1 in 3 Gen Z employees admit to catfishing jobs and never showing up to work: Happens all the time

Employers are being “catfished” by young workers, with recruiters supposedly seeing it happen “all the time” in workplaces.“Career catfishing” occurs when someone accepts a job offer but then fails to show for their first day of work with no explanation.A recent survey conducted in the UK of 1000 workers found one in three Gen Z employees have admitted to career catfishing in the past.One in four Millennials also admitted to this act, according to the 2025 Future of Work Survey from CV Genius, compared to just 11 per cent of Gen X and seven per cent of Baby Boomer workers.But this isn’t just a phenomenon impacting workplaces overseas, with Australian recruitment expert and career coach Tammie Christofis Ballis having seen this exact scenario play out multiple times throughout her career.“It happens all the time.That is absolutely normal in recruitment,” she told news.com.au.It is such a common occurrence that recruiters will often ring new hires the week and day before their start date to remind them to turn up for their first day.Even then, there are still situations where people just never show up.“I think now with the new generations, where they’re scared to pick up the phone, they might have found another job, and they don’t want to let the other person down, so they just ghost and don’t turn up,” Ballis said.The career coach warned engaging in career catfishing can have an impact on your future job prospects.Ballis has even experienced a situation where a candidate applied back to the same company after previously being hired and not turning up for their first day on the job.She also warned that many industries aren’t very big and word can easily spread about these types of behaviours.“You’ve got to be careful with your reputation.

Just do the right thing,” she said.“If you’re too scared to call, just email say, ‘Look, I’m so sorry.I’ve had a change of heart, or I’ve been offered another position.

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