Most millennials are familiar with the term “ghosting”: when a person stops responding to online communication. It is a pretty cowardly and lazy act that frequently happens in online dating. Yet surprisingly, this same cop-out used to discreetly reject Tinder matches is what employers use on applicants in a job hunt. Applicants will submit their resumes; an automated email will say “thank you for your application”. Then that’s it. No, “we’re sorry but” or “thank you but unfortunately” — just a silent rejection that applicants have to guess they received.

At least in the world of online dating there are standard practices. For example, if someone reads a greeting but doesn’t respond after a few days, it’s understood that they’re not interested. With a company, it can take well over a month to hear back about an interview, let alone a rejection. Perhaps companies would seem less like FuckBois if they actually made an attempt to communicate instead of hitting someone up after months of silence for a face-to-face. Just a one line automated email giving an estimated number of days to expect a response by would be an improvement.

Why is this behavior okay? Millennials are famously criticized for not wanting to work, yet as older millennials take charge of companies they’re making it difficult for the younger generations to navigate the job hunt. For example, if a graduating senior needs to find a job by graduation, but most positions aren’t posted until February, then that applicant won’t hear back from employers before March. Most jobs require at least 3 interviews which could take all of April to complete. So by the earliest, if an applicant succeeds after their first application, they’ll find out by May if they have a job. Congrats grad, now just graduate, find an apartment, move, and start a brand new job all by June. And this is only for the successful applicant. Those who don’t succeed on their first wave of applications might have to wait until March before sending out a second wave because they weren’t sure if their first applications were successful. It’s difficult for students who need a job to secure their housing to – ‘try try again’ when they’re homeless. Being forced into an am-I-going-to-be-homeless-or-not position is what can happen when employers give no answers. Finding a job shouldn’t be like reading Stephen King, there shouldn’t be this much suspense.

The most infuriating aspect of this is that it’s not even that difficult to fix! In an age where Facebook can alter an election and Google can read our minds, it’s not as if companies don’t have the technical capacity to send out rejections. Even a one-line automated email to rejected applicants saying “thanks but no thanks” would suffice. It would be nice if employers had a progress bar that tracks the application. First, it would say submission accepted, then under review, and finally done. After that point, if the applicant doesn’t receive information about an interview they would know they’re rejected. It’s a simple no-muss no-fuss system. If Domino’s can track every pizza they make, then HR departments should certainly be able to track their applications.

There is no reasonable explanation for why things are the way they are. Applying for jobs is difficult enough without having to guess about one’s application status. When applying to other things like colleges, insurance companies, or credit cards, issuers inform applicants when they’ve been rejected. It’s standard practice. Only in the professional world is it okay to treat applicants like an accidental Tinder match. Why?