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The Rise Of Ghost Jobs

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Learn about the rise of ghost jobs and how to avoid them.

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Finding a job has become increasingly difficult. Unemployment rates rose to 4.1% in June, and Americans are staying unemployed for longer. With all the factors involved, job hunting can often feel like a full-time job in itself. But one look at all the job openings on recruiting platforms and LinkedIn suggests a different story. Why? Ghost jobs.

“Ghost jobs, which are open positions that companies list but have no intention of filling, create a false sense of opportunity,” says Stephanie Alston, CEO and founder of BGG Enterprises. BGG Enterprises is a diversity recruitment agency. “This can be frustrating for candidates who spend time and energy applying, only to receive no response or discover the position was never intended to be filled.”

According to Resume Builder, ghost jobs are on the rise. In a survey they published in May, 39% of hiring managers said their company posted a fake job in the past year.

There are a few reasons that ghost jobs exist. In the Resume Builder survey, hiring managers said they posted fake job listings to make it seem like the company was open to external talent, to make it seem like the company was growing, to make employees believe that their workload would become lighter from new hires, to make employees feel replaceable and to collect resumes for later.

Although hiring managers may be posting some of the fake job listings you see online, not all ghost jobs are intentional. Job platforms are increasingly automating the job posting process, which means there are sometimes glitches.

“The biggest [reason] is the automation of posting a job,” says Justin Marcus, CEO of Big 4 Talent, an accounting and financial recruitment platform. “Job platforms are continuing to try to improve the speed of the companies—who pay their bills—being able to post jobs. Therefore, a lot of current job platforms have their postings available to pull and push to other sites automatically. This seems fine until you realize the jobs were never pulled down from those secondary sites.”

Sam Wright, head of operations and partnerships at Huntr, an AI job searching platform, also points out that those secondary sites are often incentivized to collect as many resumes and applications as possible without necessarily considering the candidate’s experience through the process.

Beyond companies creating illusions and job platforms making automation mistakes, there are also malicious job postings.

“There are scam artists who post jobs, then go through the interview processes with candidates just to release a fake offer and try to have the new employee send confidential information,” Marcus says. “In the data age, more people are trusting businesses to do things over the internet without true verification.”

Alston says her company advises businesses to maintain honest communication with job seekers to maintain trust and attract top talent. Still, with so many reasons for fake job postings, it’s no surprise that the job search experience can feel exhausting. Knowing how to spot a ghost job and setting expectations accordingly can help alleviate some of the disappointment. Here are a few key indicators that a job might be a fake listing:

As long as companies are hiring, there will be ghost jobs. But can we use them to our advantage? Some experts think so. Even if a position isn’t actively hiring, expressing interest and building connections can put you on the radar for future openings.

“I often tell job seekers, if you see a ghost job for a company you’re interested in, take it as an opportunity to network. Reach out to someone in the company, introduce yourself and express interest in future opportunities,” Alston says. Little says the same: “Reach out to the recruiter or hiring manager to introduce yourself. This initiative sets you apart from the crowd and leaves a lasting impression.”

Photo courtesy of insta_photos/Shutterstock

Iona Brannon is a freelance journalist based in the U.S. You can read more of her work at ionabrannon.com.

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