What is 'career catfishing' and why are Gen Z doing it?

Successful job applicants are increasingly disappearing before their first day

Now hiring signs
A survey found that 34% of Gen Z jobseekers have indulged in this form of professional ghosting
(Image credit: Don and Melinda Crawford / UCG / Universal Images Group via Getty Images)

A study has found that it takes between 100 and 200 applications to receive a job offer these days. So why would anyone apply for a role, get through the interviews, land the post, but then… never turn up?

The trend, known as "career catfishing", is a curious new office shift that sheds light on how younger people feel about the treatment they go through during the recruitment process.

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  Chas Newkey-Burden has been part of The Week Digital team for more than a decade and a journalist for 25 years, starting out on the irreverent football weekly 90 Minutes, before moving to lifestyle magazines Loaded and Attitude. He was a columnist for The Big Issue and landed a world exclusive with David Beckham that became the weekly magazine’s bestselling issue. He now writes regularly for The Guardian, The Telegraph, The Independent, Metro, FourFourTwo and the i new site. He is also the author of a number of non-fiction books.