A manager once told me ghosting candidates was just business. He never replied to anyone. Not a no. Not a thank you. Nothing. "They'll get over it," he said. "We're busy." For three years he sent hundreds of people into silence. Then the layoffs came. He applied to forty roles. He tailored every CV. He followed up. He waited. Silence. Not a no. Not a thank you. Nothing. He called me, confused. "Why won't anyone even reply?" I wanted to say something clever. Instead I said what he used to say. "They're probably busy." The market has a long memory. How you treat people on the way up is the inbox you inherit on the way down.