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‘No drama, no explanation, just wasted time’: Indian entrepreneur rails against no-show new hires

The startup founder said such experiences help explain why recruitment often feels so dysfunctional.

3 min readNew DelhiJan 18, 2026 02:38 PM IST

The founder said that two new hires joined his company but resigned within 48 hours (Representative image/Pexels)

Amid the talk on work-life balance, the job scene in India has transformed over the last few years. While several professionals have expressed disappointment over artificial intelligence, companies look for candidates who can keep pace with the ever-changing technology. However, a startup founder, Pritesh Lakhani, has said that a new trend of candidates accepting job offers with no intention to show up is badly affecting the job market.

In a post on X, Lakhani, co-founder of the B2B marketplace Pneucons, said such experiences helped explain why recruitment today often felt so dysfunctional. “This is why hiring feels broken. Not because companies are heartless, but because trust keeps getting abused,” he wrote.

Lakhani said that what many jobseekers perceive as “rigid policies” are frequently the result of employers responding to earlier disappointments. “Trust isn’t lost randomly. It’s lost one offer letter at a time.” Further, he claimed that several candidates either quit almost immediately after joining or failed to show up at all despite accepting job offers.

Lakhani also said that two new hires joined his company but resigned within 48 hours, while another individual accepted the offer and never turned up on the first day.

Describing the situation as a recurring drain on time and resources, Lakhani said his team was compelled to revise its recruitment process. “We decided to share offer letters only after people joined. Not to control anyone. Just to protect ourselves from repeat no-shows,” he wrote.

However, Lakhani noted that even this measure did not stop candidates from backing out at the last moment.

See the post here:

Two new recruits joined and left within 2 days after getting their offer letters.
Last month, another candidate took the offer and never joined.

No drama. No explanation. Just wasted time.

So we changed the process. We decided to share offer letters only after people joined.…

— Pritesh Lakhani (@priteshlakhani) January 16, 2026

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The post quickly gained traction, prompting a discussion on the issue. “Getting the right set of people is a mammoth task. And then some of these seemingly “right” people just vanish after getting their letter or abscond after the first day at work. At least an honest communication is the least expected process they should follow,” an X user wrote.

“Every strict rule exists because someone did not show up. No policies start for fun,” another user commented. “trust didn’t vanish overnight it got chipped away slowly no shows ghosting last minute exits all add up so policies get tighter not smarter just defensive everyone complains about trust but nobody wants to protect it,” a third user reacted.