In an apparent reverse trend at workplace, companies worldwide are increasingly witnessing job seekers "ghosting" at work — a behaviour once notoriously linked with HR heads who ignored job applicants or forgot about them after rounds of meeting and interviews.

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Recruiters and hiring managers are experiencing a surge of workers no-showing interviews, or accepting a job only to never appear for the first day of work, giving no reason, said Chip Cutter, Editor at Large at professional networking platform LinkedIn, in a blog post.

While some accept jobs, only to not appear for the first day of work, others are quitting by walking out and saying nothing.

"The practise is prevalent in the fields ranging from food service to finance and in amongst all age groups, they say.

"The practice is prolonging hiring, forcing companies to overhaul their processes and tormenting recruiters, who find themselves under constant pressure," Cutter wrote.

According to recruiters and hiring managers, a tightening job market and a sustained labour shortage as well as multiple opportunities might have contributed to the trend.

However, candidates who are scarred from years of applying for jobs, spending hours preparing for interviews, only to get form rejections back may not be to blame for going cold, said Peter Cappelli, a management Professor at the University of Pennsylvania in the US.

"I think they have learned it from the employers," he said. "Employers were notorious for never getting back to people, and only letting them know what was going on if it turned out they wanted them to go to the next step," Cutter wrote, quoting Cappelli.

HR teams are bemoaning the emotional rollercoaster they've suddenly found themselves on, dealing with the kind of "what just happened?".

Recruiters suggest that if candidates are not serious about taking jobs, or if they do need to drop out of the process, they just need to communicate, instead of turning ghosts

Moreover, it is necesary to be courteous as well as level of professional while communicating, they said.

In an another trend, employees are also leaving firms without formally quitting.

"Instead of formally quitting, enduring a potentially awkward conversation with a manager, some employees leave and never return. Bosses realise they've quit only after a series of unsuccessful attempts to reach them. The hiring process begins anew," said Cutter.