Understanding the Ghost Index & Reply Time Tracking
The core idea behind RecruiterLog: every application starts a response-time clock, and we make the results public.
3 min readEvery application starts a clock
The moment a candidate applies to a job, RecruiterLog starts timing how long the employer takes to respond. That target response window is a real deadline, not just a courtesy.
Silence gets counted, not excused
If an employer never responds within that window, that application counts as 'ghosted.' Nothing punitive happens automatically. It's simply recorded as part of that employer's public track record.
Unclaimed companies don't count yet
If nobody from that company has claimed their profile, the clock doesn't run at all: there's simply nobody there to respond. You'll see these applications sitting in an 'Awaiting Company Claim' section on your own dashboard, separate from your active applications, and they're excluded from that company's Ghost Index until a recruiter claims it.
A dead application eventually resolves itself
If a claimed company still never responds after 30 days, the application automatically moves to a 'Ghosted' status so it stops sitting in limbo on your dashboard. That's what actually feeds a company's Ghost Index: a genuinely unresponsive employer, not one that simply hasn't claimed its profile yet.
The Ghost Index is the public scoreboard
An employer's Ghost Index is the percentage of their applications that went completely unanswered. A low Ghost Index means an employer reliably responds; a high one means candidates are more likely to be left hanging. You'll see it on every company profile and on Market Trends.
It feeds a bigger Trust Score too
The Ghost Index isn't the whole story. It's blended with real candidate-reported experience (communication, interview quality, offer transparency) into a single Trust Score, so one bad week doesn't define a company forever, but a consistent pattern definitely shows.
How is the Ghost Index different from the response-time number I see on a job listing?
The response-time number is that employer's average days to first reply. The Ghost Index is the percentage of applications that got no reply at all. An employer can be slow but still low-Ghost (they always eventually answer), or fast on average but high-Ghost (they answer some applicants quickly and ignore the rest).
Does an employer's Ghost Index ever go back down?
Yes. It's recalculated from every tracked application on file, so a stretch of consistently fast replies pulls the number down over time. A single response doesn't erase a bad ratio; it takes a sustained pattern to move it.
What counts as a response for stopping the clock?
Any real, affirmative action from the recruiter: a message, an interview request, or a shortlist/decline decision. An automated 'application received' confirmation doesn't count.