Ghosted by my own company

Have you ever been ghosted by your own company? I thought ghosting was reserved for shady recruiters, flaky “coffee chat” people, and that one hiring manager who swore they’d “circle back by Friday.” But no—corporate America has outdone itself. They’ve invented in-house ghosting.

Picture this: You’re sitting at your desk, working away, maybe even humming along to some sad playlist because the office coffee tastes like regret. A role opens up in your specialty area—finally, the chance to move back into the lane where you actually belong. You apply. You interview. You show up, bring your A-game, smile at all the right times, nod at all the right buzzwords. You think, “Hey, this could be it.”

And then? Silence. Absolute silence. No rejection email, no “thanks but no thanks,” not even the courtesy of a half-hearted Slack message with a sad emoji. Weeks pass. Your inbox? Empty. Your Teams notifications? Dead. The HR portal? Gathering cobwebs.

How do you find out they picked someone else? By scrolling through LinkedIn. That’s right—LinkedIn, the place that doubles as a highlight reel for people you didn’t know were competing against you. One minute you’re liking a post about “10 Ways to Be a Servant Leader,” and the next minute—BOOM. There it is. The shiny, happy “I’m excited to announce my new role!” post. From someone sitting 50 feet away from you.

That’s not rejection. That’s corporate-level hide-and-seek. That’s your company literally sprinting away from basic human decency like it’s a 5K fun run. Imagine the effort it took to not communicate:

• Walk past your desk? Too risky.

• Slack you? What if you react with a GIF?

• Email? Paper trail = accountability. Can’t have that.

• Smoke signal? Probably still too direct.

Instead, they chose the ultimate “coward’s combo”: let LinkedIn break the news and hope you don’t notice. Spoiler: you noticed.

It’s wild how companies preach “transparency” and “open communication” at all-hands meetings but can’t muster the courage to say, “Hey, we went with someone else.” They’ll drop 6 figures on consultants to improve “employee engagement,” but won’t spend 30 seconds walking down the hall to look you in the eye. Honestly, it’s hilarious if you think about it.

And here’s the real kicker: when you finally leave for a better company, they’ll act shocked. “But we thought you were happy here!” Yeah, Brenda, nothing screams joy like finding out through LinkedIn that my own coworkers got the job I applied for.

So if you’ve ever been ghosted by a recruiter, take comfort. At least you didn’t get ghosted by people who know your lunch order. At least your rejection didn’t come with a LinkedIn confetti animation. At least you didn’t have to pretend to clap in the break room when they introduced “the new hire” who took the job you interviewed for.

Moral of the story? Ghosting is bad. Ghosting your own employees is next-level. And ghosting people who can literally swivel in their chair and see you? That’s corporate comedy gold.

So here’s to all of us who’ve been ghosted, rejected, redirected, or “left on read.” If nothing else, we’ve got the best stories. Because one day, when someone complains about being ghosted by a recruiter, you can lean in, sip your sad office coffee, and say:

“Oh, that’s cute. My own company ghosted me.”

Mic. Drop.