[rrherr]

What do you mean by candidate? Applicant, or interviewee?

OP was writing about interviewees, not applicants:

“In order for it to be ghosting, the ghosted party has to expect the conversation will continue. This means that if you apply and never hear back from a job, that’s not ghosting, a conversation never started. It only becomes ghosting when there is an expected next step that never happens.”