Messages that stopped after meeting a couple of times. Paying for premium tiers to get better matches. Settling for something good enough until something better comes along.

These aren’t descriptors of the modern dating scene, but the realities of searching for a job in 2026.

What connects the two worlds are frustrating parallels: Technology promised to help us sift through an enormous number of options until we find the perfect match. Instead, each endeavor has created environments where everyone feels simultaneously overwhelmed by choice and disposable to everyone they encounter.

Just as relentless swiping took the humanity out of dating, automated screening and mass applications have made it harder to get respected (or even noticed) as a serious candidate in this job market: Job seekers are feeling exhausted, both mentally and financially, by having to invest up front in services like LinkedIn Premium or Indeed Pro—especially when finding a job, much like a relationship, used to be ostensibly free.

Meanwhile, ghosting—a term that was coined from the dehumanizing way some people stop responding after a few dates—has crept into job seekers’ lives, too. Many experience an interview going well, only to hear nothing from the hiring manager afterward.

And it’s only getting more common.

A new paper titled “Post-Interview Ghosting Casts Dark Shadows on Applicant Reactions,” published in the Academy of Management Journal, argues that the practice leads to significant negative implications for both candidates (who feel anger and treated “like commodities”) and organizations (who suffer a damaged reputation).

Candidates are responding in kind: A 2023 Indeed survey of job seekers found that 62% of respondents planned to ghost a prospective employer in a future job search, compared with only 37% in 2019.

Jennifer Dulski, the CEO and founder of the AI leadership development platform Rising Team, tells Fast Company she has seen people apply the trending term “NATO dating” (which stands for “not attached to outcome”) to their job-seeking, too.

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