Key findings
- Healthcare & Life Sciences ranks worst on the aggregated 0–100 ghosting index (score: 78) despite a comparatively strong 20% raw response rate — the index appears to weight factors beyond response rate alone (see FAQ).
- Technology & Software ranks best on the index (score: 28) but reports the worst raw response rate of any industry in this data — only 5% of applicants hear back at all.
- Company size affects offer-acceptance, not ghosting directly — large enterprises (1,000+ employees) saw an 11.44% offer-acceptance rate vs. 5.83% for small companies (1–100 employees), a related but distinct metric from response rate.
- No India-specific segmented study exists publicly, as far as we could verify — this is the most rigorous available reference, not an India-native statistic.
- Switchly's own segmented data isn't ready either — company records don't currently tag industry or size, and application volume is still too small to responsibly publish a platform-native version of this ranking. We'll rebuild this page around Switchly's own numbers once that changes.
Employer ghosting index, by industry (0–100, higher = more ghosting)
Source: The 2025 Ghosting Index (The Interview Guys) — primarily US-market data, with some UK/Germany coverage via Greenhouse. Response rate is shown only where the source reported it directly.
| Rank | Industry | Index score | Response rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Healthcare & Life Sciences | 78 | 20% |
| 2 | Education & Training | 72 | — |
| 3 | Government & Public Sector | 69 | above average |
| 4 | Energy & Utilities | 67 | — |
| 5 | Financial Services | 58 | ~11% |
| 6 | Manufacturing & Industrial | 55 | — |
| 7 | Professional Services | 52 | — |
| 8 | Construction & Real Estate | 49 | — |
| 9 | Retail & Consumer Services | 44 | — |
| 10 | Hospitality & Food Service | 38 | — |
| 11 | Media & Communications | 32 | — |
| 12 | Technology & Software | 28 | 5% |
Rank 1 = worst (most ghosting) on the aggregated index; rank 12 = best. Note the index-score ranking and the response-rate figures don't move in the same direction for every industry — both are shown as reported, not reconciled into a single number.
Sources & methodology
The 2025 Ghosting Index (The Interview Guys) — a meta-analysis synthesizing data from over 50 studies rather than original primary research, with temporal weighting favoring 2024–2025 data (2023 data weighted at 75%). Named component sources include Greenhouse (2,500 respondents, spanning US, UK, and Germany), Resume Builder (625 hiring managers), CareerPlug (60,000+ small-business hiring data points), and Huntr (635,851 tracked applications). The report itself does not claim India coverage.
We searched specifically for an India-focused, industry-segmented employer-ghosting study and did not find one that discloses a verifiable methodology. What we did find (a 2019 UK survey of 1,325 employees by The Knowledge Academy) is older and also not India-specific, so we did not use it in place of the more recent aggregate above.
Honesty note: this page cannot yet say anything India-specific or Switchly-specific about ghosting by industry. We're publishing the best public reference point we could verify, clearly labeled as such, rather than either fabricating an India number or leaving the page empty.
Frequently asked questions
Is this India-specific data?
No, and we want to be upfront about that rather than imply otherwise. We could not find a public, methodologically transparent study that segments employer ghosting by industry specifically for India. The ranking above comes from a US-focused meta-analysis (with some UK/Germany data). We're publishing it as the best available public reference point, not as an India-verified statistic — see the methodology section for the full caveat.
Why does Healthcare rank worst on the index score but best on raw response rate?
That's a real tension in the underlying source, not an error we're smoothing over. The 0–100 "index score" appears to weight multiple ghosting-related signals together (possibly including time-to-respond, rejection-notification practices, and other factors beyond simple response rate), while the standalone "20% response rate" figure measures one narrower thing. We're showing both numbers as reported rather than picking whichever one tells a cleaner story.
What does the company-size finding actually measure — is it also about ghosting?
It measures something related but distinct: offer-acceptance rate, not ghosting or response rate. Large enterprises (1,000+ employees) saw an 11.44% offer-acceptance rate in the underlying research vs. 5.83% for small companies (1–100 employees). We're not relabeling this as a "ghosting by company size" finding — it's a different metric that happens to come from the same source.
Does Switchly have its own India-specific ghosting data instead?
Not yet, and not for lack of trying to check. Switchly's own company records don't currently track industry or headcount-size tags, and the platform's application volume is still too small and too skewed toward automated AI-review outcomes to responsibly publish a segmented ghosting statistic of our own. If that changes, this page should be rebuilt around Switchly's own numbers rather than the external research below.
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