Amid complex hiring processes, a shadow is spreading in the U.S. business world. Companies are using fake online job openings to project an image of growth, keep existing employees motivated, and cultivate a pool of possible future candidates with no intention of hiring, according to research.
A Clarify Capital survey of more than 1,000 hiring managers showed that, beyond fake growth metrics and productivity drivers, one-third of professionals claimed that they used ghost posts to placate overworked employees.
The phenomenon has caused universal frustration on both the applicant and hiring sides. On average, it can take up to eight weeks for a job seeker to receive an offer after submitting an application online, according to job listing site Indeed. The process often includes resume tailoring, lengthy applications, and multiple rounds of interviews. That means applicants are wasting hours trying to get hired by companies that aren’t actually looking.
Many hiring professionals say ghost posting hurts businesses that are actually trying to recruit new talent. Creating a pre-qualified pool of candidates for future openings is why 37 percent of surveyed hiring managers say they ghost post, but some argue that it will have the opposite effect.
“Ghost job postings are definitely problematic for companies legitimately trying to hire people,” Ben Lamarche, general manager at Lock Search Group, told The Epoch Times. “Not only do these clutter job boards and make it more difficult for candidates to find and apply to genuine job openings, they also cause frustration and mistrust among candidates.”
Working at a recruitment and consulting agency, Mr. Lamarche has witnessed the rise of fake job posts. A former recruiter friend of his confessed to posting “ghost jobs” to impress clients and boost his performance metrics. The recruiter didn’t seem concerned about the candidates’ quality or level of interest, Mr. Lamarche noted; he was just looking for contact information.
He has also seen incidents in which professional candidates with perfectly matched skills suddenly face radio silence from hiring managers, only to find the exact job with the same ad posted on repeat every few weeks.
Tech companies, recruiters, and staffing agencies are among the biggest ghost posters, according to Stephen Greet, the CEO of BeamJobs.
“Tech companies are often cited as major users of ghost postings,” he said. “With how fast the industry moves, maintaining a pool of potential candidates ready to go is key. That way, if a new project pops up or someone leaves, they’ve already got qualified people to consider.”
Productivity Theater
The fake job listing trend isn’t limited to applicants with a broad range of expertise. Mr. Lamarche recalled the case of a colleague with a niche skill set who also fell into this trap. The colleague worked with X-ray systems on machines to determine metal fatigue.“The company scheduled an interview but then ghosted, and the job posting is still up over a year later,” Mr. Lamarche said. “It’s possible that these fake job postings are used for internal purposes, such as keeping the HR department busy or to avoid discrimination liabilities.”
“During my work consulting with various HR departments, I’ve heard direct accounts from hiring managers admitting to keeping posts published well after positions were filled,” Conor Hughes, a human resources consultant, told The Epoch Times. “Just to give the appearance that those companies were continually hiring and growing.”
He said fake employment listings aren’t limited to big job search websites. Recently, a hiring manager confessed to him that they kept the same job openings posted on their company’s career site for nearly eight months with no plans to interview anyone.
“It seems that for some, padding fake metrics and creating a misleading picture of business activity has become more important than supporting legitimate job seekers,” Mr. Hughes said.
He said he believes that with so many phantom listings inflating the true number of opportunities, job seekers inevitably become discouraged after investing significant time into dead ends.
“This almost certainly elongates search cycles as trust wavers,” Mr. Hughes said. “Busy HR teams also run the risk of wasting valuable resources sifting through unqualified applicants attracted by postings that don’t represent real needs.”
Like Mr. Lamarche, Mr. Hughes also has friends and colleagues who’ve been affected by likely ghost posts.
“I’ve consoled several discouraged peers of mine who spent hours crafting customized applications and resumes only to have roles vanish without explanation,” he said.
Mr. Greet also has customers affected by what are likely fake job posts. One client in particular dealt with sudden silence while in the middle of interviewing for a marketing coordinator position.
“He made it to the final round of interviews, but then the process abruptly halted with no explanation,” he told The Epoch Times. “When he searched again months later, that same job was still posted online.”
Mr. Greet recalled another incident involving a client with a doctorate who learned that, months after applying for a job that went nowhere, the company never had any intention to hire for the position.
“From a company perspective, posting jobs that aren’t actually available could cause problems if it floods them with too many applications from people who may not be the right fit. It might make it harder for employers to find candidates that really match what they need. It risks damaging the company’s reputation,” Mr. Greet said.
Joe Mercurio, project manager for Clarify Capital, wrote in an online statement that to avoid falling into a time vacuum, it’s important to make sure that the listing is very recent.
“A job that was posted 48 hours ago is more likely to be actively hiring than a job that was posted 3 months ago,” he wrote.
It also observed that job applicants are reporting “increasing rates of being ghosted by recruiters.”
It also stated that applicant ghosting has more than doubled in the past five years.
Bait Advertising
In the Midwest, another day of frustrated job searching begins for John Marsden.“Most of my recent experience job seeking is: Apply for stuff you’re perfect for and never hear back. Then the job posting is still there months later,” Mr. Marsden, who asked to be referred to by a pseudonym, told The Epoch Times.
Working as a technical writer and editor, Mr. Marsden has been actively looking for new employment for a year because of a drastic change in the work culture at his current job. When asked how many times he has applied for a job over the past 12 months, Mr. Marsden said, with a laugh: “Oh, around 200, give or take. And that’s just doing it part time.”
In the early days of his job search, Mr. Marsden said he followed up with many hiring managers who suddenly disappeared in the middle of the interviewing process.
“I’ve gotten four rounds [of interviews] deep and then, just nothing,” he said.
Mr. Marsden’s attempts to follow up with hiring managers were mostly met with silence, but a few responded. He said the ones who got back to him offered strange excuses.
“Sometimes, they'd come back with stuff like, ‘You don’t have experience on this proprietary software,’“ he said. ”And it’s like, no one does. It’s only available at your company. You knew that when you brought me in for the interview. So why did you reach out in the first place?”
But Mr. Marsden said he has learned how to spot a ghost post, which he equates to “bait advertising,” pretty easily these days. Listings that he said job hunters should be wary of include contract gigs advertising “six months plus,” use corporate buzz slogans, or are vague about the job description.
Mr. Marsden steers clear of job posts that focus more on selling the business than explaining the position itself.
“If there’s three or four paragraphs about the company or slogans like ‘work hard, play hard,’ the answer is nope. Move on,” he said.
Mr. Hughes emphasized that ghost posts can seriously damage applicant morale and make the pursuit of fulfilling employment feel like a “meaningless numbers game with little regard for people’s career goals or time.”
Encounters with fake job listings happen across multiple industries and at any company that prioritizes an image of growth over the fair treatment of people, he said.
“No company or department is immune from pressures that might incentivize padding hiring metrics at the expense of job seekers’ experiences. A more transparent, integrity-focused culture is needed across all industries utilizing online recruitment,” Mr. Hughes said.
