments.
Candidates are also weighing more than salary. Flexible working arrangements, medical benefits, shorter commutes and career growth are often cited as influencing job choices.
