Why “ghost jobs” are a bad idea for companies, according to experts

If you’re looking for a new position, you may have unknowingly come across—or even applied for, a “ghost job”—a listing posted with no intention of actually hiring a candidate for the role.

According to recent U.S. Labor Department statistics, there were around 8.1 million vacant jobs across the country in May this year. But a number of these could be entirely fake—although this is difficult to measure with any certainty—as companies admit to posting fake job listings in an effort to bolster the firm’s reputation, keep current employees in line, and preemptively gather information about applicants for real jobs that may be available in the future.

Companies aren’t even shy about it. A June study by Resume Builder found that three in 10 job listings posted online are for roles that don’t exist or that the company has no real intention of hiring for. That’s roughly a third of companies that took part currently have fake listings open, according to the survey. Revelio Labs, a workforce intelligence firm, found in an October 2023 survey that the share of interview reviews that mentioned “recruiter ghosting”—when a company does not respond to an applicant—has increased by 120 percent over the past five years.

Still, the prospect of posting ghost jobs doesn’t bother around seven in 10 hiring managers, with the research finding that 43 percent of hiring managers believe it is definitely acceptable, while 27 percent think it is probably OK. On the other end of the scale, 20 percent don’t consider it acceptable, and 10 percent think the practice is in no way justifiable.

This sentiment is unlikely to be reflected by anyone who is hunting for a new role, however. According to a Stand Out CV survey conducted in 2023, the average person has to make 162 job applications to land a job, with 27 applications needed to land a single interview. If a number of these jobs are posted by hiring managers with no intent to fill the role, it can be a huge waste of time.

“Ghost job postings may mean they’re [job seekers] putting even more time in, completely unnecessarily, making the job-hunting process even more tedious,” Aidan Cramer, Founder and CEO at AIApply, told Newsweek. “It’s also demoralizing – job seekers might have put hours into perfecting a single application, only to receive no response and no feedback.”

Why do companies post fake job listings?

From the perspective of the company, posting ghost jobs makes it appear as if the company is open to external talent (67 percent), and makes it seem like the company is growing (66 percent), according to the Resume Builder survey.

Prestina Yarrington, a career and development coach, told Newsweek that “ghost job postings are used to gauge the candidate pool currently available in the market.”

“Job markets are either candidate-driven or employer-driven and this research allows hiring teams to understand if the skill set they typically hire is readily available in the marketplace or if it is scarce,” she explained. “This allows companies to gauge hiring timelines and predict how long it will take to get someone on board once a position is available.

At times, this can prove to be “informative if an organization is looking to gauge the labor market in a particular area or for a specific skill set,” organizational psychologist and founder of IA Business Advisors Brian Smith explained to Newsweek. “In some cases, companies might use them to understand the competition or the availability of talent. Despite this, the potential negative impact on job seekers and company reputation outweighs any informational benefit.”

“It is debatable whether these fake job postings give a positive impression,” Geoff Newman, founder of U.K.-based Stargeta recruitment advertising firm, told Newsweek. He said it works with one U.K.-based company “that spends over $2 million on job advertising each year without expecting to place any applicants,” a tactic from its marketing department “who want to appear more impressive than they are.”

Not only are fake listings used to deceive job hunters into thinking the company is doing well, but they’re also used to trick current employees. In the Resume Builder survey, 62 percent of companies engaging in the practice said fake listings are created to make employees feel “replaceable,” while 63 percent said it lures them into believing their workload will eventually be alleviated by new hires.

“It’s a concerning scenario, particularly when these misleading postings originate from HR departments—the very entities entrusted with shaping accurate perceptions of their organizations,” says Resume Builder’s Chief Career Advisor Stacie Haller. “Employees deserve transparency about the companies they dedicate their time to, rather than being led astray by false representations. Any tactic aimed at undermining employees’ sense of value and security is deplorable.”

A cause for concern?

Some hiring experts who spoke to Newsweek voiced concerns over fake openings, largely due to the practice being unfair to applicants looking for genuine new opportunities as well as damaging a company’s reputation. But others said it can even distort labor market statistics.

“I think the ghost jobs may inflate some of the numbers, but it’s not as clear as people would think,” Justin Marcus, co-founder and CEO at Big 4 Talent, told Newsweek. “A lot of “open jobs” data comes from JOLTS (Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey), a monthly survey, telephone interviews, and surveys, and the Bureau of Labor Statistics reviews and adjusts for errors.”

“If the majority of ghost jobs are from companies posting for ‘brand awareness’ or to have a pipeline of candidates for potential future roles though, it could contribute significantly to inflated numbers.”

“There is no way to tell on LinkedIn, company websites, or any of the other job posting sites whether the position is real or fake,” Yarrington explained. “As a result, when data is pulled by the Department of Labor or other entities seeking job data, it is distorted. When this is reported it gives false hope and expectations to jobseekers and the overall economy.”

Regardless of the potential impact on official data, the practice is roundly condemned by some hiring experts for being unfair to the applicant and current employees and can have dire reputational consequences for companies.

“With websites like Glassdoor increasingly popular, job seekers could post about their experience and turn other potential candidates off applying for future roles, as they’ll assume it’s a waste of time,” Cramer said. “Plus, if they’re completely ignoring applications that land in their inbox, they could miss out on the perfect candidate—who’ll be unlikely to apply again after being ignored.”