{
  "registry_version": "1.0.0",
  "data": {
    "title": "Unsolicited recruiter outreach followed by ghosting",
    "status": "active",
    "evidence_ids": [
      "evidence.hidden_workers_untapped_talent_hbs_accenture"
    ],
    "content": "# Unsolicited recruiter outreach followed by ghosting\n\nRecruiter opens direct outreach expressing strong interest, then stops replying once the candidate answers with availability.\n\n### Diagnostic Non-Inferences\n- Does not prove the profile was rejected; often it is what an automated batch sourcing campaign looks like.",
    "aliases": [
      "A-012"
    ],
    "id": "obs.unsolicited_recruiter_outreach_followed_by_ghosting",
    "type": "observation",
    "summary": "Recruiter opens direct outreach expressing strong interest, then stops replying once the candidate answers with availability.",
    "stages": [
      "sourcing",
      "recruiter"
    ],
    "evidence_level": "supported",
    "probes": [
      {
        "id": "PROBE-A-012-1",
        "action": "Send one polite follow-up after five business days, on the original outreach thread.",
        "expected_signal": "Recovers a stalled conversation if the recruiter was away or over capacity.",
        "cost": "low",
        "outcomes": [
          {
            "id": "no-reply",
            "label": "Neither the follow-up nor the earlier answer is replied to, and the thread stays as it was: an outreach message, a same-day answer, and silence.",
            "excludes": [
              "mech.genuine_technical_skill_shortfall"
            ],
            "because": "Complete recruiter silence following initial candidate reply indicates discarded pipeline sourcing or talent pooling (mech.pre_selected_internal_candidate/mech.bid_conditional_talent_pool)."
          },
          {
            "id": "automated-reply-only",
            "label": "The only thing that arrives is automated: an absence notice with a return date, or a notice that the address is no longer monitored. Nothing follows it from a person.",
            "excludes": [],
            "because": ""
          },
          {
            "id": "thread-resumes",
            "label": "A person replies and the conversation continues: a call is booked, or the role is described in more detail.",
            "excludes": [
              "mech.pre_selected_internal_candidate",
              "mech.bid_conditional_talent_pool"
            ],
            "because": "Active conversational resumption and call scheduling rule out speculative ghost sourcing and bench pooling."
          },
          {
            "id": "reply-without-next-step",
            "label": "A reply arrives with no next step in it: the search is paused, the role is already filled, or there is no open requisition behind the outreach yet.",
            "excludes": [
              "mech.genuine_technical_skill_shortfall"
            ],
            "because": "Outreach without an active requisition behind it contradicts an immediate honest search."
          }
        ]
      }
    ],
    "specimens": [
      {
        "kind": "chat",
        "label": "Inbound outreach, then silence",
        "context": "the whole thread, eleven days",
        "lines": [
          {
            "speaker": "Recruiter",
            "at": "day 0",
            "text": "Hi! I came across your profile — your work on payment infrastructure is exactly what our team needs. Would you be open to a chat this week?",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "speaker": "Candidate",
            "at": "day 0",
            "text": "Thanks for reaching out. Yes, happy to talk. I am free Tuesday or Thursday after 15:00, and here is a short summary of what I have been working on.",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "at": "day 4",
            "text": "— no reply —",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "speaker": "Candidate",
            "at": "day 4",
            "text": "Following up in case this got buried. Still interested.",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "at": "day 11",
            "text": "— no reply —",
            "tell": true
          }
        ],
        "reading": "The enthusiasm and the disappearance came from the same side, and the candidate did nothing between them except answer."
      },
      {
        "kind": "note",
        "label": "What was and was not established",
        "lines": [
          {
            "text": "Established: an outreach message was sent on day 0; the candidate replied the same day with availability; two follow-ups went unanswered over eleven days.",
            "tell": false
          },
          {
            "text": "Not established: whether the role existed, whether it was filled, whether anyone read the reply, or what the recruiter thought of the profile.",
            "tell": true
          }
        ],
        "reading": "Writing the two lists separately is the whole method. Most of the pain of this signal comes from filling the second list with guesses."
      }
    ],
    "perspectives": [
      {
        "actor": "actor.candidate",
        "sees": "An inbound message naming their specific work, a same-day reply with availability, and then no answer — not to the availability, and not to a follow-up.",
        "reads": "The approach and the silence came from the same side. Nothing in the thread separates a search that closed from a message no one opened.",
        "does": "Sends one follow-up on the original thread, then treats the role as not live, and keeps the thread as a dated record of who started it."
      },
      {
        "actor": "actor.recruiter",
        "sees": "A reply in an inbox that carries sourcing for several searches at once, beside a screening queue larger than the week's capacity.",
        "reads": "A sourced reply is not an application, so it holds no position in the pipeline of record. Time-to-fill is measured; a thread with no requisition attached to it is not.",
        "does": "Works the searches that are open now. Nothing in the queue raises the thread again, and no status message exists for a conversation that never became an application."
      },
      {
        "actor": "actor.ats_vendor",
        "sees": "A sourcing sequence with a message sent and a reply received. The contact holds no application against any requisition.",
        "reads": "A reply is a sequence outcome, not a pipeline stage. Nothing in the record marks the contact as awaiting an answer.",
        "does": "Marks the sequence replied and stops sending. The expiry rule and the rejection template both key on an application, so neither fires here."
      }
    ],
    "non_inferences": [
      "Does not prove the profile was rejected; often it is what an automated batch sourcing campaign looks like."
    ]
  }
}