Ohio Wants to Create a Database of People Who Skip Job Interviews

The job market is tough at the moment for prospective employees, and Ohio has plans to make it even tougher. A bill recently introduced by Republicans in the Ohio House of Representatives would create an online registry of people who fail to show up for a job interview.

The proposal, introduced as H.B. 395, specifically targets job applicants who are recipients of unemployment benefits and are required to seek employment to continue receiving the limited compensation provided to them. It would give employers the ability to report a person for failing to show up to a scheduled job interview, potentially costing the person access to their unemployment benefits and, if that information is shared among employers, making it more difficult for them to find work.

Republican Brian Lorenz, a co-sponsor of the bill, claims that the bill is needed because his constituents are reporting that ghosting job interviews is becoming more frequent. “The bill rewards professionalism. If you value employers’ time, this process is going to value you,” he told NBC4i in Ohio. “And it just modernizes the employment process and it holds applicants accountable and it helps employers thrive.”

The bill makes no effort to delineate between what is an appropriate and inappropriate reason to miss a job interview, which surely would not be weaponized by petty employers seeking to punish people for “wasting their time.” Under the text of the proposal, it would fall on the Director of Job and Family Services to determine which complaints are legitimate and which ones are frivolous, which definitely seems like a good use of that person’s time.

Ohio isn’t exactly getting hammered at the moment with unemployment claims—at least no more so than anywhere else in the country. Ohio saw its first month of job loss all year in June, and its most recent unemployment data showed a decline in continued claims compared to the previous weeks. The state’s unemployment rate of 4.9% sits higher than the national average of 4.1%, but it also has better overall labor force participation rates, with 62.7% of adults actively working or looking for work compared to the national average of 62.3%.

Regardless, the idea that the employer is getting screwed by a person’s no-show doesn’t exactly pass the sniff test. Sure, there are resources expended by a business in the job interview process. But at the end of the day, they still have the rest of the potential employee pool to draw from to fill that role.

Meanwhile, getting ghosted by a prospective employer has simply become part of the process for most job seekers. A recent report found that 61% of US job seekers reported being ghosted by an employer after a job interview, never receiving follow-up, and a survey of hiring managers conducted by ResumeGenius found that 80% admitted to ghosting potential employees. Wonder if Lorenz has any concerns about that. Surely he represents a lot more job seekers than employers.