‘Career Catfishing’: 1 in 3 Gen Zers Accepted a New Job and Didn’t Show Up on Day One

Have you had the not-so-wonderful experience of sending out resumes to job listings and not getting so much as a reply? Ghosting doesn’t feel great, and a new study by CV Genius shows that a sizeable portion of Gen Z workers in the UK are turning the tables on unresponsive hiring managers.

CV Genius polled 1,000 British workers about a myriad of work-related issues, and found these surprising stats on workplace disappearing — or never appearing — acts.

Related: ‘Really Hard to Find a Job’: 1.7 Million Job Seekers Have Been Looking for Work for at Least 6 Months

• 1 in 3 Gen Z (34%) have accepted a job, then never showed up and offered no explanation. This move has been termed “career catfishing.”
• 1 in 4 Millennials (24%), 11% of Gen X, and 7% of Boomers have engaged in this.

It’s not quite as bratty as it sounds, writes Chloe Berger in Fortune: “At the moment, Gen Z is contending with an onerous battle to land an entry-level, full-time role. The class of 2025 is set to apply to more jobs than the graduating class prior, already submitting 24% more applications on average this past summer than seniors did last year.”

Related: Gen Z Is Using AI, ChatGPT at Work and Proud of It

As a survival tactic, that could mean that Gen-Zers are taking the first offer they get, and then not showing up if something better comes along. It’s understandable to some degree, however, a simple, “I decided to take on a role at another company” email would be the more professional and decent way to handle it.

Here are some other surprising results of CV Genius’s survey of UK workers:

• Bare-Minimum Mondays: 59% say they put in minimal effort at the start of the week, aiming to avoid burnout.
• Over-Employment: 41% of Gen Z said they’ve worked multiple remote jobs simultaneously without telling employers.
• Remote Rewards: 53% said they would choose to work remotely over in-office, even if it meant no chance of promotion or higher pay.

Related: AI Can Now Apply to 1,000 Jobs While You Sleep. Here’s How Many Interviews an AI Bot Creator Got in One Month.